Recent neologisms provoked by COVID-19 – in the Danish Language and in The danish dictionary

Buchbeitrag

Inspired by GWLN 3, we take a look at the new words, meanings, and expressions that have been created during or promoted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic provides a rare opportunity to follow the rise, spread, and integration of words and expressions in a language that may serve as an illustration of how linguistic innovation in general works. Relevant words were selected from various lists, notably monthly and annual lists of prominent words attested in the corpus of The Danish Dictionary. Analysis of these lists gives an insight into the number of words that stand out month by month and what kinds of words are involved, both in terms of morphological type and of semantic category, with special attention given to neologisms. Finally, we discuss the criteria for selecting which words to include in the dictionary. With this study, Danish is added to the list of languages covered in the GWLN series on COVID-19 neologisms.

Object Details

• Language: Deutsch

Classification and Topics

• Subject: Neologismus ; Dänisch ; Korpus <Linguistik> ; Wörterbuch ; Englisch, Altenglisch

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Trap-Jensen, Lars ; Lorentzen, Henrik
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Mannheim : IDS-Verlag ; Mannheim : Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache (IDS)
• (when): 2022-11-16

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:mh39-113412
• Last update: 06.03.2025, 9:00 AM CET