THOUGHTS ON THE DESCRIPTION, SPELLING AND PRONUNCIATION OF THE OMICRON VARIANT OF THE CORONAVIRUS IN TURKISH

It has nearly been three years since the Coronavirus broke out in China and spread across the world and infected millions of people, young and old. Many people, who got infected, have lost their lives or experienced permanent or temporary health problems. 2019 was the start of the Covid-19 era and terms such as „Coronavirus, variant, mutations, subvariants‟ entered our languages. The World Health Organization has named the virus „Covid-19‟ and provided information to the globe about its symptoms, its effects on people‟s health, ways of treatment and suggested measures of protection on the national and regional levels. Covid-19 and its variants have received massive media coverage. In the field of medicine, research, healthcare settings


INTRODUCTION
The Coronavirus, which emerged in China in the last months of 2019, spread across the world and turned into a pandemic. It has had a tremendous impact on people"s health and lives. It has led to the death of more than six million people worldwide and more than six hundred and twelve million people have been infected (Google, 2022 (2022) studied the effects of vaccines on preventing the transmission of Omicron. As can be seen, much international and interdisciplinary research on Omicron has been published.
Despite the emergence of the Omicron variant in Türkiye in early December 2021, it has only been studied by Eraslan (2022). Information mainly comes from WHO and the Turkish Technical advisory board for Covid-19 has supplied information via written and visual media. Several articles have already been published suggesting the spelling of the terms "Corona", "Coronavirus", and "Covid-19" into Turkish (Zülfikar, 2020;Eraslan, 2021). However, there is still no agreement on the definition and its spelling into the Turkish language. This study aims at pointing out the necessity of a definition and spelling of the term "Omicron", into the Turkish language. Additionally, the study aims to make a contribution to the medical literature on the national level.
The qualitative research method has been used in this study. The data has been obtained through the document analysis (document screening) method. Electronic and print dictionaries have been referred to in the search for a definition and the spelling of the term, Omicron.
Additionally, research has been done to find question to whether the word Omicron is a compound noun or an adjective and the following definitions of the term "micron" have been found: Tuğlacı (1983, s. 475) One-thousandth of a millimeter, micron. Ülker (2004, s. 561) A unit of length equal to one-millionth of a meter. Karol, Suludere and Ayvalı (1998, s. 446) A microscopic unit of measurement the size of one-thousandth of a millimeter. micrometer. Kocatürk (1999, s. 469) One-thousandth of a millimeter, microns. Erdemir (2011, s. 677) One-thousandth of a millimeter, microns. Nursing Terms work Group (2015, s. 434) Microscopic unit of measurement, micrometer, one-thousandth of a millimeter. Further research has been done into whether the "O" in the term "Omicron" has any meaning: Sinanoğlu (1953, s. 194) It indicates a draw(the even score in a contest or match) Dökmeci and Dökmeci (2011, s. 589) 1. Symbol of ortho 2. the symbol of Oxygen; a blood type symbol (0Rh+ or -) 3. The fifteenth letter in the Greek alphabet. (Omikron) Çelgin (2011, s. 457) The fifteenth letter of the ancient Greek alphabet. Nursing Terms Study Committee (2015, s. 677) 1. Oxygen 2. Orotic acid 3. Orotidin Medication and Pharmaceuticals Study Committee (2014, s. 1131) The symbol for "ortho-position" As the above definitions indicate, the letter "O" in the term "Omicron" is part of the term. So the term "Omicron" is not a compound noun, it is a proper noun.
As mentioned earlier, the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has been named after a letter in the Greek alphabet like the earlier variants. Coronavirus took its name due to its resemblance to a crown (Eraslan, 2021, s. 298), and it should be emphasized that the computer-generated image of the Omicron variant is similar to the letter "O" (National Public Radio [NPR], 2022).
The SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.529 has been classified as a variant of concern and named Omicron by the World Health Organization (WHO), after scientists in South Africa identified and reported the variant on Nov. 24, 2021.
In Türkiye, the Contemporary Turkish Dictionary (TDK, 2022b), The Turkish Language Institute (TDK, 2011) and Covid-19 Glossary (Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health, 2022) do not provide a definition for Omicron. This research paper aims to draw attention to the need for a definition of the term and raise interest to do studies to formulate a definition for Omicron and its spelling into Turkish.

