Guy Étienne Explained

Guy Étienne, (Gwion Steven in breton) or Abanna (18 September 1928 in Saint-Carreuc - 6 January 2015 in Châteaulin[1]) was a writer and lexicographer who is known for having created the Emsav magazine and the publishing house Preder. He wrote a lot of articles and dictionaries on the breton language. He was the leader of the scientific magazine named Lavar which was managed by linguists seeking to create new Breton words adapted to specific fields such as psychoanalysis, medicine or computer science. [2]

His work

First he wrote poems for the magazine Al Liamm since 1953, for example Eil pedenn evit gorreoù Nedeleg or Trec'h ar barzh He translated articles from other languages too.[3]

In 1959 he worked for the political magazine Ar Vro, with Pêr Denez and Ronan Pennek.[4]

Since 1960 he started to write articles on the history and destiny of the movement Emsav as in Eus an Emsav d'an emframm Ur gefridi bolitikel : diorren ar yezh resis Eil tezenn vrezhonek ar c'hantved, Lennegezh ha Dispac'h, Ar paradozioù kollet or Preder e 1970. And he was increasingly interested in creating words and developing language which became his favorite field of work from the 90s.

The lexicographer

Some exchanges of letters between Guy Étienne and Roparz Hemon about the construction of neologisms written in the magazine "Preder" between 1957 and 1977.[5] From these exchanges, guy Étienne decided to create a magazine called Lavar where all the exchange he had with Roparz Hemon, Goulven Pennaod, Yann-Baol an Noalleg, Martial Ménard, Yann-Varc'h Thorel about the proposed neologisms.

As he wrote literary, political or linguistic articles, and became a specialist in creating new words after having abandoned politics when his magazine Emsav closed in 1978. Since 1979 he has devoted himself, with Goulwenn Penaod, entirely to linguistics through the Preder editions.

The new words created were most often constructed from Celtic roots found in Old Breton, Welsh or Cornish and avoiding words of Latin or international origin.

Works

Poems

Dictionnaries

Studies

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Guy Étienne. Il a consacré sa vie au breton. January 8, 2015. Le Telegramme.
  2. Web site: Preder - LE DICTIONNAIRE DE L'INFORMATIQUE. preder.net.
  3. Histoire de la littérature comtemporaine bretonne, 1957, Abeozen
  4. Al Liamm, No.39
  5. Part of the dialogue can be read in Lavar 08