Vicipaedia:De nominibus propriis/en
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[recensere] Personal names
- See also Latin Names of Historical Figures
- If a person already has a Latin name, either by birth or in common use, or used by the person himself, use it; e.g., Cicero, Confucius, Benedictus XVI, Carolus Linnaeus.
- If the person does not yet have a usual Latin name, forenames are to be transferred to a Latin equivalent if there is one; surnames are to be left unchanged; e.g., Georgius Bush (Georgius W. Bush), Iohannes Howard, Iohannes Ronaldus Reuel Tolkien.
[recensere] Place names
- See also Sources of Latin place names
- If the place has a Latin name, either by Roman use, more recent use, or use by the place itself, use it. e.g. Mare Internum, Chorea Gigantum, Londinium, Minneapolis.
- If there is no Latin name for a place yet, it is not to be translated unless it uses ordinary or translatable words in its own language, in which case we translate them. Thus, Pocatello (indecl.), Turris Eiffel, Nova Caesarea. But a compound word is not to be translated here unless in Latin the same compound already exists.
- In areas culturally influenced by the Roman catholic church many towns have names from Saints, exempli gratia
San Francisco,
San Diego,
Saint George,
Sankt Anton,
Sankt Moritz,
Sankt Vigil,
Santa Maria,
etc.
Following the nomenclator [1] we could render these names in Latin this way:
Fanum Sancti Francisci,
Fanum Sancti Didaci,
Fanum Sancti Georgii,
Fanum Sancti Antonii,
Fanum Sancti Mauritii,
Fanum Sancti Vigilii,
Fanum Sanctae Mariae,
Fanum Sanctae Fidei. - In Biology, Botany, Names of Dioceses and Zoology, many places have adjectival forms of their names (often ending in -ensis). Use these but before the type of settlement. For example
Malhamensis Vicus (for Malham, a village)
Tristanenses Insulae (For Tristan da Cunha, a group of islands)
Ebebiyinense oppidum for Ebebiyín, a town.
[recensere] Companies
Companies, religious societies, etc. are not to be translated unless they have a Latin name or a translated name is usual in other languages. Thus, Apple Computer, Colgate-Palmolive, Mitsubishi, Societas Crucis Rubrae. If you can, give a translation on first mention: Mitsubishi (Iaponice: Tres Rhombi)
- Trademarks are not to be translated. Here too, if you can, give a translation.
[recensere] Books and works of art
- If there is already a Latin name, use it. If this Latin name is translated from an original in another language, add a source for the Latin name.
- If the work is written in another language and we know of no Latin translation, use the name in the original language. (Give a translation after the first mention if you can.)
- If the work is not a piece of writing (such as a sculpture), translate the original or usual name if you can, and give the original name after first mention.
[recensere] Acronyms
- If a Latin acronym already exists, use it.
- If the acronym is language-independent, use it. Thus, NASA, UNICEF.
- If the acronym is not language-independent, it's better not to try to translate it, but to say it in full. But, if this becomes inconvenient, use a link to the article or the full expansion of the acronym with first mention: "SIDA" or "syndrome immunitatis defectus acquisiti (SIDA)".
[recensere] Transliteration of names
- If the name is originally in a language that does not use Latin letters, then we use an ISO transliteration, perhaps in a normalized form, as without accents or J. Thus, Victor Juščenko/Victor Iuscenco; ʾUsaʾmaẗ bin Laʾdin/Usamat bin Ladin; Hirohito, etc.
- Greek names are to be transliterated the way the Romans did. Thus, Nicolaus Cazantzaces.
- When translitterating Greek names, if a modern form using roman letters already exists use it. And be mindful that Greek surnames should only be translitterated, not translated.
