©1997, 1998, 2001 by Sharon L. Krossa. All rights reserved.
Problem Names articles should answer the question "What evidence is there, or isn't there, that X was a name used by real people before 1600?"
Although the majority of users will probably be members of the SCA, many will not, so references to the SCA should be avoided, with one exception. If the author of the article has an SCA name, if the author wishes that name may be indicated in the byline along with their real name.
In particular, do not discuss SCA registration issues. It is not practical for Problem Names articles to keep up to date about whether the SCA College of Arms is currently registering or not registering any name. Especially, SCA registration practices should not form part of the discussion about the historical use of the name.
Use of the term "period" to mean "SCA period" should be avoided because many readers, both SCA members and otherwise, do not know when SCA period is. Dates and time periods should be explicitely indicated. (So, do not talk about "in period" but only "in this period" where "this period" has already been explicitely defined.)
The approach of the articles should be to present the historical evidence and interpretation of that evidence regarding the historical use of names, but to leave it to the readers to decide what these conclusions about the historical use (or non-use) of a name mean for their purposes. Readers may have different reasons for being interested in the historical use of a name, and so the article should not assume all readers are historical re-enctors or re-creators seeking names for their persona/character. In particular, articles should avoid explicit recommendations for or against using a name for re-creation purposes. Explaining when a name was and/or was not used by real people should be enough. After all, the reader may, for example, be looking for names to use for a literary character, in which case a literary name not used by real people could be perfectly appropriate.
Because not all S. Gabriel members have easy or regular access to the Web, draft versions of articles should be posted in ASCII form to the S. Gabriel mailing list. HTML (web) versions will change as appropriate ASCII indications of accents, etc. to the appropriate HTML format, so explanation of the ASCII conventions need not be included in the article text.
Names referred to should be between < > in ASCII texts. In web format they will be in bold without the < > (unless requested to leave the < > as is in the web version). Other text which should be in bold in web format should be between asterisks, *example*. Text which should be in italics in web format should be between underscores, _example_ . (Underlining will not be used in the web format, due the common web expectation that underlined text is a link.)
Links will be made as appropriate between the main body of the article and relevant notes and the bibliography.
If any special HTML formatting is envisioned, please indicate this in a note in the ASCII version.
The title should be in the form "Concerning the Name[s] X[, Y, and Z]". It should include all the main names covered in the article, in the forms most familiar to the general public. If one of the main names is not generally known, an historically accurate spelling should be used in the title. The main goal in the title is to make it easy for readers to find the articles that discuss names they may be interested in. A good example of a title for an article covering many names is "Concerning the Names Morgan, Morgana, Morgaine, Murghein, Morrigan, and the Like".
An example title section would be:
©1997 by Heather Rose Jones. All rights reserved.
[This date will be added to the HTML version]
The introductory paragraph (or section) should give an indication of the ultimate conclusions about the historical authenticity of the main subject names. (In part this is because some readers will not read beyond the first section).
The concluding paragraph (or section) should summarize the historical use and/or non-use of the main subject names. No new information should be introduced here.
Pronunciation guides should be given wherever appropriate, using the convention of backslash brackets and modern standard American English spelling for sounds. In particular, pronunciation guides should be given for all main subject names that have a historical usage. The following note, explaining the convention, should be included in the notes section, usually with a link to the first usage (see the HTML template):
Pronunciation guides appear between backslash brackets, \ \, and are intended to be read as if they were modern standard American English (except where noted) with the emphasis placed on the capitalized syllables.
The phrase "(except where noted)" may be ommitted if there are no exceptions noted in the pronunciations given.
The names used for historic languages and language periodizations should be uniform across the series of articles, unless there is some particular reason to deviate. Language names and language periodizations should be explained, usually in the notes section with a link to the first usage. See Specific Language Concerns below.
A bibliography with full references should be included. It is up to the author whether there should be specific citations in the main body of the article, as appropriate. If there are such specific citations, they will be linked to the appropriate part of the bibliography in the HTML version. (See the HTML template.)
The specific style of the bibliographic references is left to the author's discretion. This style should be consistent within the article. However, whatever style is used, these considerations should be followed:
So far, a standard explanation exists for Gaelic, which should be included in the notes section of all articles concerned with Irish or Scottish Gaelic names:
Early Gaelic (aka Old Irish) is the form of Gaelic used in Ireland and parts of Scotland from roughly 600 - 900 AD. Middle Gaelic (aka Middle Irish) was used from roughly 900 - 1200 AD, while Common Classical Gaelic (aka Early Modern Irish, Common Literary Gaelic, etc.) was used from roughly 1200 - 1700 AD. Pronunciation of Early Gaelic was pretty much the same in Ireland and Scotland, but in the Common Classical Gaelic period differences in pronunciation had become more marked. Very generally, both Early Gaelic and Common Classical Gaelic spellings were used in the Middle Gaelic period, with Early Gaelic spellings being more common in the earlier parts of the Middle Gaelic period, and Common Classical Gaelic spellings being more common in the later parts. Early Gaelic spellings are occasionally found in the Common Classical Gaelic period. Please note that although they shared a common language, the Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic name bases and naming traditions were slightly different.
There are particular style concerns for articles about Gaelic names, mainly concerned with terminology in the interests of clarity and avoiding confusion for non-specialist readers. When speaking of the language, the term "Gaelic" should be used, as it is common to both Scotland and Ireland. "Irish" should not be used alone when "Gaelic" is meant. Although such use of "Irish" is common practice in many scholarly works about historical Gaelic, most non-specialist readers who see "Irish" will not keep in mind that it refers to a language common to Ireland and parts of Scotland. If specifically Irish Gaelic is meant, then "Irish Gaelic" should be used in preference to "Irish" alone. Similarly, if specifically Scottish Gaelic is meant, "Scottish Gaelic" should be used in preference to "Scots Gaelic". Although "Scots Gaelic" is a perfectly accurate term, because there is also an unrelated Scotttish language known as "Scots", it is less confusing for non-specialist readers when refering to Scottish languages to reserve "Scots" for when speaking of the Scots language. These are general guidelines, and there may be circumstances when a certain amount of fudging is required.
As standard blurbs and particular style considerations are developed for other languages and cultures, they will be included in this style guide.
Problem Names Project articles are published by Sharon L. Krossa, with the assistance of The Academy of Saint Gabriel.
© 1996-2004. All rights reserved. Copyright of this article belongs to its author(s) as indicated above. Please do not copy or redistribute without proper permission!
http://www.MedievalScotland.org/problem/names/guides/style.shtml