Leo Messi Now Has His Own Adjective In A Spanish Dictionary

by Matt Rudnitsky | 3:03 pm, February 11th, 2013

There are no sufficient words in our silly “languages” to describe Lionel Messi. Pepsi is aware of this, and pounced on the opportunity to partner with a Spanish dictionary to come up with a new word to describe Messi’s brilliance. They enlisted Alejandro Sabella, coach of the Argentinian national team to help out. As Sabella confirms in this (Spanish) video, Messi is beyond the limits of language, as it is currently constructed. There was a hashtag, #UnAdjectivoParaMessi, but eventually, Sabella got the final say.

He chose “inmessionante” (notable for its similarity to the Spanish word for “impressive”), and it is a part of the new “diccionario de la lengua española” from Santillana. Santillana, from what we are told by a Spanish-speaking tipster, is a “lesser dictionary group” in Spain. There’s a big Pepsi/Messi icon on the cover. It will probably sell an inordinate amount of copies for a dictionary. The Spanish-speaking world will overtake us all with their knowledge of words!

Yes, this is real. The suffix “ante” is a common ending for adjectives that are non-gender-specific. The prefix is “in,” which I thought meant “opposite,” like incapaz (incapable), inaudible (inaudible), etc. So I’m not sure why that’s there. I’m quite confused, actually. If you are more knowledgeable about Spanish than I am, please Tweet at me, or comment.

This whole thing is slightly cool… and more-than-slightly dumb. But what would happen if this became a thing in America? Which athletes would get an adjective? What would they mean? Idea time!

tebowesque a baseball term used to describe a player that often hits one-hoppers right to the shortstop; a double-play machine (see what I did there?)

Man, that Derek Jeter is tebowesque at 43 years old! Won’t he retire already?

cansecan: a person who says things that defy human logic to an almost unbelievable degree

williamsive: a dude that really, really likes weed; a pothead; referring to the behaviors of Ricky Williams

Though I guess if “OMG,” “LOL,” and “dat” have appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary, this isn’t nearly as cansecan as it may seem.

[Mundo Deportivo, via Buzzfeed]

Andrew M.

Very interesting. About the prefix “in-”: it can certainly be a negative like for the word “invalid/inválido” (literally, not valid), but it can also be like the prefix “im-” in English, or even to mean “within/inside”.

If you look at the entry below “inmessionante”, which is “inmigración”, it’s clear there that the “in-” prefix does not negate “migración”. That is, “inmigración” is not “to not migrate.” The “in-” is just the prefix “im-” that we use in “immigration”.

Similarly, there exists the word “innato” (innate, in English), where the prefix means “in/at/within/upon, etc.” The root “nato” refers to being born, so together, they make, literally, “at/upon birth”. Something innate, is something that exists at/upon birth, as opposed to something that you would learn or acquire later on in life.

The “in” for “inmessionante” is clearly, as you mention, a play on “impresionante”, but since an the “im” prefix in English (for impressive) is “in” in Spanish, they simply add the “in” to mimic the word sound and formation.
Anonymous

Ah, awesome stuff … thanks!!
Carter S

We do talk about Berraisms in reference to Yogi Berra quotes. We also hear of plays or attitudes being Ruthian or Favrian. Maybe the advertising guys (what is Spanish for “Mad Men”?) are more creative with it, but we’ve been doing it for years.
Anonymous

Oh, definitely. But it is taking it to another level by actually putting it in a dictionary.

Leo Messi Now Has His Own Adjective In A Spanish Dictionary

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