There is no answer, or several.
First of all your «officially» is meaningless: there is no authority who can make this determination.
It is clear that there is a continuum from a nonce-word (that somebody made up and used once) to an ordinary word that everybody acknowledges as such. But there are various lines to be drawn within that.
Once a «word» has been used several times in print, (and not just quoting each other) it is almost certainly a word. In earlier ages there were plenty of words (for example, profanity) which never or hardly ever got written, because they were not regarded as «proper», but no sensible description of the language today would exclude them as words).
What of a «word» which is in general use among some particular group (for example, an occupation, or a social clique): is it a word? Probably yes, but some might disagree.
BTW, the dictionaries, including the OED, tend to react somewhat faster than you’re implying.
The English language is about 1,400 years old. One of the earliest-known English dictionaries, The Elementarie (1582), contained 8,000 words.
As of January 2020, English now includes more than one million words—a figure that differs from words accepted in dictionaries, which can range from 170,000 to 470,000 depending on the source.
Even if we discuss 470,000 formally accepted words, that still leaves more than a half million still wandering. Some might then wonder how one finds a home in a dictionary.
Always tracking and researching English usage, dictionary writers and editors stay busy adding new words and updating the meanings and applications of existing ones. For a word to be added to a dictionary on the gatekeepers’ watch, it must typically:
• be used across a wide area by many people who agree on its meaning
• establish that it has staying power.
As an example, someone in Oklahoma starts to use the word snote to describe a sneeze that sounds like a musical note.
The word begins to appear locally through e-mails, websites, social media, and television. From there, it moves into the mainstream reaching regional and national audiences, and before long, people are using the word on both coasts.
By this time, dictionary writers and editors have already noted the word, its sources, and its context in their databases. If the word continues to perpetuate and its meaning stands firm, they will consult with other colleagues to determine if snote to mean “a sneeze that sounds like a musical note” has achieved sufficient permanence; if so, they will add it to the dictionary.
If on the other hand the word begins to fizzle out as a trend, the word might still circulate, but it will not be formally validated. It could, however, be reviewed again in the future.
With those thoughts in mind, let’s look at some new words, existing words with added meanings, and words of varying ages that were still popular in recent decades but have since been petering out.
| New Word (part of speech, approx. first use) | New Meaning |
| bucket list (n., 2005–10) | a list of things a person wants to achieve or experience, as before reaching a certain age or dying |
| unfriend (v., 2005–10) | to remove a person from one’s list of friends or contacts on social media |
| hashtag (n., 2005–10) | a word or phrase preceded by a hash mark (#), used within a social-media message to identify a keyword or topic of interest and prompt a search for it |
| selfie (n., 2000–05) | a photograph taken with a mobile device by a person who is also in the photograph, especially for posting on social media |
| blogger (n., 1995–2000) | one who writes about topics, experiences, observations, or opinions, etc., on the Internet |
| Old Word | Added Meaning |
| mouse (n., before 900) | a hand-held device moved about on a flat surface to direct the cursor on a computer screen |
| browse (v., 1400–50) | to search for and read content on the Internet |
| cookie (n., 1695–1705) | a message or a segment of data containing information about a user, sent by a web server to a browser and sent back to the server each time the browser requests a web page |
| stream (v., 13th century) | to transfer digital data in a continuous stream, esp. for immediate processing or playback |
| tweet (n.,1768) | a post made on the Twitter online message service |
| Fading Word | Meaning |
| gal (n., 1785–95) | young woman |
| slacks (n., 1815–25) | trousers for casual wear |
| groovy (adj., 1937) | hip, trendy; marvelous, excellent |
| court (v., 1125–75) | to seek the affections of someone to establish a committed relationship |
| go steady (v., 1900) | to date someone exclusively |
| jalopy (n., 1928) | beat-up used vehicle |
What do you think—are there any words not yet in the dictionary that should be, or any now present that should be removed? Your input will be considered for a future article revisiting the relevance of words.
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«All my life,» Ernest Hemingway said, «I’ve looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time.»
