*Neuer Trainer wurde der Bosnier Aleksandar Ristić, der für den Verein bis 1990 sowie von 1992 bis 1996 zuständig war und somit zur prägnantesten Person dieser Epoche wurde. *
It’s the “prägnantesten” that is puzzling me. I get something like
The new trainer was Bosnian Aleksandar Ristić, who was responsible for the club until 1990 and from 1992 to 1996, and so became the [most concise? most pithy?] person of this period.
Is it trying to convey the notion that his name is particularly associated with the period, the “Ristić years” as it were?
I’d say yes, although the context of the quote could help. It basically means that Ristic coined the period for Fortuna Düsseldorf (had to google the club in question). It also implies that he was the most important figure for the club in that time.
*Ab den achtziger Jahren verlor der Verein den Anschluss an die Spitzengruppe der Bundesliga, 1987 stieg er zum zweiten Mal – nach 1967 – aus der Bundesliga ab.
Fahrstuhlmannschaft (1987–1999)
Neuer Trainer wurde der Bosnier Aleksandar Ristić, der für den Verein bis 1990 sowie von 1992 bis 1996 zuständig war und somit zur prägnantesten Person dieser Epoche wurde. Die Folgejahre waren von häufigen Auf- und Abstiegen geprägt. Fortuna Düsseldorf avancierte damit zu dem Verein mit den meisten Auf- und Abstiegen in den ersten vier Ligen in den letzten 20 Jahren.*
(but I think I understand the rest of it. “Fahrstuhlmannschaft” by the way is a nice German soccer term that means “elevator team”, i.e. what we would call a “yo-yo club” - a club that keeps going up and down between divisions.)
And it’s quite possible that the author didn’t mean to write “prägnant” but “prägend” (defining). The context of the quote would indeed help a lot to find out if it wasn’t the author who was puzzled in the first place by his words.
added:
Saw your answer too late - will take a closer look at the article …
added:
I think he meant to use the word “prägend”, although Ristić was indeed a character who could be described as “prägnant” in his language use.
This context confirms the proposed meaning of the quote. I now remember that Ristic is a kind of legendary figure for Fortuna Düsseldorf. He was very popular with the fans, his nickname being “König Aleks”, “King Aleks”. After his departure, everything went downhill for the club for a long time, and they still didn’t manage to qualify for the Bundesliga up until now.
Thanks again. “Prägend” would seem to make more sense. I guess he meant “prägendste” rather than “prägnantesten”? It did also cross my mind that maybe this guy Ristić was famously terse or something.
Ximenean, Ristic was one of those foreigners who understood the funny aspects of our language a lot better than most of the … natives do. A present day example is the now sacked coach of Bayern München/Bayern Munich, Louis van Gaal, who enriched our vocabulary with such einprägsamen words like “Feierbiest” and “Papageienmusik”.
I’ve heard a lot more fabulous new words or very true but odd sentences by foreigners than by my fellow Germans lately. I am inclined to vote for a re-schooling program in German by non-native speakers to remind us how to use our language creatively.
Your puzzlement, for example, showed an understanding of the words that is lacking far too often in native speakers; I’d bet that 8 out of 10 wouldn’t even realize that prägnant and prägend have a very different meaning. In other words: I take my hat off to you!
Btw, I shouldn’t talk about Ristić as if he were dead, he is just retired and lives, afaik, still in Düsseldorf and I hope he is well and witty as ever.
See, in England we don’t need foreigners to come up with, um, creative ways of using the language. Our native coaches and pundits manage that all by themselves. Ron Atkinson even had a new dialect, “Ronglish”, named after him.
I don’t know if you have to learn/speak German or want to. In any event, you might be interested in two funny books by an American about his adventures with German:
Both books are written in German but the sentences are clearly the product of a mind that is used to develop one thought after the other and not thoughts in between others interrupted by meandering musings about something completely different. So, not the kind of text English speakers dread when they think of German books.
