Encoding of personal names

We usually assign n1 to the standard name in Fidal and point with @corresp to that for transliteration and translations of the same.

Other <persName>↗s will have other IDs, which can be anything which is a valid @xml:id but better if they are in the format 'n\d+'.

If you want to add a typical spelling which is used to search a name, like in https://github.com/BetaMasaheft/Documentation/issues/506, the safest place to add it so that it is indexed without affecting the actual content of the entry is in a new teiHeader//titleStmt/title

You can also use @type with value main to further specify what the label name of the person should be.

                  <persName xml:id="n1" xml:lang="gez">ማርያም፡</persName>
                  <persName xml:lang="gez" corresp="#n1" type="normalized">Māryām</persName>
                  <persName xml:lang="en" corresp="#n1" type="main">Mary</persName>

               

Do not add @xml:lang if you do not know the language in which the name is attested, prefer not to say anything instead of defaulting on a possibly untrue value.

So, any proper name reported in Geez should receive the attribute xml:lang="gez", though it might be of Arabic, Amharic, Oromo, or whatever origin. Etymology can be discussed in the record.

This is of course redundant when the <persName>↗ you assign this attribute would be already the one picked by the titles rules, which are in order of priority:

1. <persName[@type = 'main']>↗
2. <persName[@corresp = '#n1'][@xml:lang = 'gez']>↗
3. <persName[@corresp = '#n1'][@xml:lang = 'en'][@type = 'normalized']>↗
4. <persName[@corresp = '#n1'][@xml:lang[not(. = 'en')][not(. = 'gez')]]>↗
5. <persName[1]>↗

Changing the IDs to arrive at a certain visualization is deceptory as in the following example, where

                  <person sex="1" sameAs="wd:Q671055">
                     <persName xml:lang="en" xml:id="n1" type="main">Cyprian of Antioch</persName>
                     <persName xml:lang="gez" xml:id="n2">ቆጵርያኖስ፡</persName>
                     <persName xml:lang="gez" corresp="#n2" type="normalized">Qoṗrǝyānos</persName>
                  </person>
               

The correct way to do this is

                  <person sex="1" sameAs="wd:Q671055">
                     <persName xml:lang="gez" xml:id="n1">ቆጵርያኖስ፡</persName>
                     <persName xml:lang="gez" corresp="#n1" type="normalized">Qoṗrǝyānos</persName>
                     <persName xml:lang="en" xml:id="n2" type="main">Cyprian of Antioch</persName>
                  </person>
               

which will print in the application 'Cyprian of Antioch' instead of the usual first candidate 'Qoṗrǝyānos', the normalized transcription of the name in Fidal.

Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the birth name and given name. The name given at the time of birth, is encoded as a <persName>↗ with an attribute @type with value birth. However, there are exceptions where a person has been forced to change his or her birth name to another name for various reasons. In this case, a new name should be given to a person with @type=given. In our person records some persons have both a birth name and a given name. Here a typical example is a woman named Aster Gānnoo, who was an Oromo pioneer working on the translation of the Bible into Oromo. Her Oromo name, which she had got from her parents, was called ሰልባን፡ but later she changed her name to አስቴር፡. In this case, we mark ሰልባን፡ as birth name whereas አስቴር፡ as a given name. Please note that in cases where the name type is not known for certain, it not necessary to specify it.

                  <persName xml:lang="gez" xml:id="n1" type="given">አስቴር፡ ጋኖ፡</persName>
                  <persName xml:lang="gez" corresp="#n1" type="normalized">ʾAster Gānnoo</persName>
                  <persName xml:lang="gez" xml:id="n2" type="given">አስቴር፡ ገኖ፡</persName>
                  <persName xml:lang="gez" corresp="#n2" type="normalized">ʾAster Gano</persName>
                  <persName xml:lang="gez" xml:id="n3" type="birth">ሰልባን፡ ጋኖ፡</persName>
                  <persName xml:lang="gez" corresp="#n3" type="normalized">Salbāān Gānnoo</persName>

               

Surname and Forename

Use <surname>↗ and <forename>↗ only for European names. For other names, you can use <addName>↗ <genName>↗ (e.g. for the ordinal in the name of a king) or simply <name>↗. To <persName>↗ you can give a @type

For international saints and biblical figures, the English name should be used. "Saint" as a title should be spelt with a capital and can be abbreviated St (without the dot)

Role

If the name contains a role, please tag it as <roleName>↗ and add a @type.

    <persName xml:lang="gez" xml:id="n1" type="birth">ሚናስ፡</persName>
    <persName xml:lang="gez" corresp="#n1" type="normalized">Minās</persName>
    <persName><roleName type="title">ʾaṣe</roleName></persName>
  

Also the encoding in the first example above is correct, although this second method has been preferred.

Please note that <roleName>↗ always has to be encoded within <persName>↗ for indexing and consistency purposes.

