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.



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