A bad sign of the times , but unfortunately useful to describe a phenomenon that is upsetting the civil aspects of our society : " femicide ". This is the noun chosen by Treccani as the 2023 "word of the year" .

A sad achievement which, however, falls within the wake of the meritorious work carried out by the Italian Encyclopedia of digging into the depths of our language , to see its neologisms, update our vocabulary and use it as a magnifying glass of social changes.

Masculine noun, composed of the female noun and the suffix 'cide', deriving from the Latin 'cidium', from the theme of caedĕre, or "to cut", to kill, "feminicide" is a practice as ancient as it is recent. the urgency of giving it a proper name.

The term , explains Valeria Della Valle, scientific director, together with Giuseppe Patota, of the Treccani Vocabulary, in fact only made its appearance in our language in 2001 and was registered in the Treccani Neologisms in 2008 .

«Direct or provoked killing, physical elimination of a woman as such, expression of a centuries-old chauvinist and patriarchal culture which, having penetrated common sense also through language, has left its mark on the conception of woman of an alleged, and always unfounded, inferiority and subordination compared to man" is the definition of the term that Treccani online uses to explain the phenomenon. A description that goes beyond the objective reference to describe a cultural fact. And in fact, explains Treccani, the choice of this word as a symbol of the year that is about to end «is part of the #leparolevalgono communication campaign , aimed at promoting a correct and conscious use of the language» and highlights the urgency of «bring attention to the phenomenon of gender violence, to stimulate reflection and promote a constructive debate around a theme that is first and foremost cultural: an operation designed not only to understand the world and society around us, but also to help make readers more responsible and raise awareness on a topic that has inevitably positioned itself at the center of current affairs."

«As the Observatory of the Italian language - underlines Della Valle - we are not concerned with the recurrence and frequency of use of the word femicide in quantitative terms, but with its relevance from a socio-cultural point of view: how much is present in common use, to what extent does it occur in print and non-fiction? Unfortunately, in 2023 its presence has become more relevant, to the point of configuring itself as a sort of alarm bell that signals, on a linguistic level, the intensity of gender discrimination".

(Unioneonline/vl)

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