Working my way through the rules for nobility and royalty, there was one
more thing which bothered me.
For kings, etc., RDA 9.4.1.4.1 calls for recording the title and the
name of the state in a language preferred by the agency. This fits in
with the principle of using a well-established form in the language of
the agency (9.2.2.5.2, Exception) in such cases, e.g. (for an
English-speaking agency) "Frederick" instead of the German "Friedrich".
So, for an English-speaking agency, the AAP for Frederick the Great
would be:
Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1768
This is straightforward enough, but I'm confused about the variant
access points in such a case. For a variant access point, I'd use a
variant name, e.g. the German form "Friedrich II". But can I also change
the language of title and state, in order to have both in German?
This variant access point is certainly possible:
Friedrich II, King of Prussia, 1712-1768
But would the followin variant access also be possible under RDA?
Friedrich II, König von Preußen, 1712-1768
Looking up a couple of authority records at LC, I only came across the
first type (title and state always in English).
The second type (title and state in the same language as the name) would
much better reflect what is common in our current cataloging. For
example, here's an excerpt from the German authority record for Louis
XIV of France (don't worry about the subfield codes, I know they are not
the same as in "real" MARC):
100 $P Ludwig $n XIV. $l Frankreich, König
400 $P Louis $n XIV. $l France, King
400 $P Louis $n XIV. $l France, Roi
400 $P Ludovicus $n XIV. $l Gallia, Rex
548 1638 $b 1715 $4 datl
A consistency in language here seems only logical to me, and I would be
sorry if this wasn't possible under RDA.
But maybe, I'm simply worrying too much about the rules ;-)
Heidrun
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Prof. Heidrun Wiesenmueller M.A.
Stuttgart Media University
Wolframstr. 32, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany
www.hdm-stuttgart.de/bi
