Public contests have been held in Estonia since 1972 to generate new terms for concepts entering the Estonian language from other languages. The document provides details on several such contests, including the number of concepts and proposals submitted. For example, the 1972 contest focused on general language and received 20 concepts and 182 entries. Recent contests have centered on topics like the European Union and military terms. The contests help add new words and expressions to the Estonian language in a collaborative way.

1. Public contests of neologisms
in Estonia
Peep Nemvalts, PhD
Head of the Centre for Academic Estonian
EAFT Terminology Summit
Barcelona, 27-28 November 2014
TEADUSKEELEKESKUS Peep.Nemvalts@tlu.ee

2. Public contests of neologisms
field concepts entries /
contestants
proposals
1972 general
language
20 182 hundreds
2002 EU 12 ~ 600 ~ 5300
2010 EU 11 593 2123
2014 military 9 58 531
2014 EU 10 850 ~ 3000
TEADUSKEELEKESKUS Peep.Nemvalts@tlu.ee

3. Contest of neologisms 1972
1) ‘electric razor’ formerly elektriline habemeajamisaparaat
‘electric beard+razing+device’
pardel
< pard DIALECT ‘beard’ + -el suffix for ‘tool, device’
2) ‘ignore’ formerly ignoreerima
eirama
< neg. particle ei + arbitrary stem, analogous to
eitama ‘to negate’
20 concepts
TEADUSKEELEKESKUS Peep.Nemvalts@tlu.ee

4. Contest of neologisms 2002
1) ‘globalisation’ formerly globaliseerumine
üleilmastumine
< üle ‘over’ + (maa)ilma ‘world’ + causative suffix -sta-
+ reflexive suffix -u- + vN suffix -mine
2) ‘structural fund’ formerly struktuurifond
tõukefond < tõuge ‘push’(N) + fond ‘fund’
3) ‘subsidiarity’ formerly subsidiaarsus
lähimus < lähim ‘nearest’ + abstr.suffix -us
TEADUSKEELEKESKUS Peep.Nemvalts@tlu.ee

5. Contest of neologisms 2010
1) ‘infrastructure’ formerly infrastruktuur
taristu < tarima DIALECT ‘haul, drag, bring together’
+ -stu suffix for ‘complex, cluster’
2) ‘sustainable’ formerly jätkusuutlik ‘sequel+(cap)able’
kestlik < kestma ‘(out)last, continue’ + A suffix -lik
3) ‘third sector, NGOs’ formerly kolmas sektor
vabakond < vaba ‘free’ + -kond suffix for
‘communion, affiliation’
(cf. EN -ry)
12 concepts
TEADUSKEELEKESKUS Peep.Nemvalts@tlu.ee

6. Contest of neologisms 2014 March–Sept
1) ‘infantry fighting vehicle’
formerly jalaväe lahingumasin
~ 100 proposals ‘infantry combat+machine’
rauter < rautama ‘to rough; ironbound’
< raud ‘iron’ + -(e)r suffix for ‘tool, device’
2) ‘armoured personnell carrier’
formerly soomustransportöör > soomuk
sotra
11 concepts
TEADUSKEELEKESKUS Peep.Nemvalts@tlu.ee

7. Contest of EU neologisms 2014 Nov 1st – Dec 1st
non-paper empower
streamline
„Ingliskeelne sõna streamline tähendab mitmesuguste protsessi-
de, menetluste ja eeskirjade lihtsamaks, ladusamaks või tõhusa-
maks muutmist. Seni puudub ühtne eestikeelne vaste, mis oleks
kasutatav paljudes eri kontekstides. Prantsuse rationaliser,
simplifier, moderniser; saksa modernisieren, rationalisieren,
straffen, umgestalten. Mõiste on kasutusel nt järgmistes
väljendites: streamlining of procedures – menetluste lihtsusta-
mine ja seostamine; European Association for the Streamlining
of Energy Exchanges – Euroopa Energiakaubanduse Soodusta-
mise Assotsiatsioon.“ ‘expedition, furtherance, promotion,
encouragement, contribution’
10 concepts
TEADUSKEELEKESKUS Peep.Nemvalts@tlu.ee