Re: REF: Translingual registrations

All kidding aside (well, almost all), I agree with Loic that registering irises named for the same person in different languages can lead to confusion. I see no real problem with generic names, such as Little Gem or Dark Eyes, since the translations are usually quite different in appearance and such things as little gems and dark eyes are innumerable. But when we are referring to the proper names of specific individual persons, we have a different situation. Loic mentioned "Joan of Arc" as an example of such a problem that could occur in the future. Oddly, it was only 3 months ago that I decided I wanted to register a seedling as "Joan of Arc". On scouring the Checklist, I found JEANNE D'ARC already recorded. As far as I was concerned, another iris had already been named "Joan of Arc", the name simply rendered in its original French. Happily, I was still able to honor my saint with her title, MAID OF ORLEANS.
People like to change foreign proper names into their familiar domestic, more easily pronounced versions, and educated people know that. Thus, the possibility exists that someone hearing ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE in conversation, or seeing it referred to without accompanying date or hybridizer would think that ALIENOR D'AQUITAINE was meant. -- Griff 

zone 7 in Virginia
----- Original Message ----- From: <ChatOWhitehall@aol.com> 
To: <iris@hort.net>
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 9:20 AM
Subject: Re: [iris] REF: Translingual registrations



In a message dated 1/15/2007 2:46:35 AM Eastern Standard Time,
tasquierloic@cs.com writes:

<<These two names refer to the same person, Alienor d'Aquitaine  for the
French, or Eleanor of Aquitaine for the English.

Yes, that fact had not escaped me. She was a queen of both France  and
England, which does add piquancy. Of course, England and France were not then what England and France are now, nor the languages, but, nevertheless, there it is. The really interesting one was Henrietta Maria of France, wife of Charles I of England. When it became necessary to take up arms, she shouldered hers, 
and led an army. She  called herself, "Her She-Majesty, Generalissima,"
speaking  of wonderful names. Cracks me up.
<<The only problem is that it's totally mechanical and, and in the case of Historical figures, i really wonder where is the limit in disambiguation . 


The process is not totally mechanical.

As the last step, a human being of benign temperament, adequate
intelligence, and no personal agendas, decides whether the name under consideration is likely to cause significant confusion in any one of several ways, or whether it is not. In some small number of cases this decision is one with which other 
persons of good will, adequate  intelligence, and no personal agendas, may
disagree. So be  it.

Of course, with each registration which enters  the arena the terrain
changes, and the question of what disambiguation requires, becomes more complex.
The only way to eliminate the registrar's sole subjective call, other than to form a committee to come up with some joint subjective call, which idea I dismiss as no improvement on the current system, is to promulgate ever more rules, to the point where the process becomes as truly mechanical as possible, at which point another set of problems will no doubt be seen peeking eagerly 
over the  horizon.

Do you want more rules?

Cordially,

Anner Whitehead
Richmond VA USA

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