1.0E. Pre-Modern Forms of Letters

Pre-Modern Forms of Letters (1.0E. Language and script of the description )

In general, transcribe letters as they appear in the source. However, convert earlier forms of letters and earlier forms of diacritical marks into their modern form, as specified herein. Separate ligatures that are occasional stylistic usages (Œdipus, alumnæ, etc.) rather than standard usages in the modern orthography of the language, e.g., oe in French (as in oeuvre) or æ in Danish (as in særtryk). If there is any doubt as to the correct conversion of elements to modern forms, transcribe them from the source as exactly as possible. (See also the section on Special Letters, Diacritical Marks, and Punctuation Marks .)

The following represent a special case: u/v, uu or vv/w. When these letters are used in Latin and some other languages without regard to their vocalic or consonantal value, so that "u" is used for a "v," etc., the transcription should be regularized. This means that for the bibliographic description of items published after 1800,

1. use v for consonants, e.g., vox, Victoria;

2. use u for vowels, e.g., uva, Ursa Major;

3. use w for consonantal uu or vv, e.g., Windelia.

Follow this guide also for publications of any date when the case is not one of bibliographic description, e.g., headings or citations from reference works.

The letters i/j should be handled differently. For the bibliographic descriptions of items published after 1800, transcribe "i" and "j" as they appear do not attempt any regularization. Follow this stipulation also for uniform titles for series. For any other case of headings, citations from reference sources, etc.,

1. use j for consonants, e.g., jus, Julius;

2. use i for vowels, e.g., iter, Ilias.

N.B. For the transcription of any of these letters in bibliographic description for pre-1801 publications, apply Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Books (DCRB). For the use of uniform titles, so that DCRB titles file properly (i.e., together with the titles of post-1800 publications), see LCRI 25.2A .