View source for Latinisation of names

{{Short description|Practice of rendering a non-Latin name in a Latin style}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Romanization]], the conversion of text written in another script into Latin (or Roman) letters, or [[Liturgical Latinisation]]}}

'''Latinisation''' (or '''Latinization''')<ref name="latinisation-def">{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/latinize |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171027232816/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/latinize |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 27, 2017 |title=Latinize – definition of Latinize in English  |publisher=Oxford Dictionaries }}</ref> '''of names''', also known as '''onomastic Latinisation''' (or '''onomastic Latinization'''), is the practice of rendering a ''non''-[[Latin]] name in a [[Neo-Latin|modern Latin]] style.<ref name="latinisation-def" /> It is commonly found with historical [[proper names]], including [[personal name]]s and [[toponym]]s, and in the standard [[binomial nomenclature]] of the life sciences. It goes further than [[romanisation]], which is the [[transliteration]] of a word to the [[Latin alphabet]] from another script (e.g. [[Cyrillic]]). For authors writing in Latin, this change allows the name to function grammatically in a sentence through [[declension]].

In a scientific context, the main purpose of Latinisation may be to produce a name which is internationally consistent.

Latinisation may be carried out by:

* transforming the name into Latin sounds (e.g. {{lang|la|[[Geber (disambiguation)|Geber]]}} for {{Transliteration|ar|[[Jabir (name)|Jabir]]}}), or
* adding Latinate suffixes to the end of a name (e.g. {{lang|la|Meibomius}} for ''[[Heinrich Meibom (doctor)|Meibom]]),'' or
* translating a name with a specific meaning into Latin (e.g. {{lang|la|Venator}} for Italian {{lang|it|Cacciatore}}; both mean 'hunter'), or 
* choosing a new name based on some attribute of the person (e.g. [[Daniel Santbech]] became {{lang|la|Noviomagus}}, possibly from the Latin (actually Latinised [[Gaulish]]) name for the town of [[Nijmegen]], and meaning 'new field').

== Personal names ==
{{see also|List of Latinised names}}
[[File:De Verborum frontispiece.jpg|thumb|[[Book frontispiece|Frontispiece]] of a 1743 legal text by [[Barnabé Brisson]] shows his name Latinised in the genitive {{lang|la|Barnabae Brissonii}} ('of {{lang|la|Barnabas Brissonius}}'). Barnabas is itself a Greek version of an Aramaic name.]]
Humanist names, assumed by [[Renaissance humanist]]s, were largely Latinised names, though in some cases (e.g. [[Melanchthon]]) they invoked [[Ancient Greek]]. Latinisation in humanist names may consist of translation from vernacular European languages, sometimes involving a playful element of punning. Such names could be a cover for humble social origins.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.phil-hum-ren.uni-muenchen.de/GermLat/Acta/Bernstein.htm |first1=Eckhard |last1=Bernstein |date=2002-08-20 |title=Group Identity Formation in the German Renaissance Humanists: The Function of Latin |publisher=Institute for Renaissance Intellectual History and Renaissance Philosophy, [[University of Munich]] |access-date=2013-03-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605230457/http://www.phil-hum-ren.uni-muenchen.de/GermLat/Acta/Bernstein.htm |archive-date= Jun 5, 2013 }}</ref>

The title of the "[[Wilhelmus]]", [[national anthem]] of the [[Kingdom of the Netherlands|Netherlands]], preserves a Latinised form of the name of [[William the Silent]].<ref>[http://www.national-anthems.org/facts.htm national-anthems.org – "Facts About National Anthems"].</ref>

== Place names ==
In English, place names often appear in Latinised form. This is a result of many early text books mentioning the places being written in Latin. Because of this, the English language often uses Latinised forms of foreign place names instead of anglicised forms or the original names.

Examples of Latinised names for countries or regions are:
*[[Estonia]] (Estonian name {{lang|et|Eesti}}, Dutch/German/Scandinavian name {{lang|gem|Estland}}, i.e. 'land of the [[Aesti]]')
*[[Ingria]] (Finnish {{lang|fi|Inkerinmaa}}, German/Scandinavian {{lang|gem|Ingermanland}}, i.e. 'land of the [[Izhorians|Ingermans]]', the local tribe)
*[[Livonia]] (German/Scandinavian name {{lang|gem|Livland}}', i.e. 'land of the [[Livonian people|Liv]]s', the local tribe)

{{lang|la|[[Eboracum]]}} was the Latinised name for the modern English city [[York]]. It is a Latinised form of the [[Common Brittonic|Brittonic]] name {{lang|cel-GB|*Eburākon}} which means 'place of (the) yew trees'. The Common Brittonic language was spoken by the [[Celtic Britons|indigenous people of Britain]] [[Brythonic Languages|and evolved into]] modern [[Welsh language|Welsh]], [[Cornish language revival|Cornish]], and [[Breton language|Breton (Brezhoneg)]].

== Scientific names ==
{{further|Scientific Latin}}
Latinisation is a common practice for [[scientific name]]s. For example, {{lang|la|[[Livistona]]}}, the name of a genus of palm trees, is a Latinisation of ''[[Livingstone (name)|Livingstone]]''.

==Historical background==
During the age of the [[Roman Empire]], translation of names into [[Latin]] (in the West) or [[Greeks|Greek]] (in the East) was common. Additionally, Latinised versions of Greek [[substantive]]s, particularly [[proper noun]]s, could easily be [[declension|declined]] by Latin speakers with minimal modification of the original word.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.informalmusic.com/latinsoc/greekdec.html |website=Later Latin Society  |publisher=Informalmusic  |title=Declension of Greek Substantives in Latin |access-date=2015-07-14 }}</ref>

During the [[medieval period]], after the Empire collapsed in [[Western Europe]], the main bastion of scholarship was the [[Roman Catholic Church]], for which Latin was the primary written language. In the early medieval period, most European scholars were priests and most educated people spoke Latin, and as a result, Latin became firmly established as the scholarly language for the West.

By the early 19th century, Europe had largely abandoned Latin as a scholarly language (most scientific studies and scholarly publications are printed in English), but a variety of fields still use Latin terminology as the norm. By tradition, it is still common in some fields to name new discoveries in Latin. And because Western science became dominant during the 18th and 19th centuries, the use of Latin names in many scholarly fields has gained worldwide acceptance, at least when European languages are being used for communication.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite journal
 | last = Nicolson
 | first = Dan H.
 | year = 1974
 | title = Orthography of Names and Epithets: Latinization of Personal Names 
 | journal = Taxon
 | volume = 23
 | issue = 4
 | pages = 549–561
 | doi = 10.2307/1218779
 | publisher = International Association for Plant Taxonomy
 | jstor = 1218779
 }}

[[Category:Latin language]]
[[Category:Neo-Latin]]
[[Category:Romanization|Names]]
[[Category:Cultural assimilation and names]]