November 2009, when the Rio 2016 event - "Paralympic Games" to take place in 2016 was announced. We verified that there is no doubt about this, although we have not paid attention to the fact that the vowel “o” was deleted from the word “Paralympics”. Hence, users of this precious language that we are, we feel asked: once again is the language being mistreated? There are rumors that VOLP will soon register the new form, as only then would we be aware that the term, in formal matters, would be registered. Continuing with the impasse, the discussions seem to gain even more liveliness, leaving us to know the real intentions of this fact.
The answer seems to emerge almost immediately, as for the CPB (Paralympic Committee Brazilian), founded in 1995, the new change was made in order for Brazil to become equal worldwide to the other countries. So, in the face of such intentions, would the Committee be moving forward and leaving behind the forgotten “o” of times and times of permanence, coming to be transformed into the Brazilian Olympic Committee? When contextualizing this issue, everything seems to be perfectly clear, given that there is nothing that contradicts: the The fact is that all this is nothing more than the reflection of globalization on our language, whose origins we cannot disagree. In this sense, it is good to say that the word "
paralympic” resulted from the addition of the prefix of Greek origin for (from paraplegia) with the adjective Olympic, similarly to so many other words that share our linguistic daily life.Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
If even the etymological roots were forgotten when the new spelling sounded, so many aspects about the formation of the word under study will perhaps not be forgotten. Therefore, in light of some similarities between words we know, as is the case of hydroelectric and gastroenterology, it is perceived as something normal the suppression of the final vowel of the first element. These words derive from gastroenterology and hydroelectricity. But then, suppressing the initial vowel of the second element is, at the very least, unacceptable.
What is noticed is that, experiencing facts guided by a widely synchronous style of language, we need to be aware that only the time will tell: whether they will remain, until they become formalized, or whether they will be conceived as an object of refutation, at least by most of the grammarians. At least, for now, the second of the alternatives prevails, even because even for Paralympic athletes it is the Paralympics, Paralympic Games, in short, precisely because they are held in parallel with the Games Olympic.
* Image credits: Shutterstock and Mohd Tamil
By Vânia Duarte
Graduated in Letters
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
DUARTE, Vânia Maria do Nascimento. "Paralympic Games or Paralympic Games?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/jogos-paralimpicos-ou-jogos-paraolimpicos.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