I’m sure the king of the simple declarative sentence and the punchy active verb meant something very different from this interpretation: Many people simply don’t think enough about the words they use.
They hear something and repeat it. That’s where homonym problems come into play.
To truly do right by English, one must analyze it. And I’m sure that on this Mr. Hemingway and I would have agreed.
To wit:
• «I’m taking a different tact this year in my approach to my job.»
Well, goody for you if you’re going to be more tactful toward your co-workers and customers.
But what I think you meant is: «I’m taking a different tack this year.»
«Tack» is a nautical term meaning a change of a boat’s course relative to the direction of the wind. So, if you take a different tack, you’re changing direction. And that definition extends well beyond the open water.
• «Try to hone in on the source of your anxiety.»
To «hone» is to sharpen.
To «home» is to move toward a target.
For instance, a self-guided missile homes in on something it’s been programmed to blow up.
One hones a knife with a stone and elbow grease.
• «I am disinterested in your explanation for why your souffle fell.»
«Disinterested» and «uninterested» are not synonyms.
To be uninterested is to be indifferent to something, to be unconcerned. That clearly is the message here.
To be disinterested, one must not have any skin in the game, no bias.
«The agreement must be notarized by a disinterested third party.»
The notary or witness must not have a stake in the deal that’s being forged. He must be impartial.
Irregardless
I once wrote in this space that «irregardless» is not a word; that the ir- prefix is unnecessary and «regardless» serves the purpose well.
That was a long time ago.
Recently, Mary Davis wrote and email to me with the subject line: «Check out ‘Irregardless’ Is a Real Word.»
«Aha, I thought so!!!,» she wrote. «Been saying this for 80 years; it must be.»
Slow your roll, Mary.
For the record, I’ll give you that «irregardless» is a word, but a nonstandard one.
Back during the Pleistocene age when I attended college, one of my friends made up the word «schwouldja.»
It’s basically a grandiose way of inquiring «Would you?»
It’s a word, because six or eight of us use it, albeit almost exclusively with one another.
But until now, you’d never heard of the word and you likely would eschew it as being nonsense. And after arguing with you, I’d probably soften you up to the point you’d begrudgingly agree that it’s a word, but a nonstandard one.
At what point does a nonsense word become a nonstandard standard word and a nonstandard word become a word and a word become a preferred word?
I don’t know the answer to that.
I can tell you that 80 years ago «regardless» was used 1,040 times as often as «irregardless» in literature, while in 2000 «irregardless» had made some headway. By then it was used once every 620 times «regardless» was used.
So, I told Mary, let’s just agree that «schwouldja» and «irregardless» are nonstandard words that have much better cousins who can do the job more capably.
Write carefully, schwouldja?
• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/baumannjim.
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Where do new words come from? How do you figure out their histories?
An etymology is the history of a linguistic form, such as a word; the same term is also used for the study
of word histories. A dictionary etymology tells us what is known of an English word before it became the word entered
in that dictionary. If the word was created in English, the etymology shows, to whatever extent is not already
obvious from the shape of the word, what materials were used to form it. If the word was borrowed into English,
the etymology traces the borrowing process backward from the point at which the word entered English to the
earliest records of the ancestral language. Where it is relevant, an etymology notes words from other languages that
are related («akin») to the word in the dictionary entry, but that are not in the direct line of borrowing.
How New Words are Formed
An etymologist, a specialist in the study of etymology, must know a good deal about the history of English
and also about the relationships of sound and meaning and their changes over time that underline the reconstruction
of the Indo-European language family. Knowledge is also needed of the various processes by which words are created
within Modern English; the most important processes are listed below.
Borrowing
A majority of the words used in English today are of foreign origin. English still derives much of its vocabulary
from Latin and Greek, but we have also borrowed words from nearly all of the languages in Europe. In the modern
period of linguistic acquisitiveness, English has found vocabulary opportunities even farther afield. From the
period of the Renaissance voyages through the days when the sun never set upon the British Empire and up to
the present, a steady stream of new words has flowed into the language to match the new objects and
experiences English speakers have encountered all over the globe. Over 120 languages are on record as sources
of present-day English vocabulary.
