[ANSTHRLD] Help please: "summary" in the Name Documentation area

[Tim McDaniel]

On Tue, 3 Apr 2007, Alasdair MacEogan <alasdair at bmhanson.net> wrote:
> The book citation and page number.  Add the heading it is under if
> there are multiple. 
>
> May be something like:
>
> McBridin - The Surnames of Scotland by George F. Black on page 460
> under the surname MacBridan.

No.

The documentation block *is* the documentation for the submission.  It
is copied verbatim onto the Internal Letter of Intent.  It's all that
the commenters see.

Therefore, *the stuff you write in the documentation block needs to be
sufficient on its own to rule on the submission*.

The concept of documentation is actually very simple: to demonstrate
that the elements and construction of the submission fit period style.
(The implementation, like indicating doubt, interpolation, and
extrapolation, can be tricky.)

The citation (like in the quotation above) and the photocopies are not
really the documentation.  They're to keep everyone honest and to
provide the sources for evaluation, for those having the source.

> McBridin - The Surnames of Scotland by George F. Black on page 460
> under the surname MacBridan.
...
> Lisette - Withycombe, E. G. Dictionary of English Christian Names,
> 3rd edition.  Page 100 under the entry for Elizabeth show Lisette as
> a French variation that was occasionally used in England.

My invariable comment on that sort of documentation: "But what do they
*say*?"  Text liek that is pretty much useless because they don't
contribute any useful data to deciding whether the submission is
period style or no.  For all we know, the books could say that either
one was coined for a television show in 1957.  What *would* be useful
(invented data because I don't have Black):

     McBridin: Black p. 460 s.n. MacBridan dates Alexander McBridin to
     1417.

That shows that it was a surname after a given name (because I happen
to know that "Alexander" is a given name) and gives a date, so I can
be pretty confident that "<given> McBridin" is not unreasonable as a
15th C Scottish name (assuming that "<given>" is also not unreasonable
as a given name in a 15th C Scottish name).

There's a nice article, "How to Document a Name (to Within an Inch of
Its Life)" by Tangwystyl, but I think it was solely in KWHS
Proceedings from some years back -- I don't think it's on the Web.

Danielis Lindum Colonia
-- 
Tim McDaniel, tmcd at panix.com