(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

I hate authors who modernise or anglicise names. Fair enough, substituting 'of' for 'von' or 'de' is useful, because it removes the possible confusion with the Adelsprädikat, or whatever you call indicators of noble rank in English. And substiting 'Geneva' for 'Genf' is defensible.

But why, oh why, does John Coakley -writing in 2006 - find it encumbent upon him to transform Heinrich of Nördlingen into a Henry, or Dorothea of Montau into Dorothy (particularly daft, given that I've encountered Dorotheas in English. Not a Swallows and Amazons fan, it seems). On the other hand, Elisabeth of Schönau stays Elisabeth, which is inconsistent, really (Elisabeth of Thuringia, for instance, being invariably transformed into Elizabeth of Hungary in English texts).

Comments

[caulkhead.livejournal.com]

Going in the other direction, I'm always enraged by the way German translators (or maybe it's just one) make Bertie Wooster into Lord Bertie. Maybe I should be grateful they didn't make it von Wooster.

[tree_and_leaf]

Oh dear. It's all very well being grateful for small mercies, but that's a very small one!