[DCRM-L] Transcription of German superscript "o"

Fri Dec 5 08:22:13 MST 2025

OCLC has guidance about entering non-ALA diacritics and special characters<https://help.oclc.org/WorldCat/Cataloging_documentation/Reference/Entering_non-ALA_diacritics_and_special_characters>, but unfortunately the superscript ‘o’ as diacritic is not mentioned. (Old German small ‘e’ is, and is transcribed as an umlaut.) It references Library of Congress Rule Interpretations 1.0E<https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcri01_0e.pdf>, which also doesn’t address the superscript ‘o’ as diacritic but has some general instructions that might be applicable here regarding special letters, diacritical marks, and punctuation marks for which there is no exact representation in the character set: “Use the double underscore with the nearest roman equivalent in cases in which the roman equivalent is obvious.”

Based on this instruction, I’d be inclined to record “Bu̳ch” in the title and add a 500 note that says “On title page "u̳" is u with superscript o.” Given that the character might represent “uo,” I’d also include 246 variant title with “Buoch.” Would a second variant title with “Buech” be reasonable? If a listserv of rare materials catalogers is vexed by how to transcribe this, patrons will also probably be unsure how to search for this.

Best wishes,
Rebecca
______________________________
Rebecca Flore, PhD
Special Collections Metadata Librarian
The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
The University of Chicago
Regenstein Library
1100 E. 57th St., Chicago, IL 60637
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rflore at uchicago.edu<mailto:rflore at uchicago.edu>
lib.uchicago.edu/scrc | additional info

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> On Behalf Of Deborah J. Leslie via DCRM-L
Sent: Thursday, December 4, 2025 5:08 PM
To: DCRM List <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Cc: Deborah J. Leslie <DJLeslie at FOLGER.edu>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] Transcription of German superscript "o"

Oh dear; this is a problem. Despite the inclusion of a combining superscript roman 'o' in Unicode, that character is not available in the ALA character set (as far as I can tell—where does it live outside of implementation in library cataloging programs?)

I hope we can agree that substituting a character that looks like a superscript 'o' is not acceptable. Until an acceptable solution is found and implemented, would transcribing it baseline after the 'u' do for now, as John Lancaster suggests? With obligatory title added entry and optional note on transcription?

Best,

Deborah
(regretting its inclusion in DCRM(B) appendix G without proper verification in the first place)

Deborah J Leslie, M.A., M.L.S. | Senior Cataloger | Folger Shakespeare Library | djleslie at folger.edu<mailto:djleslie at folger.edu> | Opinions her own

________________________________
From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu>> on behalf of JOHN LANCASTER via DCRM-L <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>>
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2025 14:35
To: DCRM List <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>>
Cc: JOHN LANCASTER <jjlancaster at me.com<mailto:jjlancaster at me.com>>
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] [External] Re: Transcription of German superscript "o"

As a former germanist, I would say that Dylan is very right to suggest that “o” over a “u” should not be considered an umlaut - the two situations he mentions are quite common, and I don’t recollect ever seeing o-over-u as signalling ü.

In this case, I’d think “uo” diphthong is most likely.

John Lancaster

On Dec 4, 2025, at 1:46 PM, Lewis, Dylan via DCRM-L <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>> wrote:

Hi all,

I do not have a solution for OCLC because I've found it difficult to work with when using less common diacritics, so I am eagerly following this conversation.

I would, however, suggest that the u be represented with a superscript Roman o instead of rendering it as an umlaut, as Karen suggested. It would take a bit of research to truly determine if an umlaut's function was meant there, as a u with a superscript o can mean several things in sixteenth-century German (some dialects used it as a graphematic distinction between u and n, other dialects used it to signal a /uo/ diphthong separate from /ue/). I think it's actually more likely it was not intended to be read as an umlaut, so we should not assume it was meant to be one.

Please do let me know if a solution is found regarding the superscript character not in OCLC's menu!
Best,
Dylan

❡ Dylan Lewis (he/him<https://pronouns.org/he-him>)
Rare Book Librarian
Andrew W. Mellon Junior Fellow in Critical Bibliography
Stuart A. Rose Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Libraries.emory.edu/rose<http://libraries.emory.edu/rose>
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________________________________
From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu>> on behalf of Karen Attar via DCRM-L <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>>
Sent: Thursday, December 4, 2025 12:00 PM
To: DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>>
Cc: Karen Attar <karen.attar at london.ac.uk<mailto:karen.attar at london.ac.uk>>
Subject: [External] Re: [DCRM-L] Transcription of German superscript "o"

Hi Calli,

The superscript “o” is clearly meant to function as an umlaut. It’s interesting that there’s a letter u with a superscript character above it in the place of an umlaut in one instance, though mostly u has a regular umlaut above it where required.

We are moving in the direction of transcribing letters as they are meant to be (e.g. vv where there is a slight space between the two letters v is now transcribed as w). Under those circumstances, lacking technical power to transcribe the superscript o, if I were in this dilemma I would transcribe as ö, and add a note about how the umlauts are represented on the title page.

I do not actually enter things on OCLC, so if somebody from the US answers your email, follow what they say, not what I say.

Best wishes,
Karen

Dr Karen Attar
Curator of Rare Books and University Art
Senate House Library, University of London
Senate House
Malet St
London WC1E 7HU
Tel. 020 7862 8472

https://research.london.ac.uk/search/fellow/516/dr-karen-attar/

From: DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu>> On Behalf Of Calli Neumann via DCRM-L
Sent: 04 December 2025 16:18
To: dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu<mailto:dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
Cc: Calli Neumann <CNeumann at getty.edu<mailto:CNeumann at getty.edu>>
Subject: [DCRM-L] Transcription of German superscript "o"

Hello,

I'm cataloging disbound leaves of a German book from 1556, which is digitized here <https://www.google.com/books/edition/New_gro%C3%9F_distillier_Buch_wolgegr%C3%BCndter/-nhVAAAAcAAJ?hl=en> in Google Books.

My question is about the superscript "o" in "Buch" in the title.  The example in the table of Early Letterforms & Symbols shows that the letter should be transcribed with the superscript character ("můss").  The same example also appears in a wonderful post from the Folger here<https://www.folger.edu/blogs/collation/brevigraphs/>: "In German ... it really is a superscript o, a medieval superscript letter diacritic."  There is a footnote that says this should not confused with the ring diacritic ("overring"), and that "Combining Latin Small Letter o" is Unicode U+0366.

Assuming I'm on the right track, how should this be entered in OCLC?  There is only a ring in the diacritics and special characters menu.  Unsure whether I can copy & paste a "u" with the Unicode character indicated above, and it does not look right pasted in Connexion.

Thank you!

Calli

Calli Neumann
Cataloging Librarian
Getty Research Institute
(310) 440 7499  |  getty.edu<http://www.getty.edu/>

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