>Even though there are many exotic reference books and resources, context is key. For example, the official name for Dunstable is Dunstaple, but in certain contexts that would appear overly scholarly. And the official names change, as well.
A name in a sense is a term, and as a term it is subject to what Ezra Pound artfully referred to as the"reader implied by the language". If we quote Shakespeare's famous line A rose by any other name would smell as sweet we are responding to an implied context, because few if any are interested in the text of the first folio A rose by any other word would smell as sweet Unless we were bugged by the fact that the word name repeats in close proximity from the previous line. And no one I have ever heard refers to Pictures at an exhibition by its real name Kartinki which is a shame, but it is context. It is interesting to speculate on what players of the lute will be called in thirty years, I think "lute players" is a strong possibilty for both formal and informal writing. The collective unconcious still interprets the extra syllable in lutenist as reasonable, even if the internal diminutive meaning is lost, but the next generation will, I suspect, find it archaic. dt >How does one determine the standard spelling? I would use the >Name Authority files at the Library of Congress. The files are >used mainly by library cataloguers in order to determine the main >spelling to use in a catalogue. So "Gaultier, Jacques" might be >the main entry under which all books by him are listed, and forms >of >the name like Gautier, Gawltier or Gottier would appear in the >catalogue with a "see" reference, e.g., Gottier, _see_ Gaultier. >=====AJN (Boston, Mass.)===== > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Anthony Hind" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "Edward Martin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; ><[email protected]>; "Arthur Ness" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 5:53 AM >Subject: [LUTE] Re: Lutanist mayhem (was) Re: Etymology > > > >| >| >| -- >| To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
