Help support Name Explain by liking the video, leaving a comment, and subscribing to the channel.
Something I love so much about language is that it's a constantly changing thing.
It's never truly finished.
As time goes on, so does language, with some words falling out of favour, some words getting new meanings, and some brand new words being created altogether.
This is simply because our world is always changing.
New things and ideas come into existence, and it would be pretty hard to talk about these new things and ideas if we didn't have words to represent them.
So words are created for them.
If only there was some place or thing that we can put all these words into, with perhaps their definitions too and examples on how to use them...
O-oh yeah, dictionaries.
Dictionaries are hugely valuable.
Well, if you're obsessed with words like I am, they're valuable anyway.
The oldest single-language English dictionary that we know of dates back to 1604.
Robert Cawdrey's 'A Table Alphabeticall' lists over 3,000 words of English, all with brief and simple descriptions,
that it's safe to say in the last 400+ years a lot has changed in regards to dictionaries.
While many of us still may think of huge books when we talk about dictionaries, they've actually gone beyond that, too!
Well, okay, yes. They still exist as books, but now with the advent of modern technologies and the internet, dictionaries can live online in a much easier to navigate form.
Plus with dictionaries living online, it means they are much easier to update.
Instead of publishing brand new editions of the book every year, a single word can be added in a moment.
Though while it's easier than ever to update dictionaries, does this mean it's easier to add a word to the dictionary?
Well it seems despite these modern dictionaries, modern lexicographers (people who compile dictionaries) still use the same
use the same rules to decide whether a word should go in the dictionary or not.
However what exactly are those rules?
How could you get a word into the dictionary?
It seems to get a word that you have coined into the dictionary there are two key criteria that have to be ticked off.
Wide spread use and agreement.
This means that the word has to be in use by a large amount of people and those people all have to agree on what the word means.
Lexicographers spent huge amounts of time looking at modern writing.
This can be from books to news articles, and even tweets.
When they spot a pattern in language, a certain word being used often, each time it meaning the same thing, then they add it to the dictionary.
So even if you have created the single greatest word that perfectly fits its definition, if no one is using it then it's not going in.
Though feel free to add it to the Urban Dictionary yourself.
By how one might make it seem tough to get a word into the dictionary, you'd be surprised by just how many words make it in on a yearly basis.
And speaking of years, we recently entered a brand new year - 2020.
If you cast your mind back to the start of 2019, I made a video explaining words that entered the dictionary in 2018.
Well we've already established my love-hate relationship with traditions, so why not carry on another one?
And boy do I have a lot of new words to choose from!
In 2019 over 2,500 words and definitions were added to the dictionary!
Though we won't be looking into all of these, that's for sure.
However, before we really dive into this let's lay out some ground rules.
When I say over 2 and a half thousand words have been added to the dictionary,
I specifically mean the Oxford English Dictionary, as that's my dictionary of choice,
though others are available and it seems there very possibly could be more.
OED gives four updates to their dictionary a year, and we're looking at three for 2019.
Their website proudly says their next update will come in December 2019, as it's now January 2020 I'm going to say they're a little behind on this one.
But no worries, we have plenty of words to choose still from the updates they have given us!
And while we normally focus on names here on the channel, in these videos I like to spread out into other work classes.
Don't be surprised if you don't only see nouns but the odd adjective, and even a verb, too!
However the first word I want to cover is a noun.
I start with this word because it's a great example of a word that simply wouldn't be able to exist 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago!
This word is nomophobia.
I'm sure you'll be able to somewhat understand this word simply from it's 'phobia' suffix,
which means 'fear of something' and comes from the Greek word 'phobos' meaning fear.
Though what on Earth does the 'nomo' part mean, then?
Well the 'no' part simply means no, and the 'mo' part is a shortening of 'mobile'.
This word doesn't mean a fear of not moving,
but mobile refers to mobile phones, which are known in other parts of the English-speaking world as cell phones.
Or just phones, even.
Nomophobia's definition is; "Anxiety about not having access to a mobile phone or mobile phone service."
Which is something I think a lot of us have suffered in our life.
But like I said this is a great example of a word that simply would not have existed 100 years ago, as mobile phones didn't exist!
So a fear of not having access to one didn't exist, either.
Next up is a word that I've heard in use for many years now.
Chillax.
This is a pretty old term so I'm surprised it was only added to the dictionary this year.
OED themselves have a record of the word being used from 1994.
So chillax is at least as old as me!
Nevertheless, I guess this just proof of how long a word has to be in use before it can officially be added to the dictionary.
Anyways, for those who may not have heard this word, chillax is a verb and defined as;
"To calm down and relax; to take it easy."
The word itself is a blending of two other words with very similar meanings to this word.
'Chill' and 'relax'.
These two words themselves are rather interesting, too.
Relax comes from a Latin origin and means 'loosen', which makes sense as even today
we tell people to 'loosen up' if we want them to calm down, AKA relax.
But chill? Chill is a word with so many meanings!
The primary definition of chill is to make something cold, but has since gone on to also mean calm down.
I imagine this comes from the fact that being angry and being hot are closely associated.
So when we want someone to not be angry we want them to be not so heated.
So we tell them to chill.
At least that's my theory, anyway.
The next word I'd like to cover is the adjective of farty,
simply because I'm an immature child and this word makes me giggle.
And like with chillax, farty is a word that has been around for ages.
OED have records of it from 1965!
Yet finally it's been given a place in the dictionary.
Farty is defined as; "resembling or suggestive of a fart."
And I don't think we really need to go into too much detail on how this word came to be.
It's simply the word 'fart' with the 'y' suffix attached, as we see so often in word-formation.