Shortening or Clipping
Clipping (or truncation) is a process whereby an appreciable chunk of an existing word is omitted,
leaving what is sometimes called a stump word. When it is the end of a word that is lopped off, the process
is called back-clipping: thus examination was docked to create exam and gymnasium
was shortened to form gym. Less common in English are fore-clippings, in which the beginning of a
word is dropped: thus phone from telephone. Very occasionally, we see a sort of fore-and-aft
clipping, such as flu, from influenza.
Functional Shift
A functional shift is the process by which an existing word or form comes to be used with another
grammatical function (often a different part of speech); an example of a functional shift would be the development
of the noun commute from the verb commute.
Back-formation
Back-formation occurs when a real or supposed affix (that is, a prefix or suffix) is removed from a word to
create a new one. For example, the original name for a type of fruit was cherise, but some thought that word
sounded plural, so they began to use what they believed to be a singular form, cherry, and a new word was
born. The creation of the the verb enthuse from the noun enthusiasm is also an example of a
back-formation.
Blends
A blend is a word made by combining other words or parts of words in such a way that they overlap (as
motel from motor plus hotel) or one is infixed into the other (as chortle from
snort plus chuckle — the -ort- of the first being surrounded by the ch-…-le
of the second). The term blend is also sometimes used to describe words like brunch, from
breakfast plus lunch, in which pieces of the word are joined but there is no actual overlap. The
essential feature of a blend in either case is that there be no point at which you can break the word with everything
to the left of the breaking being a morpheme (a separately meaningful, conventionally combinable element) and
everything to the right being a morpheme, and with the meaning of the blend-word being a function of the meaning of
these morphemes. Thus, birdcage and psychohistory are not blends, but are instead compounds.
Acronymic Formations
An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of a phrase. Some acronymic terms still clearly show their
alphabetic origins (consider FBI), but others are pronounced like words instead of as a succession of
letter names: thus NASA and NATO are pronounced as two syllable words. If the form is written
lowercase, there is no longer any formal clue that the word began life as an acronym: thus radar (‘radio
detecting and ranging’). Sometimes a form wavers between the two treatments: CAT scan pronounced either like
cat or C-A-T.
NOTE: No origin is more pleasing to the general reader than an acronymic one. Although acronymic etymologies are
perennially popular, many of them are based more in creative fancy than in fact. For an example of such an alleged
acronymic etymology, see the article on posh.
Transfer of Personal or Place Names
Over time, names of people, places, or things may become generalized vocabulary words. Thus did forsythia
develop from the name of botanist William Forsyth, silhouette from the name of Étienne de Silhouette, a
parsimonious French controller general of finances, and denim from serge de Nîmes (a fabric made
in Nîmes, France).
Imitation of Sounds
Words can also be created by onomatopoeia, the naming of things by a more or less exact reproduction of the
sound associated with it. Words such as buzz, hiss, guffaw, whiz, and
pop) are of imitative origin.
Folk Etymology
Folk etymology, also known as popular etymology, is the process whereby a word is altered so as to
resemble at least partially a more familiar word or words. Sometimes the process seems intended to «make sense of» a
borrowed foreign word using native resources: for example, the Late Latin febrigugia (a plant with medicinal
properties, etymologically ‘fever expeller’) was modified into English as feverfew.
Combining Word Elements
Also available to one who feels the need for a new word to name a new thing or express a new idea is the very
considerable store of prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms that already exist in English. Some of these are native
and others are borrowed from French, but the largest number have been taken directly from Latin or Greek, and they
have been combined in may different ways often without any special regard for matching two elements from the same
original language. The combination of these word elements has produced many scientific and technical terms of Modern
English.
