Orð og tunga - 26.04.2018, Page 56

Kendra Willson: Splitting the atom 45
pound formation. The status of the Nobel laureate Halldór Laxness
may well have helped contribute to the acceptance of the loan word
in this specifi c context. The use of the foreign term also connotes the
international impulses behind the movement, whereas calques and
neologisms are “nativized”, partly stripped of international connota-
tions and history. If democracy is calqued as lýðræði ‘people-rule’, the
transparency is highly democratic in that you do not need to know
Greek to parse the term, but on the other hand the history of the con-
cept with its Greek roots is obscured.
Frumeinda(r)- does appear as the fi rst element of compounds – no
fewer than 62 diff erent compounds listed in ROH, 50 formed with the
genitive plural -a- and 12 with the genitive singular -ar-. These com-
pounds seem in general to refer to the literal meaning of ‘atom’ in the
context of physics, chemistry or nuclear technology. The fi rst citations
for a large fraction of them date from the mid-twentieth century and
are found in encyclopedic or scientifi c words such as Alfræðasafn AB
(1965–1968) or Undur veraldar (Shapley et al. 1945). While many of
these compounds are not listed as such in other dictionaries such as
Íslensk orðabók (2002), their meanings are for the most part transpar-
ent.
The compounds formed with atóm- also date from the twentieth
century. While some are fi rst att ested in similar scientifi c contexts
(e.g. the periodical Nátt úrufræðingurinn), the range of sources for at-
testation is greater and includes literary works, such as Þórbergur
Þórðarson’s Bréf til Láru (1924:199) (atómakenning ‘atom theory’) and
Íslenzkur aðall (1938:155) (atómasveifl a ‘atomic oscillation’) as well as
essay collections such as Einar H. Kvaran’s Eitt veit ég (1959:30) (atóma-
umbylting ‘atomic revolution’). Even when the topic of discussion is
atomic science, these citations seem more oft en to refer to broader
philosophical or societal implications of atomic science and technol-
ogy – a less technical and more “imaginary” atom.
A discussion of Icelandic neologisms in Tímarit Verkfræðingafélags
Íslands from 1946 claims that the loan word atóm became de facto ac-
cepted in the wake of the atom bomb and broader social relevance for
the concept:
Fyrir fáum áratugum voru það aðeins örfáir menn á Íslandi,
sem töluðu um atóm og mólekúl. Þeir tóku sig strax til og
mynd uðu orðin frumeind og sameind, sem voru góð orð,
og voru þau orð notuð af mörgum, þegar þekking á þessum
tunga_20.indb 45 12.4.2018 11:50:35