"
Pelé
", the nickname of the legendary Brazilian footballer who died in December, is since Wednesday one of the 167,000 words in the dictionary of common names of the Portuguese language and its 265 million speakers around the world.
The nickname of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, considered by many to be the greatest footballer of all time, who died on December 29 at the age of 82, is used colloquially in Brazil as a synonym for excellence.
In France, the popular expression of excellence is often “
Mozart
”.
In the Michaelis dictionary of the Portuguese language, "
pelé
" (without the capital letter) is synonymous with "
exceptional, incomparable, unique
".
Read alsoWhy Pelé fascinated even those who have never seen him play
In the Michaelis dictionary of the Portuguese language, "
pelé
" is synonymous with "
exceptional, incomparable, unique
"
Its definition is: "
Something or someone that is out of the ordinary, something or someone who by its quality, value or superiority cannot be equated with anything or anyone else, such as Pelé®, nickname of Edson Arantes do Nascimento (1940-2022), considered the greatest sportsman of all time
,” reads the online version of the dictionary.
Pelé Leco Viana / PANORAMIC
Michaelis also gives some examples of its use: "
He is the pele of basketball
", "
she is the pele of Brazilian drama
", "
he is the pele of medicine
".
The Brazilian Academy of Letters, which governs Portuguese in Brazil, where 215 million Portuguese speakers live, did not introduce the word "
pelé
" in its digital version.
Read alsoPelé left 30% of his estate to his widow and mentioned a woman who could be his daughter
This addition to the dictionary is the result of a joint campaign launched on April 14 by the Pelé Foundation, in partnership with Santos, the club where the triple world champion (1958, 1962, 1970) shone from 1956 to 1974, and the Sportv channel, of the Globo group, the country's largest media conglomerate.
Four months after his death, the eternal number 10 of Santos and the Seleçao is still the subject of many tributes, such as a minute of silence before all matches in the Brazilian championship and South American international competitions such as the Copa Libertadores or the Copa Sudamericana.