‘Vacunodromo’ won the gold medal in the 2021 word contest. It competed with garbage and, our favorite, mechagendemic
Silvia Hurtado González, University of Valladolid
Since 2012, the magazine semicolon, the newsletter of Spanish translators, has been holding a very special competition: “The word of the year”. Inside the latest issue of this magazine, which has just been published, announces the winning word of 2021, which is nothing more than “vaccinadrome”, a term again related to the pandemic, since last year the winning word was “zoombirthday”, Within the same thematic area.
And is that candidates for this competition, in addition to being words, in the sense of “rare or ill-spoken word” (first meaning of the DLE), must be new (in form or in sense) and be on the rise. updated informative. But before reviewing some of the words proposed this year, it seems advisable to address the “vaccinadrome”.
“Vacunodromo”
In the absence of an “official” definition, as this term, for the time being, does not appear in the latest academic dictionary (DLE, 2014), Fundéu (Urgent Spanish Foundation), promoted by the EFE Agency and the RAE, whose objective is the proper use of Spanish in the media, points that this term refers to “large facilities capable of vaccinating” or “mass vaccination points”.
Also, in one of his usual recommendations, he explains that it is a valid term in Spanish. Thus, “vacunódromo” was formed from the noun “vaccine” and the Greek base -drome (“Speedway”). This compositional element, however, has evolved from its initial meaning, which refers to a race or place where a race is held, such as “hippodrome” (“place for horse racing”) or “velodrome” (” Place intended for bicycle races “), up to the idea of” great facility “.
It turns out that, more than a century ago, an “airfield” was created, which is obviously not a place for aircraft racing, but rather a “place for taking off and landing planes”. This new notion of “large space (an airfield, of course, is) intended for specific purposes” is also present in other terms, such as the “rockodromo” (“a place where musical performances are held, usually outdoors”) or the already mentioned “Vacunadrome”.
Therefore, given that “vacunódromo” obeys the morphological guidelines of the Spanish language and its meaning is transparent, the Fundéu, as already mentioned, considers it correct.
In other American countries, such as Argentina, preference is given to the expression “vaccinator”, which is included in the Dictionary of Americanisms, which can be accessed on the RAE website, where it is stated, in fact, that this term refers to the “place of application of vaccines”.
Now, “vaccination” is not exactly the same as “vaccination”, since “vaccination” can also be used with the meaning of “room reserved to wait for vaccination”.
Another word related to the above, which is also valid, is “vacuguagua”, an acronym for “vaccination” and “guagua” (“bus” for canaries), although it refers specifically to vehicles that function as a traveling vaccination post. Obviously, this word is only used in the Canary Islands.
Other words
Along with this year’s winning word, they were sent to the magazine’s editorial office. semicolon much more. Unsurprisingly, most of them have to do with these three current problems: the pandemic, climate change and the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano.
So, in addition to the usual lightning, thunder and lightning, this year, unfortunately, we have to talk about “fajanas”, “pyroclasts” and “glued”, although more creative than these is the word glued, also submitted to competition.
Another current area, as already mentioned, is climate change and its consequences. Here we have trash Y summer, among others and, in relation to the pandemic, pandemic Y mechagendemic.
Now, with the permission of the volcano and the pandemic, words belonging to other areas, such as politics, were also proposed. These are portacoz Y demothanasia (the latter in reference to emptied Spain).
All of them are a good reflection of the vitality of our language, which is measured by its ability to adapt to changes in society and the new communication needs of speakers.
Their future is almost as uncertain as ours, though, as Haruki Murakami says (First person singular, 2021), “words are on our side if we’re lucky”. He, with a certain melancholy, writes the following:
“With the arrival of dawn, the wind diminishes and the surviving words appear furtively, in a shy and reluctant attitude, with a tendency towards polysemy, sufficiently prepared, however, to serve as witnesses to the world with their impartiality and honesty”.
Silvia Hurtado González, Professor at the Department of Spanish Language at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Valladolid
This article was originally published in The conversation. read the original.