5.0039 Writing the Name of God (1/25)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 13 May 91 22:15:36 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0039. Monday, 13 May 1991.
Date: Thu, 9 May 91 07:46 EDT (24 lines)
From: DJBPITT@pittvms
Subject: Re: 5.0013 Writing the Name of God
The original inquiry about students who are unwilling to reproduce the English
word "God" in citations pointed out that altering a citation violates a basic
scholarly principle. I have no insights into the religious issues that my
colleagues have already illuminated, but perhaps a comment on citation
procedure is appropriate.
It is standard practice in some scholarly traditions, particularly law, to mark
non-substantive editorial changes in cited text with square brackets. Thus,
writing "G[-]d" would seem an acceptable and accepted compromise.
Additionally, it is standard practice in my discipline (Slavic linguistics and,
often, Russian or Slavic studies in general) to introduce certain orthographic
changes in cited text without any explicit indication that this has been done.
Specifically, Russian orthography was reformed after the revolution; certain
letters were eliminated and other spellings were changed. It is common (not
universal, but very common) in scholarly writing to convert pre-revolutionary
citations to modern orthography without comment. (Of course, this is not done
where the original orthography is materially relevant.)
--David
Professor David J. Birnbaum djbpitt@vms.cis.pitt.edu [Internet]
The Royal York Apartments, #802 djbpitt@pittvms.bitnet [Bitnet]
3955 Bigelow Boulevard voice: 1-412-687-4653
Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA fax: 1-412-624-9714