How to file authors with language-dependent names?

[Jellby]

There are some authors (persons or institutions) that have different names in different languages: Aristotle is "Aristóteles" in Spanish and "Aristote" in French; UNO is "ONU" in Spanish and French; Homer is "Omero" in Italian... The question which name should one use in the metadata for a book by these authors? (Or similarly: how do librarians deal with these authors?)

In general, one would use the original name of the author in his/her own language, of course, but sometimes the "translated" names have a too strong tradition to ignore them, or there is no "own language". As a second choice, I'd use the language the book is written in. The problem is I would have "Homer" for an English book and "Omero" for an Italian book, and these would be sorted as different authors, when they are actually one and the same. Or there could be different languages in the same book.

[Solitaire1]

Using english as an example, one way to handle it is to put the english name first with the original language name in parenthesis after it. That way both names are retained and they are group together.

I have a related issue with my music collection, where some artists/acts have gone by other names. One example that comes to mind is the group Prozzäk which is the original name of the group and the name they still use in Canada. However, in the U.S. they used the name "Simon & Milo" for a time (as presented Simon and Milo are the two members of the group). In my music collection I list all tracks by that group as "Prozzäk (Simon & Milo)" so they are all grouped together and to retain both names.

I hope that helps.

[rogue_ronin]

Originally Posted by Jellby

In general, one would use the original name of the author in his/her own language, of course, but sometimes the "translated" names have a too strong tradition to ignore them, or there is no "own language". As a second choice, I'd use the language the book is written in. The problem is I would have "Homer" for an English book and "Omero" for an Italian book, and these would be sorted as different authors, when they are actually one and the same. Or there could be different languages in the same book.

If you're using ePub, there is a "file-as" attribute. You could put the author name as appropriate to language in the "creator" element for each book, and use the "file-as" attribute to store a sort-of master name -- whatever you want to use as that author's core identity in your database.

In terms of something like Dublin Core, you may be out of luck. As it exists right now, there is no such "file-as" attribute. There is an "Attributed name" MARC Relator Code, though -- and a "Creator" code, and an "Originator" code. I haven't found clear definitions for these codes, but one may be appropriate.

m a r

EDIT: Whoops, found the definitions here...

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by rogue_ronin

whatever you want to use as that author's core identity in your database.

And that is the "mother of the lamb", the crux of the matter. What should be the core identity of the author? Should that be dependent on the language of my database? Can't I have a language-agnostic database? What if I distribute a book to people using other languages?

[rogue_ronin]

What did he call himself? If that's unknown, use the first name ever associated with the work. Add all the other names as alternates, so that it's searchable. Anything else is editorial.

Or be comfortable with editorializing. After all, there is no way to be precise, given the multiplicity of languages and scripts.

two cents,

m a r

[omk3]

Interesting question. I'd go with the original name, but what about authors whose original name comes in non-latin scripts? Would you file Aesop as Αίσωπος, Homer as Όμηρος; What about Chinese authors?

[alecE]

In the days when I catalogued library books for a living, the golden rule was "best-known form of author's name". Obviously this could vary from country to country, but for the UK, some standard examples were:
De La Mare, Walter (the French indefinite article not regarded as such in English)
but
Maupassant, Guy de

Lawrence, D H (best-known form of name is initialised)

Chekhov (best-known transliteration)
but
Tchaikovsky (just to be inconsistent, but adhering to best-known form of name)

And yes, all those classic Greeks get filed under their best-known forms - Aesop, Homer, Sophocles, Plato etc.

For Chinese names we used the PinYin tansliteration eventually, hence Mao Zedong replaced the earlier form of Mao Tse Tung - interesting exception as one could argue that the older form was the better known!

Bela Bartok usually suffered the indignity of being inverted into 'Bartok, Bela' - again strictly incorrect, but better-known in that form.

Naturally, we covered our bets - rule 33P of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules 1967 mandated an added (alternate) entry for any other form of name you felt might be helpful!