Epithet

Epithets should be recorded as <addName type='epithet'>↗ and should have their @xml:id with a chosen value. Assuming the @xml:id is, in this case, "SaviourOfTheWorld" ID to be copied there will be the like 'PRS5684JesusCh#SaviourOfTheWorld'

<persName xml:lang="gez" xml:id="n1">ኢየሱስ፡ ክርስቶስ፡</persName>
<persName xml:lang="gez" type="normalized" corresp="#n1">ʾIyasus Krǝstos</persName>
<persName xml:lang="gez" type="alt" xml:id="n2">ክርስቶስ፡</persName>
<persName xml:lang="gez" corresp="#n2">Krǝstos</persName>
<persName xml:lang="gez" xml:id="MadhaneAlam"><addName type="epithet">መድኃኔ፡ ዓለም</addName> </persName>
<persName xml:lang="gez" corresp="#MadhaneAlam">Madḫāne ʿĀlam</persName>

Unknown or incomplete names

If the name of a person is only partly attested in a manuscript, the <persName>↗ in the person record should only contain the attested part of the name or be normalized. It should not be marked-up in any way. Mark up should instead be carried out in the text of the manuscript which contains this name. Note that it is not necessary to create a record if there is not enough information available on the person to ensure the record's correctness.

Period of activity

<floruit>↗ contains the date of the major active years of the record's subject. The paragraphical information given in <floruit>↗ does not aim at describing the whole life of the person in question but focusses on what they have done in their active years. In this case, for Ethiopian kings (for most of them) we have conventionally known years of reigns which are considered as a period of activity that we should encode @from (indicates the starting point of the period) and @to (indicates the ending point). And also for metropolitans it would usually encompass the years from their appointment to death or replacement. See, for example, Lǝbna Dǝngǝl:

                  <birth when="1496">1496</birth>
                  <floruit from="1508" to="1540">He sat on Solomonic throne, when he succeeded his father King <persName ref="PRS7481NaodA">Nāʿod</persName> and ruled the kingdom until <date>1540</date>. 
                     During his minority, however, the kingom was effectively governed by a group of leading court figures and nobels among whom his step grand mother, <persName ref="PRS3706eleni"></persName> was paramount. 
                     Next importance came <persName ref="PRS10077WasanS"><roleName type="title">rās</roleName>Wasan Sagad</persName> and his mother <persName ref="PRS7482NaodMo"></persName>. 
                     The years before the wars with <persName ref="PRS1522Ahmadb"></persName> were mostly peaceful for the Christian kingdom, and it was a time of economic and cultural prosperity.
                     Lǝbna Dǝngǝl was defeated by <persName ref="PRS1522Ahmadb"></persName> forces in the battle of <placeName ref="LOC5667Sember"></placeName>, in <date>1529</date>, which made him fugitive in his own realm.
                     Being chased from <placeName ref="LOC5597Sawa"></placeName> to <placeName ref="LOC2488Damot"></placeName> to <placeName ref="LOC6135Wag"></placeName> to
                     <placeName ref="LOC6568Amhara"></placeName> to <placeName ref="LOC2481Dambey"></placeName> and finally he found a refugee in the 
                     monastery of <placeName ref="LOC2255DabraD"></placeName>, where he died in <date>1540</date>. 
                  </floruit>
                  <death when="1540"></death>
                  
                    

However, when we are not sure of the exact date of <floruit>↗, period of the person's activity, but we have supporting evidence to claim the approximate period of <floruit>↗, we should use @notBefore (specifies the earliest possible date for the event) and @notAfter (specifies the latest possible date for the event). See, for example, ʾAbbāy Habta Ṣǝyon:

               <birth when="1869"></birth>
            <floruit notBefore="1889" notAfter="1914">He was among the last notables of
               <placeName ref="LOC3764Hamase"></placeName>
               to hold the office of <persName ref="PRS1083AbbayHa"><roleName type="title">baḥǝra nagāš</roleName></persName>.
               He was officially promoted by the Italians, he inherited the office from his uncle
               <persName ref="PRS4907Gwerade"></persName>. The decline of this office lead to the loss of effective executive power, but ʾAbbāy  became the spokesperson and the head
               of the indigenous population of  <placeName ref="LOC1579Asmara"></placeName>, concentrated in its old quarters.
               It seems that thanks to his services the relationships with the
               Italian colonial administration, tense from time to time, stayed harmonious on the whole.</floruit>
            <death when="1914">He died at <placeName ref="LOC1579Asmara"></placeName> in <date>1914</date>. </death>
            

Faith

For <faith>↗, the values for @type can be used, considering their definition. If the faith of a person is not known, it is preferable not to encode it.

Occupation

<occupation>↗ can take @type attribute.

You can also use multiple <occupation>↗ elements and add @from and/or @to to assign the occupation to a period. The use of <occupation type="academic">↗ should be restricted to scholars involved in the study of Ethiopian manuscripts. All persons whose records contain <occupation type="academic">↗ are displayed on this page.

Similarly, <occupation type="ruler">↗ refers specifically to a head of state or government (queen, king, president, prime minister etc.). Therefore, <occupation type="ruler">↗ is used for all Ethiopian kings, while <occupation type="political">↗ refers to persons whose occupation belongs to the category of politics, whether they are rulers (e.g., governor of a province), courtiers or occupy other political posts. <occupation type="political">↗ therefore also includes the various occupations of civil offices of the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia.

Try to limit the use of <occupation>↗ to actual occupations, otherwise use person types keywords. If you are unsure about whether some information on a person should be added in <occupation>↗, please open a new issue.

Person types

Generic information about types of persons which are not occupations, such as "saint" or "angel" is encoded with keywords. If you would like to add new person type keywords, or are unsure about whether to encode information as a person type keyword or occupation, please open a new issue.

<textClass>
<keywords>
<term key="angel"></term>
</keywords>
</textClass>