Literary and Creative Coinages
Once in a while, a word is created spontaneously out of the creative play of sheer imagination. Words such as
boondoggle and googol are examples of such creative coinages, but most such inventive brand-new
words do not gain sufficiently widespread use to gain dictionary entry unless their coiner is well known enough so
his or her writings are read, quoted, and imitated. British author Lewis Carroll was renowned for coinages such
as jabberwocky, galumph, and runcible, but most such new words are destined to pass in
and out of existence with very little notice from most users of English.
An etymologist tracing the history of a dictionary entry must review the etymologies at existing main entries and
prepare such etymologies as are required for the main entries being added to the new edition. In the course of the
former activity, adjustments must sometimes be made either to incorporate a useful piece of information that has
been previously overlooked or to review the account of the word’s origin in light of new evidence. Such evidence
may be unearthed by the etymologist or may be the product of published research by other scholars. In writing new
etymologies, the etymologist must, of course, be alive to the possible languages from which a new term may have
been created or borrowed, and must be prepared to research and analyze a wide range of documented evidence and
published sources in tracing a word’s history. The etymologist must sift theories, often-conflicting theories of
greater or lesser likelihood, and try to evaluate the evidence conservatively but fairly to arrive at the soundest
possible etymology that the available information permits.
When all attempts to provide a satisfactory etymology have failed, an etymologist may have to declare that a word’s
origin is unknown. The label «origin unknown» in an etymology seldom means that the etymologist is unaware of various
speculations about the origin of a term, but instead usually means that no single theory conceived by the etymologist
or proposed by others is well enough backed by evidence to include in a serious work of reference, even when qualified
by «probably» or «perhaps.»
The etymology of a word refers to its origin and historical development: that is, its earliest known use, its transmission from one language to another, and its changes in form and meaning. Etymology is also the term for the branch of linguistics that studies word histories.
What’s the Difference Between a Definition and an Etymology?
A definition tells us what a word means and how it’s used in our own time. An etymology tells us where a word came from (often, but not always, from another language) and what it used to mean.
For example, according to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the definition of the word disaster is «an occurrence causing widespread destruction and distress; a catastrophe» or «a grave misfortune.» But the etymology of the word disaster takes us back to a time when people commonly blamed great misfortunes on the influence of the stars.
Disaster first appeared in English in the late 16th century, just in time for Shakespeare to use the word in the play King Lear. It arrived by way of the Old Italian word disastro, which meant «unfavorable to one’s stars.»
This older, astrological sense of disaster becomes easier to understand when we study its Latin root word, astrum, which also appears in our modern «star» word astronomy. With the negative Latin prefix dis- («apart») added to astrum («star»), the word (in Latin, Old Italian, and Middle French) conveyed the idea that a catastrophe could be traced to the «evil influence of a star or planet» (a definition that the dictionary tells us is now «obsolete»).
Is the Etymology of a Word Its True Definition?
Not at all, though people sometimes try to make this argument. The word etymology is derived from the Greek word etymon, which means «the true sense of a word.» But in fact the original meaning of a word is often different from its contemporary definition.
The meanings of many words have changed over time, and older senses of a word may grow uncommon or disappear entirely from everyday use. Disaster, for instance, no longer means the «evil influence of a star or planet,» just as consider no longer means «to observe the stars.»
Let’s look at another example. Our English word salary is defined by The American Heritage Dictionary as «fixed compensation for services, paid to a person on a regular basis.» Its etymology can be traced back 2,000 years to sal, the Latin word for salt. So what’s the connection between salt and salary?
The Roman historian Pliny the Elder tells us that «in Rome, a soldier was paid in salt,» which back then was widely used as a food preservative. Eventually, this salarium came to signify a stipend paid in any form, usually money. Even today the expression «worth your salt» indicates that you’re working hard and earning your salary. However, this doesn’t mean that salt is the true definition of salary.
Where Do Words Come From?
New words have entered (and continue to enter) the English language in many different ways. Here are some of the most common methods.
