ROME - "I don't think anyone goes to look at the definitions of Man or Woman in a dictionary. The vocabulary, however - underlines Luca Serianni linguist who, together with Maurizio Trifone, led the renewal of the vocabulary conceived by Giacomo Devoto and Gian Carlo Oli in 1967 - it is not only a useful review of particular or difficult words and definitions, but the photo of a certain linguistic moment and therefore in certain phases reflects the changed meaning of some terms, as has now happened precisely with Man and Woman ''.
In short, an observatory of changes in the Italian language, once again the Nuovo Devoto-Oli, updated annually, confirms itself as a careful witness to the dynamism, social even before linguistic, of our country, and, in recent years, the entry of technological neologisms and English terms, today the authors and the editorial staff have paid attention to the words related to the changed social sensitivity on issues such as sustainability, inclusion, gender equality.
Here then is that the lemma Donna, first read at the beginning: '' The female individual of the human species: a beautiful woman; a cultured, elegant, refined woman; shoes, women's dresses; rights, the emancipation of women ''; while in the 2022 edition: '' Adult female human being: shoes, women's dresses; hairdresser for women and men ... accompanied by adjectives or other determinations, a female person considered in relation to his characteristics or qualities (physical, moral, intellectual, etc.) ''. Not to mention that the third example was the proverb: `` whoever says woman says damage '', explained as `` having some kind of relationship with the female sex in itself involves problems '' and has now become ''women are often the cause of problems (according to a misogynist view typical of many proverbs now in disuse). Thus the voice, which has become twice as long and the examples '' woman of life '' or '' going to women '' have been joined by many others, from '' Business woman '' to '' Woman of science '' and so on.
If we pass to the lemma Man, in the first lines we read of the contrast with the term woman '' more or less direct or implied, where the word indicates the holder or the symbol of virility or courage (if you let yourself be dominated by her you are not plus a man) and can be welcomed or endured with a tinge of complacency in the ambit of amorous or domestic relationships ''; a concept that has now been transformed as follows: '' Adult male individual endowed with firmness, energy, courage or other similar qualities, which according to a traditional stereotype are considered to be proper to man: be a man; do the man; try to behave like a man. '' And so on. However, more than 500 words in common use have needed a complete rewriting,because they were affected by the changes that took place in our culture and society, among which we mention Amore and Casalingo.
Having said this, the volume of the Nuovo Devoto Oli 2022 is very rich: 75,000 entries, 250,000 definitions, 45,000 phrases, 500 neologisms and new meanings, 200 notes 'To say it in Italian', 147 notes 'Matters of style' and much more (Le Monnier , pp. 2,560 - € 69.00. Digital version, available as a website and as an iOS and Andorid application - € 16.99).
The 500 neologisms and new meanings, mirror of this moment in our society, are taken from the language of current events (for example: Stable affection, Blended learning, Covidicum, Integrated Digital Teaching, Microplastic, Vaccine Passport, Transphobic), of politics (from Electronic democracy with zero-impact gender gap), of economy and finance (DOP economy, hypercapitalism, recovery plan), of culture and mass media (antiscience, Big Tech, culture of cancellation, proximity tourism), of newspapers and television (from frugal countries to ecological transition), jargons and idioms (banned, boomer, ingarellarsi) and new fashions and trends (biohotel, namelaka, okra, pinseria).
The pandemic has played a great part in all this, with all the rumors relating to the virus, viral variants, various types of vaccines, up to, just to give an example, Antigenic, with the new definitions of Antigen test and of antigenic buffer. and we could go on and on with a thousand other quotes. The vocabulary also has a repertoire of aids enclosed in three rubrics to navigate the pitfalls of linguistic communication. '' In short, a vocabulary that wants to keep up with the times and has therefore also taken on a mixed editorial form - concludes Serianni - and this 2022 edition is therefore also available in print, more streamlined, and in digital form with a strong strategic value on which they focus most efforts for updates, integrations and application development with 40,000 headwords and 50.000 more definitions, which would make the paper version absolutely unwieldy ''.
