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INPRIMATU
"Wifi", "jonki" and "transsexual" are some of the words that Euskaltzaindia has marked at the beginning of the year and that will be presented at the Academy.
  • The Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Basque Language has 466 new words. On 11 January, the Basque Academy announced the words that have been inserted in the dictionary, as well as the 392 sub-areas that have been regulated with them.
ARGIA @argia 2019ko urtarrilaren 16a
Euskaltzaindiko kideak iazko uztaileko argazki batean (argazkia: Euskaltzaindia).

Many of the words that will appear from now on in the Dictionary of the Real Academia de la Lengua Vasca-Euskaltzaindia are commonly used among Euskaldunes. For example, the academy has accepted the second meaning of the word “sandwich”, as a synonym for “sandwich” – its meaning in the Northern Basque Country that it had already approved before: bleach, clothing set or mixture.

The list of new approved entries and sub-entries can be found on the Euskaltzaindia website and there are also some curiosities. More than one will be struck by, for example, the fact that the sport practised almost every day by many vasco-speakers has now been incorporated into the dictionary: The word “txikiteo” is already a regulated form: “Go from bar to bar to take stockings” is explained in the Euskaltzaindia Dictionary.

There are those who start with wine and end up taking on other substances, often falling into addiction to hard drugs. They will also appear in the dictionary: Euskaltzaindia has regulated the word “jonki” as a colloquial expression to describe heroin addicts.

And leaving aside the drug aspect of the language, many terms also appear on the list that, although known, had not yet been included in the dictionary: “ninja”, “piercing”, “paparazzi”, “spa”, “transsexual”, “trekking”, “zeliako”, “txosnagune”, “wifi”…

Because language is not immobile, it is being renewed thanks to the daily use of Euskaldunes, creating new words and meanings. And academia has to reflect those changes in their vocabulary, not consider them paranormal. Incidentally, "paranormal" also appears in the list of new words.