- Borrowing
The majority of the words used in modern English have been borrowed from other languages. Although most of our vocabulary comes from Latin and Greek (often by way of other European languages), English has borrowed words from more than 300 different languages around the world. Here are just a few examples:
futon (from the Japanese word for «bedclothes, bedding») - hamster (Middle High German hamastra)
- kangaroo (Aboriginal language of Guugu Yimidhirr, gangurru , referring to a species of kangaroo)
- kink (Dutch, «twist in a rope»)
- moccasin (Native American Indian, Virginia Algonquian, akin to Powhatan mäkäsn and Ojibwa makisin)
- molasses (Portuguese melaços, from Late Latin mellceum, from Latin mel, «honey»)
- muscle (Latin musculus, «mouse»)
- slogan (alteration of Scots slogorne, «battle cry»)
- smorgasbord (Swedish, literally «bread and butter table»)
- whiskey (Old Irish uisce, «water,» and bethad, «of life»)
- Clipping or Shortening
Some new words are simply shortened forms of existing words, for instance indie from independent; exam from examination; flu from influenza, and fax from facsimile. - Compounding
A new word may also be created by combining two or more existing words: fire engine, for example, and babysitter. - Blends
A blend, also called a portmanteau word, is a word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two or more other words. Examples include moped, from mo(tor) + ped(al), and brunch, from br(eakfast) + (l)unch. - Conversion or Functional Shift
New words are often formed by changing an existing word from one part of speech to another. For example, innovations in technology have encouraged the transformation of the nouns network, Google, and microwave into verbs. - Transfer of Proper Nouns
Sometimes the names of people, places, and things become generalized vocabulary words. For instance, the noun maverick was derived from the name of an American cattleman, Samuel Augustus Maverick. The saxophone was named after Sax, the surname of a 19th-century Belgian family that made musical instruments. - Neologisms or Creative Coinages
Now and then, new products or processes inspire the creation of entirely new words. Such neologisms are usually short lived, never even making it into a dictionary. Nevertheless, some have endured, for example quark (coined by novelist James Joyce), galumph (Lewis Carroll), aspirin (originally a trademark), grok (Robert A. Heinlein). - Imitation of Sounds
Words are also created by onomatopoeia, naming things by imitating the sounds that are associated with them: boo, bow-wow, tinkle, click.
Why Should We Care About Word Histories?
If a word’s etymology is not the same as its definition, why should we care at all about word histories? Well, for one thing, understanding how words have developed can teach us a great deal about our cultural history. In addition, studying the histories of familiar words can help us deduce the meanings of unfamiliar words, thereby enriching our vocabularies. Finally, word stories are often both entertaining and thought provoking. In short, as any youngster can tell you, words are fun.
Last Update: Jan 03, 2023
This is a question our experts keep getting from time to time. Now, we have got the complete detailed explanation and answer for everyone, who is interested!
Asked by: Hipolito Goldner
Score: 4.5/5
(39 votes)
The term wordsmith is an actual English language word that was created in late 1800s to describe a person who works with words and is especially a skillful writer. The only variation on wordsmith is wordsmithery; both of these words are nouns, not verbs.
When did thingy become a word?
The first records of the word thingy come from the 1700s from Scotland, where it was used to refer to little things. Later, in the 1800s, it entered more widespread use as a nonspecific way of referring to a thing. The suffix -y serves to make the word diminutive or informal.
When did Merriam Webster write the dictionary?
In 1806 Webster published A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, the first truly American dictionary.
Can wordsmith be used as a verb?
wordsmith used as a verb:
To apply craftsman-like skills to word use.
What does Wordsmithery mean?
wordsmithery (uncountable) The work of a wordsmith; skilful use of words.
42 related questions found
What does Word Smith mean?
: a person who works with words especially : a skillful writer.
What is the first word of the dictionary?
The aardvark is not mythical, like the phoenix, since it really exists, but it has its own urban myth. Ask anyone which word comes first in an English dictionary, and they will assuredly answer “aardvark“.
Who wrote the dictionary first?
The first book generally regarded as the first English dictionary was written as Robert Cawdrey, a schoolmaster and former Church of England clergyman, in 1604 Cawdrey made use of wordlists published earlier in educational texts, such as Richard Mulcaster’s Elementary (1582) and Edmund Coote’s English Schoole-maister ( …
What is the first dictionary definition that you can find for virus?
