lockdown
lockdown – sostantivo
The UK, like much of the world, remains under lockdown in response to the coronavirus crisis. Spain’s lockdown exit strategy was outlined by the prime minister during a televised press conference on the evening of 28 April.
Several countries, like Spain, Iran, Italy, Denmark, Israel, and Germany, that previously imposed restrictions are beginning to lift lockdown.
Il termine lockdown affonda le radici negli Stati Uniti, con due significati: il primo fa riferimento al sistema carcerario dove, nel caso di disordini, i detenuti sono locked down, cioè confinati nelle proprie celle finché la situazione non torna alla normalità. In tali circostanze i reclusi e talvolta il carcere nel suo complesso si definiscono on lockdown; il secondo significato attiene alle misure di sicurezza, quali l’impedire l’accesso a un edificio o a una zona (o l’uscita da essi), per far fronte a una situazione di pericolo derivante da una minaccia esterna. Le misure sono messe in atto sia per proteggere chi si trova all’interno dell’area isolata, sia per scovare e neutralizzare la minaccia. Quest’anno, con l’umanità minacciata dal coronavirus, il termine lockdown è stato adottato di qua dall’oceano per riferirsi alla situazione di ‘confino’ con cui ognuno di noi ha dovuto fare i conti. Per le misure di restrizione più drastiche, come quelle adottate in Cina, Italia, Spagna e altri Paesi, si parla di hard lockdown; per quelle meno severe, di soft lockdown.
Origini del termine
Il sostantivo lockdown nel primo significato qui esposto emerse negli anni 1970; il secondo apparve un decennio più tardi. L’ampliamento più recente è legato alla pandemia in corso.
Traduzione di Loredana Riu
lockdown – noun
The UK, like much of the world, remains under lockdown in response to the coronavirus crisis. Spain’s lockdown exit strategy was outlined by the prime minister during a televised press conference on the evening of 28 April.
Several countries, like Spain, Iran, Italy, Denmark, Israel, and Germany, that previously imposed restrictions are beginning to lift lockdown.
The term lockdown came out of the American prison system. Following a disturbance, prisoners would be locked down or confined to their cells until the situation became calmer; in such circumstances prisoners and even entire prisons are said to be on lockdown. The word’s second meaning also emerged in the US: at a time of danger from an external threat, a building or area is sealed off both to protect those inside and to attempt to find and neutralize the threat. With the whole of human society under threat from the novel coronavirus, the term lockdown has this year been repurposed to refer to the varying situations of confinement to which citizens are (more or less) willingly subjecting themselves. If the restrictions are very severe, as they have been in China, Italy, Spain and some other countries, this can be referred to as a hard lockdown; less drastic restrictions as in the US, UK and elsewhere are a soft lockdown.
Origin
The noun lockdown in the prison sense emerged in the US in the 1970s, with the more general security sense appearing in the 1980s. The further extension of meaning is the outcome of the current global pandemic.
