The Dictionary as a Mirror of Time

The Dictionary as a Mirror of Time Posted by eriko1 on Oct 16, 2021 in Culture, Slang, Vocabulary

One of the largest Japanese dictionaries (辞書 jisho) is published from Sanseido. It is the most popular one. It was first published in 1960, and it has been edited periodically to add or delete words. The dictionary was updated this year after 8 years.

Language is alive and it is changing all the time whether you like it or not. Dictionaries must reflect these changes. So publishers must look at their dictionaries periodically. Sankyu Tatsuo, a Japanese linguist and a comedian, writes “Language changes reflecting time. So correct Japanese does not exist. This notion is shared by linguists (言語学者 gengogakusha) for Japanese, and Japanese linguists.”

Photo by pariwat pannium on Unsplash

Each publisher (出版社shuppansha)chooses which words to include and eliminate based on their philosophy, and that has resulted in the uniqueness of each dictionary. Some publishers value prescriptivism (規範主義 kihan shugi), while others may value descriptivism (記述主義 kijyutsu shugi). That may be one of the reasons why the Sanseido dictionary is most popular among all dictionaries.

According to Asahi Shinbun, the Sanseido dictionary values descriptivism, and it did add 3500 words in the 8th edition to be published in 12/2021. So let’s look at some words that have been chosen for entry.

Added New Words

New Japanese Words	Yomigana		Meaning
アラフィフ	arafifu	around 50 years old	about 50 years old
ウェビナー		webinar
ソーシャルディスタンス		social distance
エッセンシャルワーカー		essential worker
ディストピア		dystopia
ラスボス	rasubosu	last boss	the strongest enemy in the last stage of computer games: a person who has the feel of the last boss
受け子	ukeko		a person who is in charge of receiving money from a victim in frauds
いいね	iine	LIKE	Like as in social media, such as Facebook or Twitter
陰キャ	inkya		a person who is gloomy in character
マリトッツォ	Maritozzo		an Italian sweet
ゾーンに入る	zo-n ni hairu		get into the zone
きゅんきゅんする	kyun kyun suru		my heart skips a beat
黙食する	mokushoku suru		eat in silence to prevent COVID-19 from spreading

Added New Meaning

Japanese	Yomigana	Original meaning in English	New meaning
塩	shio	salt	as in 塩対応 (shio taio), meaning unfriendly cold response
巣ごもり	sugomori	nesting	as in 巣ごもり消費 (sugomori shohi)、meaning stay-at-home consumption
リモート	rimo-to	remote	as in リモート飲み会（rimo-to nomikai), a drinking party on Zoom
忖度する	sontaku suru	be considerate to the other party's feeling (positive)	Assume one's senior's judgement, and act based on the assumption blindly to be liked (negative)

On the other hand, 1700 words have been deleted.

Japanese word	Yomigana	English meaning	Description
携帯メール	keitai me-ru	cell phone mail	also called carrier mail. Email specially provided by cell phone carriers.
コギャル	kogyaru		a popular word in the 1990s, referring to middle and high school girls with dyed hair and mini-skirts.
スッチー	succhie	nickname for "stewardess"	female flight attendant
着メロ	chaku mero	ringtone
パソコン通信	pasokon tsushin	Personal computer communication	a closed network, while the Internet is an open network.
ミニディスク	mini disc	MiniDisc (MD)	a magneto-optical disc-based data storage developed by Sony in 1991.

As you might have figured out, most new words are related to computers and COVID-19, while deleted words related to old technologies and trendy words such as コギャル. Some trendy words were used so much that they became stale and uncool, resulting in becoming obsolete (廃れた sutareta). スッチー means a stewardess, which only refers to a female cabin attendant. The word stewardess was replaced by a flight attendant socially, and the word スッチーdisappeared.

Not many people may use actual dictionaries and many opt to use the internet to look up words. But if you have time, it is really fun to read an actual dictionary, aimlessly going word after word. Highly recommended!