Latin Wikipedia
Type of site | Online encyclopedia |
---|---|
Available in | Latin |
Country of origin | United States |
Owner | Wikimedia Foundation |
Created by | Jimmy Wales |
URL | la |
Commercial | No |
Users | 160 |
Launched | May 2002 |
Current status | Active |
The Latin Wikipedia (
Professional Latinists have observed a gradual improvement in the encyclopedia. According to Robert Gurval, chairman of the
Modern vocabulary and coining policies
When the Latin Wikipedia began, the predominant topics were those having to do with classical history, but beginning in 2006, a group of new contributors greatly expanded the coverage of 20th-century topics, such as pop culture and technology.[1]
The official policy of Vicipaedia is that neologisms and user coinings are not allowed ("Noli fingere!" Latin for "Don't coin/make up things").
As in any language with a broad international character, often more than one correct term exists for a given concept (just as in English a
Many universities and other institutions[7] have official Latin names. In fields where Latin is the current standard language, Vicipaedia normally adopts official names as pagenames, even if they belong to scientific or technical, rather than to classical Latin. This applies to:
- names of Catholic dioceses
- Catholic official titles
- biological species and other taxa
- planets, asteroids, satellites, and constellations
- topographical features on extraterrestrial bodies
- anatomical names
- names of diseases
When occasionally a term for a modern concept cannot be found, the customary practice is to do exactly what most other languages do: to borrow an international word (often from a
Orthography
Latin Wikipedia made it policy[8] for all to follow the more widespread contemporary late 20th century orthographical habit of distinguishing u (pronounced as [u]) from v (pronounced as [w] in Classical Latin and as [v] in Ecclesiastical Latin) but not i (pronounced as [i]) from j (pronounced as [j] in both Classical and Ecclesiastical Latin). This orthographical practice was not without detractors, who claimed that it is a copy of the Italian spelling reform in which the i/j distinction is lost but the u/v distinction is maintained.[9]
The Latin
Latin Wikipedia, in common with the majority of modern printed Latin, does not require the marking of long vowels in words (in Latin textbooks this is usually done by adding a macron over a character, as for example, the e in stēlla.) Thus, both terra and terrā are written simply as terra, although the former is in the nominative case, while the latter in the ablative. The context usually makes clear which one is being used, though the use of macron or apex is allowed when the distinction is necessary.
Gallery
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Latin Wikipedia's 100,000 article logo (18 December 2013)
See also
References
- ^ a b Gomes, Lee (September 29, 2007). "Veni, Vidi, Wiki: Latin Isn't Dead on 'Vicipaedia' – Online Reference Features Britannia Spears, Disneyi; Disputing Computatrum". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
- ISBN 978-1-000-39599-0.
- ^ la:Vicipaedia:Noli fingere/en
- ^ "Parvum Verborum Novatorum Lexicum". Vatican.va. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
- ^ "Ephemeris". Ephemeris.alcuinus.net. 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
- ^ "Radiobremen". Radiobremen.de. 2009-02-02. Archived from the original on 2010-06-18. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
- ^ For example, the Royal Society, whose charter ([1]) is in Latin.
- ^ la:Vicipaedia:De orthographia/en
- ^ "Schola Latina Universalis". Avitus.alcuinus.net. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
External links
- (in Latin) The Latin Wikipedia
- (in Latin) Latin Wikipedia mobile version
- Anne Mahoney, "Vicipaedia Latina: Encyclopedia and Community" at DCC: Dickinson College Commentaries. Also published in Classical Outlook vol. 90 no. 3 (Spring 2015) pp. 68–90