The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) and the Association of Spanish Language Academies (ASALE) presented the news of the on December 20th spanish dictionary (DLE), with more than 3,000 words between additions, changes and deletions.
Incorporating new lexical terms is essential to learning and mastering a language. Especially when it is understood that language names the objects and events of a constantly reinventing reality. Consequently, it is an extremely dynamic process.
In the social context, language authorities include ‘ageism’, defined as ‘discrimination based on age, particularly against the elderly’; In addition to “conspiracy”, “micromachismo”, “ruralize” and a new meaning for “gap”, in the sense of: “difference or distance between situations, things or groups of people, especially due to a lack of unity or cohesion”.
Likewise, some definitions have been revised and modified, such as that of “disability”: “the situation of a person who, because of their persistent physical, sensory, mental or intellectual disability, encounters difficulties for their participation and social inclusion”, d far from the nuances previous editions, shorter and more concise.
A similar thing happens with ‘racism’, the current definition of which would be ‘belief that upholds the superiority of one ethnic group over others, leading to discrimination or social persecution’, which the term was broadened in a more critical and judgmental sense in other editions simplified again, if you will.
Update 23.6 (2022) updates the electronic version of the Dictionary of the Spanish Language, approaching the 24th edition to be released in 2026 for the third century of the Official Dictionary (1976-1739), the first published by the RAE.
New additions related to the technological context also appear in this digital version: “Big Data”, “Dot-Com”, “Gamer”; and expressions such as: “electronic commerce”, “data mining”, “planned obsolescence” or “lifetime”. Also in the gastronomic field new meanings of “sancocho”, a rather enriched term…
Words like “cortisol,” “hyperimmune,” “lidocaine,” or “single dose” are incorporated into medicine; and from the literary ones already appear: “garciamarquaino” or “cortazariano”, referring to said Latin American authors. The colloquial expressions “copiota”, “gusa” or “we have” are also new.
The writer and academic Javier Marías suggested adding the term “translaticio”, meaning “belonging to or related to the translation”, as well as the inclusion of the words “hagioscopio” and “supervenido”, already added to this last update.
The RAE dictionary, or DRAE, is one of the most complete in Spanish and is updated based on the changes that are taking place in the language, which continually adapts to speakers’ idiomatic uses. In addition to the dictionary updates, it is worth mentioning the linguistic advice section available on the web and the sharing of doubts on the Twitter page, which focus on guidance on the appropriate use of language.