Romania Corrects Anti-Semitic, Racist Definitions
The Romanian Academy has corrected the definitions of anti-Semitic and racist words in the latest edition of a widely-circulated dictionary, after protests from Jewish and Roma groups.
"The definitions of 30 words related to the Roma have been revised in the latest edition of the DEX dictionary," Roma rights group Impreuna said Thursday.
The dictionary now stresses that several words derived from "Tsigan" (gypsy or Roma) are "pejorative."
The previous editions had "promoted discriminatory identifications and racist stereotypes without mentioning their disparaging meaning," the rights group stressed.
"The revised edition is a step towards normality and correctness," it added.
The Academy has also corrected the definition of "jidan", stressing that it is an "offending and racist term regarding a Jew".
This word was merely defined as a "familiar" synonym for Jew in the previous edition.
The Centre for Monitoring and Combatting Anti-Semitism in Romanian (MCA) last year denounced this "shameful" definition as "an expression of racism in its purest form."
The Romanian Anti-Discrimination Council also called on the Romanian Academy to correct the "racist and disparaging" definitions in the DEX.
Source: Agence France Presse
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