Given the naming convention of the Encyclopedia Britannica, I would suppose that the American equivalent would be the Encyclopedia Americana.
What would the equivalent name be for an encyclopedia for our entire planet? Encyclopedia Terranae?
Thanks
I regret that my Latin is not up to this task
There used to be an Encyclopedia Americana but I don’t know if it exists now. I think most of that stuff has now moved to CD-ROMs but I think you can still buy the paper version.
Yeah, there used to be an Encyclopedia Americana. The spelling of the British one is/was Encyclopaedia Britannica. There’s a Roman letter “ae” that doesn’t translate.
There’s also an Encyclopedia Hispanica.
Encyclopaedia Galactica is mentioned in The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
And in many SF stories long before that. I believe Asimov used it first in the Foundation Trilogy – a fact that Adams was probably well aware of.
The ash (Æ æ) was never a Roman/Latin letter, but a letter in Old English, although British spelling of Latin words frequently employ that ligature–a practice that only began in the 16th or 17th century. Encyclopædia Britannica is the usual spelling.
Americana and Britannica are feminine adjectives formed from America and Britannia respectively. The feminine adjective formed from Terrra is Terrana. There is more than one name for our planet in Latin. Another is Tellus, the adjective form of which is Telluriana.
Thanks. I assumed it was Latin, well, just because. When I was a kid I has 24 volumes of EB in my room. In retrospect now, I think I should have spent those years differently.
Thank you for actually addressing my OP. Is Terranae wrong or merely a masculine version?
So how do you pronounce that æ thing, anyway?
Encyclopayeeedia?
The Encyclopedia Americana still exists, and one of the members of this very board is a contributer.
Well, the original Old English had both a long and a short vowel sound, but I don’t quite recall their pronunciations.
When the Brits began using the ligature (combined letters) to represent the dipthong from Latin, it was usually used on those occasions when Latin “ae” had been used to transcribe the Greek “ai.” Thus, the Greek [symbol]Aiguptos[/symbol] (Aigyptos) came into Latin as Aegyptus and was printed in post-Renaissance Britain as Ægypt (which can still be found in some printings). Basically, the pronunciation is as in the first syllable of Egypt/Ægypt.
Latin “ae” and Greek “ai” are pronounced something like the English word “eye.” However, the English have English-fied (Anglicised) this sound for Latin words borrowed into English to the “ee” in “feed.”
The Old English æ (ash) was pronounced something like our “a” in “cat” or (as the name suggests) “ash.”
This letter is also used in modern Danish, but I don’t know how they pronounce it.
It’s wrong; the masculine version would be terranus; since Encyclopaedia is feminine, you have to use the feminine form ending in -a.
Terranae per se is, however, a valid Latin form; it could be a dative or genitive case. the whole phrase would probably mean “an encyclopedia of/to a woman of Earth,” or something like that. Doesn’t make too much sense.
I would refer you to our Encyclopedia Galactica, one of many versions of this particular type of vade mecum on the Net,
although ours is the largest at present;
for the sake of completeness, others are here
here and here
SF worldbuilding at
http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html