Latin Place Names
found in the
imprints
of
books printed before 1801
and their vernacular equivalents in AACR2 (Anglo-American
Cataloguing Rules) form
Sponsored by the Harold
B. Lee
Library, Brigham Young University
and
The Bibliographic Standards Committee, Rare Books and Manuscripts
Section, Association of College and Research
Libraries
A note on orthography: This database was compiled from the imprint information in cataloging
records of several Anglo-American research libraries. Because these records were created over a
long period of time and under different standards and rules of transcription, the orthography of
the place names with respect to I/J and U/V/W does not necessarily reflect what was found in the
original. Therefore, the orthography is standardized in this database. I/J will always be transcribed
"I"; U/V will be transcribed "V" for upper case, and "u" for lower case; "VV", "uu", "Vu", etc.,
will be transcribed "W."
It is currently only possible to enter ASCII characters in HTML files. This limits the availability of
diacritical marks to the most common. Therefore, some AACR2 forms, especially those for
Eastern European cities, are missing their diacritics. These entries should be checked against the
National Authority File for the exact form.
Main entry points for names are given in the locative case, as they generally appear in the books.
Other forms, if they appear in early printed books, are given as cross references.
Places
whose jurisdictions have changed over time may have more than one valid AACR2 form. Second
and subsequent valid forms will be preceded by an equals sign (=). In the case of identical Latin
forms that refer to different modern locations, the various AACR2 forms are presented
without connecting equals signs.
Main entries accompanied by asterisk (*) have a note giving the documentation for the place
name. The main sources are R.A. Peddie, Place names in imprints : an index to the Latin and
other forms
used on title pages (1968) [cited as: "Peddie"], and J.G.T. Graesse, F. Benedict, and H.
Plechl, Orbis Latinus :
Lexikon lateinischer geographischer Namen des Mittelalaters und der Neuzeit (1972) [cited
as: Graesse]. For a translation of many of the abbreviations and German words found in Graesse,
click here.
For a glossary of Latin terms other than place names found in early imprints, click here.
Questions, additions, corrections, or comments? Please contact Robert L.
Maxwell, rare books cataloger, Harold B. Lee Library.
Last updated: 12 May 1997.