1 : a disease-causing agent that is too tiny to be seen by the ordinary microscope, that may be a living organism or may be a very special kind of protein molecule, and that can only multiply when inside the cell of an organism. 2 : a disease caused by a virus.
What is a thingy thingy?
informal. : something that is hard to classify or whose name is unknown or forgotten : thing, thingamajig During the session in May 1996, the geophysicist’s instruments became the «yellow thingy» and the «red thingy,» and the …
Is thingy a Scrabble word?
Yes, thingy is in the scrabble dictionary.
What is a thingy ma jiggy?
or thing·u·ma·jig
noun Informal. a gadget or other thing for which the speaker does not know or has forgotten the name.
What does a logophile mean?
: a lover of words.
What is the meaning of Literateur?
: a literary person especially : a professional writer.
What is a Wordmonger?
: a writer who uses words for show or without particular regard for meaning.
What is the longest word in the dictionary?
The longest word in any of the major English language dictionaries is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a word that refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine silica particles, specifically from a volcano; medically, it is the same as silicosis.
Who invented word?
Hi, Molly. Homo Sapiens (humans) first existed about 150,000 years ago. All other forms of humanoids were extinct by at least 30,000 years ago. The best guess of a lot of people is that words were invented by Home Sapiens, and it was sometime in that period.
What was the first human word?
Mother, bark and spit are some of the oldest known words, say researchers. Continue reading → Mother, bark and spit are just three of 23 words that researchers believe date back 15,000 years, making them the oldest known words.
What are the 23 oldest words?
Here they are in all their ancient — and modern — glory:
- Thou. The singular form of «you,» this is the only word that all seven language families share in some form. …
- I. Similarly, you’d need to talk about yourself. …
- Mother. …
- Give. …
- Bark. …
- Black. …
- Fire. …
- Ashes.
What is the last word in the world?
Zyzzyva, a genus of South African weevils found on or near palm trees, is the newest last word you’ll find in the Oxford English Dictionary. Zyzzyva replaces the previous last word in the OED, zythum, an ancient Egyptian malt beer.
How do you use the word wordsmith in a sentence?
Wordsmith sentence example
- The great wordsmith is quiet. …
- What is not in doubt is that Owen is a master wordsmith whose style ranges from high lyricism to naturalistic banality. …
- More information on the wonderful wordsmith is available at Blue Nomad.
What is the plural of wordsmith?
Noun. wordsmith (plural wordsmiths) One who uses words skillfully.
How do I become a wordsmith?
Become a Wordsmith
- Use a simple word rather than a fussy word or a word cluster. Example: “She will assist you presently” or “He is not available at this time”. …
- Be thoughtful in your use of adverbs and adjectives. Is the word repeating something that is already evident? …
- Little qualifiers weaken a sentence.
In the most recent edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, 171,476 words that are currently in use are included, together with 47,156 words that are obsolete. Derivative words number about 9,500. These are added as subentries. Still many more are included in the 20-volume dictionary. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (3rd Edition, Unabridged) has about 470,000 entries, which is similar to the entries in Oxford Dictionary. Merriam-Webster also reports that the English vocabulary contains between 750,000 and one million words.
We take words for granted because we have been hearing and using them since birth. But if you think about it, where do new words come from?
Formation of new words
Very few words are invented by coining from a series of sounds that are chosen randomly. Many of them come from existing words with new meanings given. Some words are formed by changing some parts of speech. Still others create new words by combining different parts. They are called neologisms, which were manifested around 1772.
Neologisms are words that can come from several sources. For example, the word ”quark” came from “Finnegan’s Wake” by James Joyce, while ”cyberspace” came from William Gibson’s “Neomancer.”
The title of the novel “Catch-22” by Joseph Heller became an often-used phrase to describe a circumstance that is too difficult such that there is no escape in sight because the conditions are reciprocally conflicting. Names of authors become descriptive words as well, such as “Kafkaesque” and “Orwellian” from Franz Kafka and James Orwell, respectively.
