User:Haukurth/Old Norse names

Spelling of Old Norse Mythological Names - A Standard Proposal

Proposal

In articles dealing with Old Norse mythology the spelling of names should be that of standardized 13th century Old Icelandic as found in, for example, the Íslenzk fornrit edition of Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla.

In accordance with the English Wikipedia convention to use forms familiar to English speakers the following exceptions are made:

1. The English familiar form Thor should be used instead of the Old Icelandic form Þórr.

2. The English familiar form Odin should be used instead of the Old Icelandic form Óðinn.

3. In other cases when someone proposes that a familiar English form exists, this can be discussed in the relevant talkpage.

Due to current technical limitations the letters oe-ligature and o-with-ogonek cannot be used in article titles. For purposes of article titles the first should be replaced with 'oe' and the second with 'ö'

Reasoning

As described in Old Norse orthography there is currently no generally accepted standard for the use of Old Norse names within an English text, inside or outside Wikipedia. One source may use the anglizised form Balder while the next employs the modern Icelandic form Baldur and the third uses the standardized Old Icelandic form Baldr. The mainland Scandinavian languages have their own familiar forms of the names and those sometimes also make their way into English prose.

It is the hope of the authors that this standard establishes a consistent and accurate convention to use within Wikipedia.

Examples

• Loki
• Baldr
• Freyja
• Freyr
• Heimdallr
• Angrboða
• Svaðilfari
• Hoenir as article title, Hœnir within the article
• Höðr as article title, Hǫðr within the article