Disputatio:Henricus Geißler

This page uses both 'Geißler' and 'Geissler'. Should we standardise on the latter, given that 'ß' is not in the Latin alphabet? And what about umlauts - keep, or use 'ae', 'oe, 'ue'? Pantocrator 10:34, 16 Augusti 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It's a good question. With languages written in the Latin alphabet, our rule is to retain their accents, diacritical marks etc. just as they are. In the case of German in particular it's worth thinking about the issue because within the language 'ß' 'ä' 'ö' 'ü' are treated as equivalents to 'ss', 'ae', 'oe, 'ue'. However, my first response is that we should stick with our general rule, thus retaining the standard German forms 'ß' 'ä' 'ö' 'ü'. I'd like to hear what German-speaking Vicipaedians say. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 12:19, 16 Augusti 2011 (UTC)[reply]

English, of course, always uses the two-letter forms. Perhaps, though, we should at least use the expanded forms in titles, to facilitate searching, even if we use the German letters in the text. Pantocrator 12:00, 17 Augusti 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Searching seems to be possible anyway. I just searched for "Schroeder" and was presented with a list of people called "Schröder". I searched for "Geissler" and got Henricus Geißler at the top of the list. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 09:04, 18 Augusti 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Basically I see no problem in writing -ss- instead of -ß- etc., but if we start substituting the German 'ß' 'ä' 'ö' 'ü' by their equivalents, we open Pandora's box: There are similar letters in many European languages. French Vicipaedia has the following sentence: Le titre de cet article contient le caractère allemand ß. S'il n'est pas disponible ou n'est pas souhaité , le nom peut être représenté comme Heiner Geissler.--Utilo 15:28, 18 Augusti 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It goes without saying that English scribal conventions have no bearing on Vicipaedia. I agree with Utilo that substituting 'ä', 'ö', &c by 'ae', 'oe', &c, is apt to open Pandora's box. In Finnish, there are hundreds of surnames and place names such as Hämäläinen, Määttänen, Näätäjärvi. It'd be awkward to write Haemalaeinen, Maeaettaenen, Naeaetaejaervi. If we tolerate Vietnamese titles, as we should, maybe we could put up with German 'ß' 'ä' 'ö' 'ü' as well. Besides, German 'ß' is very nice, in my eyes. (Of course, the judgement of my eyes has no bearing on Vicipaedia. :-) )Neander 16:29, 18 Augusti 2011 (UTC)[reply]