Characters from famous books are also sources of new words, such as ”pollyanna,” (overly optimistic), ”scrooge” (selfish) and ”quixotic” (idealistic, romantic, unrealistic).
New words become integrated though constant use. Selected countries have organizations that adjudge when words are accepted. However, even if words are accepted, how people speak is not directly influenced by that. Phrasing is determined by which words are included in a language. The way people use words tells a lot about their culture.
In popular culture
Technology and culture are also influential in the development of neologism. Some of the latest neologisms in pop-culture are “Monstration” in Russian and ”Snowmageddon” in Canadian.
You might also remember the Doggo-Lingo that was popular in social media a few years back. Doggo-Lingo was used by some groups on Twitter and Facebook who posted pictures of dogs with funny captions. It became popular in Australia, a country known for creating diminutives of words and giving them an ”o” ending.
Still other words come from popular brands, such as ”Colgate” that became a common term for ”toothpaste” even if it is made by a different company. Others that belong to this group include Frigidaire, Xerox, Coke and Kleenex.
Effect on translations
Neologisms come from one language therefore translating them into other languages can be problematic.
Naturalization is used when doing translations that sound similar to English for published studies and research. Likewise, the English word is retained accompanied by a short explanation of its meaning. When translating neologisms, four translation methods are put into focus: loan translation, calque, use of analogues and transcription and transliteration.
Naturalization is usually used when English is the source language. Translators typically apply the ”think aloud protocol” when translating neologisms. This is the way they can find the appropriate word that sounds the most natural for the new word when used in speech. This is important because the right translation is critical in the legal systems and several industries. When the translation is inaccurate, it can lead to conceptual misunderstanding (translation asymmetry) that can result in miscommunication.
Embedding
It takes time for new words to be embedded into mainstream language. Some languages often borrow English neologisms and include them in their modern lexicon. For example, it is very rare for new words to be created in the Danish language, but it has borrowed several from English, including ”twerking, ”Brexit,” ”blog,” ”click bait,” ”selfie” and ”foodie.” Some of the spellings of borrowed words were altered to fit local spelling, such as ”metroseksuel” and ”oute.” The latter came from the word, ”out,” a term meaning, ”to out someone as a homosexual.”
Other words came from more exotic source, such as the Italian “barista” and the Japanese “emoji” that were introduced into other languages from English rather than from their original source. An exception is the word, ”quinoa” that was directly borrowed from Spanish, which was also sourced by the Spanish language from the Quechua, an indigenous language spoken in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.
English-sounding words that did not come from English
Surprisingly, there are new words that did not come from the English language. ”Helicopter parents” is a term used to describe parents who continuously hover over their children. In Denmark, what they use is ”curlingforaeldre” that translates to ”curling parents.” This means that the parents sweep aside all the obstacles that are on the path of their children. Some were used by Danes long before they became known to English speakers, like “facerape” and “fit to fight.” Danish speakers even have literal translations of English terms such as “svingvaelger” (swing voter), ”undskyld mit franske” (pardon my French) and ”veryvrede” (road rage).
What becomes clear is that globalization has something to do with the creation of new words because more people are learning English and adapting English to fit their own local language.
Processes of new word creation
The history of linguistic forms is called etymology. In an English dictionary, the etymology of a word is included, which describes what is known about the work before it was included in the dictionary. If it is a loanword, its etymology backtracks the process of the word from entering the English language to its earliest source.
An etymologist understands that various methods of how a new word is formed. Several processes are utilized and some of the important ones are as follows.
1. Borrowing
A large part of the English words used today came from foreign sources. A majority came from Greek and Latin, but English still borrowed words from almost all the languages spoken in Europe. In the process of linguistic acquisition, the voyages of Englishmen during the Renaissance period enriched the traditional English language.
