Thursday, November 16, 2006
Cayuco, internet & chat enter Spanish Dictionary
The new essential dictionary (a reduced version of the academic dictionary that contains 54,000 of the 90,000 terms) of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language is to contain terms such as cayuco - wooden boats that arrive almost daily carrying desperate Africans to Canarian shores - internet and chat amongst its entries.
Users of the new dictionary will find, amongst others; the initials ABS, acronims such as NIF and terms such as rap, salvapantalla (screensaver), droga de diseño (designer drug), matar al mensajero ([don't] kill the messenger), tarifa plana (flat rate tariff), terapia ocupacional (occupational therapy) and vaca sagrada (sacred cow).
Apparently, 80% of the vocabulary that appears in the essential dictionary is common to both Spain and America, while 12% are terms that are only used in Hispanic America (grouped by geographic area.) We couldn't help noticing though that 80% and 12% only adds up to 92%, so we're not sure where the other 8% is used. There are certainly enough Canary Islands specific terms to make up some of the difference, but well, I guess language - not maths - is their speciality! :)
El nuevo diccionario de la Real Academia incluye términos como cayuco, internet y chat
