The words kaċċa, traffiku, Żonqor and refuġjati were probably the most popular Maltese words in 2015 and, yet, they did not make it to the list of words of the year.
Instead, there is the new word tinstagramma and the revived tinnerdja and arjurant.
They are three of those chosen by the popular Facebook page Kelma that is run by University of Malta lecturer Michael Spagnol. More than 41,000 followers of the page are updated with curiosities and information about the Maltese language.
Every year, online dictionaries such as Oxford and Cambridge list new words that made it to the English pop-culture lexicon. The ever popular selfie was reportedly 2013’s biggest and stessu also made it into the Maltese list for that year.
In 2014, borrinu was coined when Malta was blanketed overnight by what many believe was snow and social media users struggled for a word which they had never needed until then.
The words are not chosen according to the number of times they were used over the past 12 months but they are newly coined words or those revived throughout the year.
While some were born online – wiċċinu, salottier and tinstagramma – others like arjurant (a corruption of ‘ja/a injorant’) were bred on the street and have been used for a while but became very popular last year.
Meanwhile, tistremmex was used by Daniela Gauci for a competition on The Sunday Times of Malta.
As in life, some words are less fortunate than others. Some will stick, such as tisliba, which Ġużè Aquilina had coined when the Maltese language did not have a word for crossword puzzle. Others, like marmad for ashtray, die a quick death.
Dr Spagnol said the introduction of new words was a yearly phenomenon. Most are borrowed directly from English, such as tablet, hashtag and hipster. Others are coined from the language’s own resources and, at times, these make it to our dictionaries.
The feedback that Kelma has received since it started publishing the words of the year in 2013 has been very positive. The word stessu made it to newspapers and song lyrics while 2014’s kejkina was used for a Facebook page selling cupcakes.
There are critics who, however, consider such practice as being the ‘destruction of the language’. “In our society we promote, celebrate and reward creativity in all sectors. We encourage children to be creative from a very young age… but not with words! Why not?
“Other languages do this all the time, such as ‘to unfriend’ and ‘facepalm’ in English, cappuccione (large cappuccino) and twittare (to tweet) in Italian and Merkeln in German from Angela Merkel, which means to do nothing or fail to make decisions,” Dr Spagnol added.
What does he think new words for 2016 will be?
Pointing out he had no crystal ball, he believes some of the words would be related to technology.
“In past years we’ve had ‘emoji’, ‘to photoshop’, ‘to tweet’… and in Maltese tillajkja, tixxerja, titteggja and a series of other verbs that do not go down well with some, especially when they see them written down. I think we’ll see more of these.
“Meanwhile, there have been new words related to fashion, such as onesie and mankini, others tied to some event such as the ‘ice-bucket challenge’ which is titbarmel in Maltese, and there have even abbreviations like SMS, LOL and OMG… or JJ for jekk jogħġbok and GRZ for grazzi.”
The top words of the year
1. arjurant
Someone really stupid, a prime ass, simple minded, an imbecile… tkunx arjurant!
2. tinstagramma
To upload a series of photos on Instagram after covering them with several filters and hashtags… oħtok tinstagramma kull ħaġa li tiekol, ħanina dinja.
3. tistremmex
To rest and sunbathe, to lie down in the sunshine with a beer can in hand.
4. salottier
Those who log onto the Facebook page The Salott to complain about the neighbour who parked in front of him, or whine about their slow internet connection, to ask why his cat sneezedtwice in a row, or because they want to know Lidl’s opening times.
5. tinnerdja
To lock up yourself indoors on a Saturday evening knowing that the only thing you will be hugging are your books and the only lips you will be kissing are the rims of the cups of coffee that you will down to stay awake.
6. wiċċinu
An emoticon – a digital picture expressing an idea, thought or emotion. Among the most popular (and also runners up)
tbissimu-)
għemżu ;-)
ilsienu-p
geddumu-(
qabżitlu-@