From: Jim Allan (jallan@smrtytrek.com)
Date: Tue Mar 11 2003 - 15:32:22 EST
John Cowan posted:
> How do you know that? Either "Caesar" or "Cæsar" is good Latin.
Christopher John Fynn posted in response:
> No.
>
> Hart's Rules:
> <<
> VOWEL-LIGATURES
>
> The combinations æ and œ should each be printed as two letters in Latin and Greek words, e.g. Aeneid, Aeschylus, Caesar, Oedipus, Phoenicia; and in English, as formulae, phoenix. Print e.g. oestrogen (where oe represents a single sound), but, e.g., chloro-ethane (not chloroethane) to avoid confusion.
> In Old English words use the ligature Æ, æ, as Ælfric, Cædmon; and in French use the ligature œ as in œuvre.
>>>
>
> The Chicago Manual of Style:
> <<
> 6.50 USE OF LIGATURES
> The ligatures æ and œ should not be used either in Latin or Greek words or in words adopted into English from these languages
>>>
These are twentieth century rules for correct *normalization* of Latin
loanwords and names in English (and Greek loanwords and names in English
as apearing in traditional Latin transliteration form).
What is wrong according to these rules may be quite correct by other rules.
It would certainly be odd to insist that the native Latin writers who
invented the _æ_ and _œ_ digraphs were wrong to do so, or that continued
use of these digraphs into at least the nineteenth century for Latin
loanwords in English was intrinsically wrong.
In quoting from English authors who used such diagraphs, it is probably
more correct in most cases to maintain them, just as one should normally
quote “hôtel” rather than “hotel” or “waggon” rather than “wagon” if
that is what appears in the text.
Also, it depends upon purpose whether someone citing a passage of Latin
from a manuscript containing such digraphs presents it in modern
normalized orthogaphy or attempts to render more exactly the orthography
of the manuscript.
_Cæsar_ is, at least on occasion, a correct alternative to _Caesar_ and
probably sometimes the obvious preferred alternative.
_Encyclopædia Britannica_ with _ae_ is certainly the *correct* name for
that product, even though the form is not correct by twentieth century
normalization rules.
Then there is the popular medieval singing group _Mediæval Bæbes_.
Jim Allan
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