Croatian language gets three new words
- by croatiaweek
- in News
The Croatian language has got three new words after the annual Croatian linguistics awards to find the best new Croatian words took place in Lipik over the weekend.
Organised by Croatian magazine “Jezik” and the “Dr. Ivan Šreter” Foundation, the competition for the best new Croatian word and the “Dr. Ivan Šreter” Award for 2023 attracted more submissions than ever.
A total of 538 new words were submitted by 385 people with only 15 making the shortlist ahead of the competition. Submissions included words for things where there are no specific Croatian words already.
The three new winning words are Prestrujnik, Šećerice and Bakroza.
First prize – Prestrujnik – a word for power adaptor – went to Tomislav Meštrović and Ognjen Ožegić.
There are several Croatian words for the word adapter such as pretvarač, pretvornik and prilagodnik, but there are also at least ten different types of adapters that have nothing to do specifically with electricity, such as adapters for bicycles, pumps, tractors, steel hydraulics and gas bottles.
Power adapters (for mobile phones, tablets and computers) are either called adapteri or strujni adapteri, so a Croatian word for power adapter is a necessary word because it narrows the term adapter and defines it exactly, the commission said.
Second prize – Šećerice – a new word for a plant that produces sugar – went to Leonardo Štrac and Izabela Štrac.
Third prize – Bakroza – a new word for Wilson’s disease – went to Marko Bukna and Martina Pehar.
All the authors won cash prizes and awards.
The selection of the best new Croatian words is celebrated every year during the commemorative week of the Declaration on the Croatian Language.
The awards are named after Dr. Ivan Šreter (1951–1991), a Croatian physician who was sentenced to jail time in Yugoslavia in 1987 for choosing to use the distinct Croatian umirovljeni časnik to refer to his patient as a retired officer, rather than using penzionisani oficir.
The awards have been organised by the literary magazine Jezik since 1993.
You can see photos of the award winners being presented at the “Dr. Ivan Šreter” Awards for 2023 here.
