[Wikipedia-l] Biography as a discipline

[Robert Bihlmeyer]

Lars Aronsson <lars at aronsson.se> writes:

> This makes it just like a translation.  The Danish words "smørrebrød",
> "København", and "H. C. Andersen" are translated into English
> "sandwich", "Copenhagen", and "Hans Christian Andersen".  We are used
> to translating nouns and city names, but this is a case where also
> personal names are in fact translated.  I find that fascinating.

Actually transliteration is common. Interestingly different language
transliterate the same source differently into the same target
alphabet, it even happens in the same language (witness the Ussama vs.
Ossama discussion).

Regarding H. C., I think we should use the person's preferred as the
article name. Other popular (mis)representations can redirect to that.
So if you're positive that he would have introduced himself with "H.
C. Andersen", go ahead, move, and redirect.

If the preferred spelling is unknown or contains characters not
allowed in page titles, the most popular English rendition is probably
best. The article itself should include the "native" spelling, as
should links (e.g. [[Kurt Goedel|Kurt Gödel]]).

> This sort of knowledge should be written down somewhere, but where?

Regarding Wikipedia, in some policy article. For science in general, I
don't know (the above were my personal opinions).

> Are there any handbooks (or useful websites) that explain how to write 
> biographies, biographic dictionaries, or encyclopediae?  Is there a
> Wikipedia page that lists suchs references?

I'd begin queries at your local university's history department and/or
publishers which publish a lot of biographies. These should at least
have "house rules" if not references to more generally accepted
customs.

-- 
Robbe
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