[DCRM-L] normalized transcription questions. Spanish San/Santa

[Deborah J. Leslie]

Ha! The first thing I was going to suggest was to find out what Spanish-language catalogers do.

I concur that for most of what you typically catalog, the ‘san’ or ‘santa’ functions as part of the name and should be capitalized.

For your second query, on whether to capitalize the second instance of Compañia when it stands alone instead of part of the formal corporate name, it’s one of those little things that doesn’t matter very much in the end, but you save yourself cumulative tons of indecision (dare I even suggest angst) if you just choose one and stick with it. My gut reaction would be not to capitalize a stand-alone compañia.

However, I spend very little time with Spanish materials, and others more experienced might have a different response. One of the advantages of the DCRM-L community is that it’s possible for catalogers to establish a general convention of practice. What do other catalogers of Spanish materials do? And whatever it is, are you satisfied with it?

______________________
Deborah J Leslie, M.A., M.L.S. | Senior Cataloger | Folger Shakespeare Library | 201 East Capitol Street, S.E. Washington, DC 20003 | djleslie at folger.edu<mailto:djleslie at folger.edu> | www.folger.edu<http://www.folger.edu/> | Opinions her own

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> On Behalf Of Noah Sheola
Sent: Wednesday, 16 February, 2022 10:57
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] normalized transcription questions. Spanish San/Santa

A little update. I did find what the Real Academia Española<https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/D_nZCzp4MAtrWXnH4nVP9?domain=rae.es> has to say on the first question https://www.rae.es/dpd/may%2525C3%2525BAsculas<https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/D_nZCzp4MAtrWXnH4nVP9?domain=rae.es> (scroll way down to 6.8). If Google translate is not failing me, the san/santa title should be lowercase, except when, by traditional usage, the title is functioning as a proper name. This ruling is, well, I think squishy is the technical term, but I can go with it. I suppose the exception would apply to many (most? all?) of the saints named on the title pages of books I typically catalog.

On Tue, Feb 15, 2022 at 2:08 PM Noah Sheola <sheola at bc.edu<mailto:sheola at bc.edu>> wrote:
Hello all,
First question.
For the purposes of normalized transcription in Spanish, is san/santa considered a title of honor and address? The rules say "Capitalize titles of honour and address only when they are abbreviated: señor, Sr.; doctor, Dr.; general, Gral". However, in most records, (mine included), the prevailing practice seems to be to capitalize San/Santa in Spanish. Are we doing it wrong? Or maybe san/santa is not a title of honor and address, but is ... something different.

I know in French and Italian, an exception is specifically made for saint(e), santo/a, which are lowercase if referring to a person, uppercase if abbreviated or referring to a place or building. Is there no such exception for Spanish?

Second question. In my work cataloging for a Jesuit Catholic institution, I constantly encounter statements of responsibility that read, in effect "por [name], de la Compañia de Jesus, y [other name] de la mesma Compañia". Would you capitalize the second occurrence of "Compañia"? It seems to me that only in the first occurrence is the word being used as a proper noun, while the second occurrence is just referring back to it. But capitalizing both occurrences is so widespread, I am struck by doubt every time I see it. The same formulation, and variations on it, seem to occur in most other languages I work with, of course. Very interested to hear your thoughts.
Thank you,
- Noah

--
Noah Sheola
Senior Special Collections Cataloging Librarian
John J. Burns Library
Boston College


--
Noah Sheola
Senior Special Collections Cataloging Librarian
John J. Burns Library
Boston College
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