The Spelling Of The Term 'Omicron'
In the Turkish language, there is no common agreement on the spelling of the term "Omicron", "Corona", "Covid-19" and "Coronavirus". In some Turkish resources, it is possible to see its spelling as "Omikron". In the study of Eren (2000, s. LIII), for instance, before the emergence of the Omicron variant, the word Omicron has been spelled as "Omicron" like in the original form. However, in the Spelling Book of the Turkish Language Institute (TDK, 2021, s. 25), there are some rules for spelling of words of western origin into the Turkish language, which might shed a light on the spelling of Omicron into the Turkish language.
Words of western origin are written in their original form, in case: The rationale underlying the spelling rule might be not to wander off the original form of the term. However, in the first rule about spelling terms, the word "some" implies that the rule is word specific, and does not apply to words in general due to the fact that the Spelling Book (of TDK, 2021) and the Contemporary Turkish Dictionary (of TDK, 2021) are not updated promptly and on regular basis, it leads to confusion of people as to how to spelling words of western origin into Turkish in resources. Fort his reason, different spellings are to be found of the same terms. The word Omicron is the fifteenth letter of the Greek alphabet and was inherited by the medical literature of the west, and with the suggestion of the Advisory Board for Covid-19 of the World Health Organization (WHO), the word Omicron has become a medical term that represents the name of a virus. In research and medical literature, it is used in its original form all over the world.
However, in the Turkish Spelling Book (TDK, 2021, s. 26), the rule is to spelling Greek names into Turkish by using Turkish letters that correspond to the phonetics of Greek. The same rule applies to the spelling of western origin proper and generic nouns that have the letter "c" in them are spelled into Turkish with the /k/ sound provided that the "c" is pronounced a /k/ sound. Here are some examples; physics, rhythmic, Titanic, Anzac, America, academic, Calven, doctor etc.-the Turkish spelling is fizik, ritmik, Titanik, Anzak, Amerika, akademik, Kalven, doktor and the like. Due to the fact that in Turkish the replacement of voiced letters with voiceless letters is common, the term "Omicron" should be spelled into Turkish as "Omikron".
The Turkish language is claimed to be a language that you read as it is written and you write as it is read but with words of different origin, the words need to be spelled. This being the case, the loanword "Omicron" should be spelled as "Omikron" and should be pronounced as it is written and written as it is pronounced.

CONCLUSION, DISCUSSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
Covid-19 is a pandemic, which has impacted people"s lives and economies in a dramatic way. Within three years, Covid-19 has mutated many times and the world has experienced different variants and subvariants of the original virus. Each variant has been named after letters in the Greek alphabet. By March 2022, the Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, and Omicron variants, respectively, were identified and named as five major variants, and these variants also have had multiple subvariants of their own.
In November 2021, after the Omicron variant was identified in South Africa, the world got alarmed and some countries took measures promptly, however, due to its highly transmissible nature it spread around the world in a short time. Because it is very strong, it still exists in our lives and keeps mutating.
With the outbreak of the pandemic in 2019, the terms "Corona, Coronavirus, Covid-19, variants" entered our lives and are still used. Like everywhere in the world, in Turkey experts have studied to formulate definitions for Covid-19-related terminology and how to spelling them into Turkish. Despite the efforts, no general agreement has been reached on the spelling of the terms "Corona, Coronavirus, Covid 19" and this being the case, they have not been included in Turkish dictionaries.
There have been plenty of scientific studies on the Omicron variant all over the world, and research continues but in Türkiye, there is no definition or scientific description of Omicron. In other words, in Turkish medical literature, the term "Omikron" does not exist in its spelled form. This research discusses the need for a definition of the term "Omicron" in Turkish and the need for a commonly agreed spelling of it.
A definition of Omicron could be formulated through the co-work of experts in microbiology, infectious diseases, and linguists of the Turkish language.
Words of western origin are one of the leading problems in spelling into Turkish. Based on the item in the Turkish Spelling Book (TDK, 2021), "When writing Greek names, Turkish letters that correspond to the phonetic of Greek letters are used." The term "Omicron" should be spelled as "Omikron" and be entered in the Turkish print and electronic dictionaries.