The Belarusian word of the year has been chosen since 2014.

And this year, as it turned out, readers of social networks together with experts - journalists and linguists - nominated (selected) 10 words for the "short list".

About four thousand people chose the winner in various networks.

Both new and old words could compete, but very important and frequent this year, especially if their meaning or at least perception has actually changed.

Until now, the presenters of the selection asked readers to give preference to positive, optimistic words.

This year, this advice could no longer be heard.

War is a Belarusian reality

The year 2022 changed the feeling and meaning of the word

war

for Belarusians.

The war nearby began in 2014, when Russia forcibly annexed the Ukrainian Crimea and took control of the territories in the Ukrainian Donbass.

Incessant massacres are called the regime's war with the Belarusian people.

But Russia's all-out attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022 cannot help but be called a war even by those who for a long time did not want to see the obvious.

The fate of Belarus may depend on the outcome of this war.

The attack is also taking place from the Belarusian territory, the actual leadership of the state is an accomplice of the aggressive war, and the activity of the military commissariats makes one wonder whether the Belarusian people will not be made an accomplice tomorrow.

To prevent this from happening, many Belarusians made and are making heroic efforts to save the good name of their people, risking their freedom, health and life itself.

Previously, the expression

before the war

meant "until 1939" (or until 1941 - for those who thought in Soviet terms).

Now it is necessary to specify which war is meant.

War and the army

The word

war

has a pan-Slavic lineage and Indo-European roots (cf. Lithuanian vyti 'to chase' and vytis 'pursuit').

In the Belarusian language, monosyllabic -

voi

,

vayar

.

The adjective

military

means exactly 'related to war'.

In the Belarusian texts of the classical tradition, Russian

military

corresponds to

military

-

when talking about the army

.

In Belarusian

the army

is not synonymous with

war

: it must be able to fight, but it is so that we are not attacked by war and not drawn into the war.

And in Russian, a group of words with the basis of

wars

is also connected with the army, - certainly, in that picture of the world, the army must fight all the time, otherwise it is useless.

The Russian language, as it were, leads the recruit to the inevitable war.

He is "

military

- obligatory

", he was called to "

military

coma

".

And the equipment of the state serves the war: the

military

-industrial complex

,

military

equipment

.

In 1933, as part of the struggle against the "National Democracy", the Belarusian words

military

,

military

they changed it to "military" - where "voenny" is in Russian.

In Belarusian, it should be

military-industrial

,

military equipment

.

And -

military commissariat

(abbreviated - simply "commissariat", there are no others).

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Ten words-finalists —

3

D

-

image

year

in

In second place in the voting is the word

occupation

(along with

occupier

).

It was also reinterpreted by many speakers of the Belarusian language, who see that occupier both in Ukraine and, obviously, in Belarus.

And these occupiers are no longer "German-fascist" (an adjective with which the word

occupier

was only allowed to be combined in the Soviet historical discourse), but Russian.

In third place is the word

Ukraine

.

This toponym has been in the Belarusian language since time immemorial, as well as in the Ukrainian language, but this year it took a very special place in the Belarusian linguistic and cultural space, filled with emotions of anxiety and sympathy.

Action of solidarity with Ukraine.

Minsk, 2022.

In the fourth place (and in the readers of Instagram on the sure first place) is the word

language

.

This surprised experts and journalists - this was not the case in previous votes.

But, probably, this word was nominated and voted for by people who were aware of the language problem, the language problem of Belarus this year.

This is how the generation "awakened" in 2020 returns to its national and linguistic identity.

A characteristic line under the vote in the networks:

"

War

"

... (But I would like

"

language

"

.

Obviously, the Belarusian language is meant (such a lexical simplification is made by people who return to the Belarusian language from the Russian space).

Among the ten nominated words (where

volunteer

,

partisan

,

struggle

, and

spring

) there were actually two new ones.

This is a co-

aggressor

- and the corresponding internationalism co-aggressor used to appear only occasionally, but this year both words described the status of the Minsk government.

And this is

Gayun

(the spirit of the grove, grandfather of the grove) - a mythological character whose name has become synonymous with the watchful eyes of Belarusians this year.

The word "year" should describe the whole year.

But how can we not mention the word

nabelist

, which sounded positively, alarmingly and powerfully in Belarusian at the very end of 2022.

Krieg

,

wojna

,

karas

The words of the year for some languages ​​this year have already been chosen, for others they are still being chosen.

In Western languages, they are often associated with prices, fuel/energy shortages, and the like—with the everyday anxieties of the common man.

But the closer to our long-suffering region, the more the feeling of war.

Gaspreisbremse — stopping (literally, brake) gas prices — is in third place in the ranking

of German

words for 2022 according to the jury of the German Language Society (Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache, Wiesbaden).

The first place is Zeitenwende 'turning time'.

And in the second place is the war: in the expression Krieg um Frieden "war for peace".

Voting for the

Polish

word of the year, which is held by the University of Warsaw, is still underway.

Among the two dozen nominated words, at least half are related to the war: wojna itself, as well as zbrodnia (crime, with clarification - w Ukrainie), agresja, uchodźca/uchodźczyni (fugitive), rakieta, dron...

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The selection of the

Lithuanian

word and expression of 2022 continues, and linguists have already predicted that the most important word of the year will be karas 'war'.

In neologisms, there is a play of consonants: klaikotarpis "terrible couple", orkupantai (from "orcs" + "occupiers"), putlaižiavimas (from "Putinas" and "padlaižiavimas" "licking", literally "putlicking").

Among the new expressions are pasūti paskui laivă 'send for a ship' and Visi keliai veda į Hagą 'All roads lead to The Hague'.

It is worth considering whether to start choosing the Expression of the Year in the Belarusian language as well.

And in

Russia

, linguists call the most probable "word of the year" this year... the euphemism "special operation".

Conscious lexical manipulation - not to call the war against Ukraine a war - succeeded for some time in the Russian language space.

But not in Belarusian.

About Word of the Year

"Word of the year" is traditionally chosen for different languages.

This was first done by the German Language Society (Die Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache, Wiesbaden) in 1971.

In the English-speaking world, the word of the year is currently defined by several authoritative scientific, publishing and journalistic circles.

The criteria for different juries are slightly different.

Bolshinya does not require that the word be completely new (although this is desirable), but it must be frequent and important in the relevant year (online dictionary resources count the number of requests) or significantly change the meaning.

"Belarusian words of the year"

For the first time, "Belarusian word of the year" was chosen by the Belarusian service of Radio Svaboda in 2014.

First, several invited experts were chosen, then the expert commission consisted of journalists and linguists, and since 2017, both experts and readers of social networks make up the voting list.

Last and vote for the most popular word.

"Belarusian words of the year" were:

2014

— Vyshymaika

2015 —

Nabelistka

2016 —

Belarusaphobe

2017 —

Freelancer

2018 —

BNR

2019 —

Kalinovsky

2020 —

Lives!

2021 —

Thyme

  • Vintsuk Vyachorka

    Born in Brest in 1961. As a linguist, he studied the language of publications of Western Belarus during the interwar period, initiated the modern arrangement of Belarusian classical spelling, contributed Belarusian programs and reading books for preschool institutions.

    An active participant in the national movement, starting with "Maistrovni" and "Talaki" in the 1980s.

    Author and contributor of popular science texts and books, including about national symbols.

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