The news is all over the world: the word TELENOVELA will be included in the eleventh edition of the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary:
Main entry: tel·e·no·vela
Pronunciation: \ˌte-lə-nō-ˈve-lə\
Function: noun
Etymology: Spanish, from tele- tele- + novela novel, serial drama
Date: 1976
: a soap opera produced in and televised in or from many Latin-American countries
This inclusion in one of the English language's most popular dictionaries legitimizes telenovelas. The term has been accepted into the mainstream. However, the definition still hinges on the soap opera...why not the other way around? Also the 1976 date seems a bit arbitrary to me since it isn't the date of the first telenovela, or the most famous.
I do like, though, the strong connection between the term and Latin America.
It will be interesting now to see if the word begins to be included more in conversations, news stories and everyday life interactions in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries.
3 comments:
Hi, Dr. Carolina Acosta-Alzuru
I welcome you into the little world of telenovela blogging. I would love to establish contact with you.
I am happy with your venturing into telenovela blogging, which is still new niche.
Merriam Webster Dictionary has done us well with this additional emphasis of the telenovela genre.
My blog is at: Telenovela Love Garden.
I treasure intellectual imput in this regard. My public mail address is aderaskeey@yahoo.com
Cheers sister.
Hi Philomena,
It's great to have you visiting my blog. I read some of yours and it's amazingly thorough. I will place a link to it in my two blogs.
Thanks also for leaving your email address. I will write to you in the next days.
Best,
Carolina
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