This 'y' suffix is used regularly for turning a noun into an adjective.
Think of things like 'smell' and 'smelly' or 'cheese' and 'cheesy.'
I guess farty is just the next logical step in all this.
Fart itself seems to come from ancient unknown origins, though.
A particularly niche word that got added to the dictionary in 2019 is Manhattanhenge.
Now I know what you're thinking; "What on Earth is a Manhattanhenge?"
Well it's defined as; "A phenomenon in which the sun rises or sets in alignment with the streets that run
east to west on the street grid of Manhattan, New York City."
Which might make a bit more sense, however it really clicks together when you see of a Manhattanhenge.
This name comes from 'Manhattan', the part of New York City in which this phenomenon takes place, and 'henge,' like with Stonehenge.
This isn't because the skyscrapers of Manhattan are placed into window-like rocks like with Stonehenge.
But because the scenario of the Sun rising through the gaps happens at Stonehenge too!
Manhattan itself is a word that's thought to come from a Native American language.
It would have originally been 'Mannahatta' and meant 'tiny islands of many hills.'
Though those hills don't seem to be as present now.
And the 'henge' part of Stonehenge seems to be an Old English word for 'hanging', as these stones are somewhat hanging from one another.
Sometimes seriously old words that aren't even used much anymore are retroactively added to the dictionary.
And the noun of sprunting and the verb form of sprunt are prime examples of this.
This is a Scottish term and is defined as; "To pay romantic or amorous attention to a person, to seek to gain the affection of a person."
It's a term that dates back to the 1800s and why it was only added now, I don't know.
Even it's etymology is uncertain.
Though perhaps it relates to 'sprinting', as you may sprint/sprunt towards the one you love.
Mark Forsyth, author of the amazing book 'The Etymologicon', has even listed sprunt as one of the lost words he wished would come back.
Well now that it's in the dictionary, perhaps its return is imminent!
One of the words that entered the dictionary in 2019 I've found most interesting is hardly a new word at all.
In fact it's a word I'm pretty sure all of you all know already.
Favourite.
Yeah, it took 'till 2019 for the word favourite to be added to the dictionary.
Okay, so I'm lying a bit there.
Favourite has been in the dictionary for ages, as a noun and adjective.
But in 2019 favourite was added to the dictionary as a verb, as in to favourite something.
Like we do with websites we use regularly.
I find this so fascinating that I've been using favourite as a verb for years now, and it never occured to me that I was using a noun as a verb and not changing it any other way.
Maybe it's because I'm way too into words, but I found this really neat, and seeing favourite added to the dictionary as a verb made me realize this!
A simple, easy to understand verb that made it's way into the dictionary in 2019 is dejunk.
Which is defined as; "To remove junk from a place by disposing of clutter and unwanted possessions."
There really isn't too much with this one.
It's the usual 'de' prefix meaning to undo and 'junk'.
Junk's etymology isn't actually known, but originally it just meant 'old, unwanted rope',
but transitioned to mean anything old and unwanted.
I included dejunk here as I feel at the start of the year many people want to improve their lives.
And having a good dejunk is a great way to do that!
Perhaps I could do with one myself.
Perhaps the best use of wordplay I've found from words added in 2019 has to go to the noun hasbian.
Now at first I found it hard to figure out what this word could mean.
It didn't ring any bells in my head as to what word or words it could come from.
But then I read it's definition.
With that definition being; "A woman who previously identified as a lesbian, especially one who now identifies as a heterosexual."
And then it all clicked.
The word is a wonderful blending of 'has-been' and 'lesbian'.
Which I just found very clever.
The word lesbian of course derives from the Greek island of Lesbos.
And I explained it in much more detail in another video of mine.
A verb I've been hearing for some time now is gamify.
And in 2019 it finally made its way into the dictionary.
This means; "To make something into or like a game. To apply elements of game playing, such as point scoring, competition with others, etc.
Typically encouraging engagement with a product or service."
This of course is just the word 'game' with the 'ify' suffix attached to it.
Gamification as it is in noun form is something I've been interested in for a while now.
So I'm happy to see it added to the dictionary!
And finally we have the magnificent noun of Omnishambles.
'Omni' is a prefix that means all-encompassing, and that something is happening in all ways and places.
And 'shambles' means something that is in absolute disorder.
So omnishambles means a situation that is going wrong in every possible way imaginable.
So this word is just a blending of 'omni' and 'shambles'.
It's actually defined in the OED as; "a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, or is characterized by a series of blunders and miscalculations.
Chiefly in political contexts."
Now, I wonder what political situation has been going on in our planet to bring the word omnishambles into the dictionary.
Anyway, I'm going to stop before it gets too political.
This was just ten of the words added to the dictionary in 2019.
What one was your favourite?
And like I mentioned, there were way more words added, OED's update page will be linked down below so go check it out!
Find some words you liked and share them in the comments!
And finally, let's try and peer into the crystal ball and figure out what words will enter the dictionary in 2020.
And then hopefully I'll explain them to you all in January 2021.
Thank you to all my patrons who support Name Explain on a monthly basis.
Name Explain depends on small, monthly donations from fans like you to help keep the channel running.
Just the small amount of $2 a month helps in a huge way.
Grants you Patreon-exclusive Name Explain extras and it gets your name here with all these awesome people!
Thank you.
Hello all, and thank you so much for reaching the end of the video.
Stick around and check out another video, and subscribe for all things Name Explain.
You can follow me on Twitter at @NameExplainYT.
Follow me there and tweet the name 'Greta' at me so I know you came from this message.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed this video and once again thank you all so much.
Transcriber's Note: epic