Some of these include French, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Gothic, Celtic languages, Norman and Indian (khaki, shampoo, curry, jungle, pajamas). English was also influenced by Old Norse (knife, sky, egg), Arabic (mohair, saffron, henna, cotton, coffee) as well as Yiddish and Hebrew (jubilee, kosher).
2. Clipping or shortening
Another method in the creation of new words is truncation or clipping. This means that part of an existing word is removed. The process could be back clipping, for example gymnasium becomes ”gym” and examination was clipped to form, ”exam.” Some words are fore-clipped, although this is rare. Examples are influenza that became ”flu” and telephone that was shortened to ”phone.”
3. Functional shift
This method involves a shift in the function of a word, such as a verb form becoming a noun. Some examples are gaslight, party and accessorize.
4. Back formation and affixation
In back formation, a supposed or real affix (suffix or prefix) is omitted from an existing word to form a new word. Enthusiasm, which is a noun, became ”enthuse,” which is verb. The small apple-like fruit called cherry, used to be called ”cherise.” However, many users thought that it looks like a plural term and started using ”cherry” that they thought was the singular term for the fruit. ”Liaise” came from the noun, liaison.
On the other hand, affixation is the method of adding prefixes or suffixes, like in the words, ”awesomeness,” ”subprime” or ”semi-celebrity.”
5. Blends
Combining parts of or entire words is called a blend. In some words, they overlap. For example, ”chortle” was created from parts of two words – ”snort” and ”chuckle.” Other examples include ”motel” that was a combination of motor and hotel, ”brunch” from breakfast and lunch. Blends are words that you cannot break into morphemes. They are different from compound words, for example, psychohistory and birdcage, which you can divide into two stand-alone words. New ones include ”staycation” (stay and vacation) and ”pixel” that stands for picture and element.
6. Acronyms
Several acronyms are accepted as words, such as FBI (pronounced F-B-I), MRI (M-R-I, for Magnetic Resonance Imaging), NASA (NA-SA) and NATO (NA-TO). In this examples, you can still see that they started as acronyms, particularly because they are written in capital letters (uppercase). Some words that used to be acronyms are now written in lowercase, like ”radar” that stands from ”radio detecting and ranging.” In the medical field, you often hear the term CT scan or CAT scan, which stands for ”computed tomography” scan or ”computerized axial tomography” scan.
7. Transfer of place or personal names
New words can be formed by using the names of things, places or people. For example, ”denim” came from serge de Nimes, while ”silhouette” was from a Frenchman named Étienne de Silhouette. William Forsyth, a botanist from Scotland, lent his name to the flower called ”forsythia.”
8. Onomatopoeia
Many words were formed by the imitation of the sounds they are associated with, such as ”pop,” ”whiz,” ”guffaw,” ”hiss” and ”buzz.”
9. Popular etymology
Sometimes referred to as folk etymology, this process alters a word to either partially resemble a familiar word or make sense of a word that has been borrowed. An example of this is ”feverfew” that came from febrigugia¸ a Late Latin word for a medicinal plant that translates to ”fever expeller.”
10. Combining elements
Another process, mentioned earlier is the combining elements that already exist to create new words, without considering if the words in their original language match. Many of these combination words can be found in technical and scientific terms.
11. Creative and literary coinage
At times, a creative play on words leads to the creation of new words. ”Googol” was coined in 1920 by Milton Sirotta. At that time, he was only nine years old. A googol is represented by 10100. ”Boondoggle,” which means pointless or meaningless activity was first used in 1927 as a scouting term.
From these you’ll realize the origin of new words that made it into the English lexicon. They enrich the language and influence other languages as well. Ensure that your documents, which may contain a combination of old and new words are properly translated from or into English and other languages by calling the experts. Day Translations, Inc. has a large team of human translators who are native speakers of over 100 languages. They are located all over the world and ready to serve you translation needs. We have subject matter experts to translate medical, legal, business art and other documents for specialized fields. You can get in touch with Day Translations through email at contact@daytranslations.com or through phone at 1-800-969-6853. You can reach us anytime, anywhere you are. We are open 24/7, 365 days a year.
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