The DaVinci code - The da Vinci code
- Thread starter John99
- Start date
Da Vinci isn't a proper surname in his case.
It means of Vinci, the place where he was born.
You would write his name as Leonardo da Vinci.
If you are using Da Vinci as a surname then you would use capitals.
I wonder how the Italian version of the book spells it.
Leonard Di Caprio is always spelt with capitals, as he is not from Capri.
It means of Vinci, the place where he was born.
You would write his name as Leonardo da Vinci.
If you are using Da Vinci as a surname then you would use capitals.
I wonder how the Italian version of the book spells it.
Leonard Di Caprio is always spelt with capitals, as he is not from Capri.
That's the book by dan Brown, isn't it?
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
I don't know how the British do it, but in America we generally don't bother even understanding, much less following, each nation's rules for names. Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez is one of the most famous living authors. Anyone who makes a living by writing has probably read (or tried to read, in my case) one of his novels. Yet, after the first-paragraph introduction, some American journalists still refer to him as Mr. Marquez, rather than Mr. Garcia.
We write Dino Di Laurentiis, Wernher Von Braun, Alexis De Toqueville, Ludwig Van Beethoven and Dolores Del Rio. Even I don't know if any of those are correct, and I should.
We write Dino Di Laurentiis, Wernher Von Braun, Alexis De Toqueville, Ludwig Van Beethoven and Dolores Del Rio. Even I don't know if any of those are correct, and I should.
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Da Vinci, as in the book title. It's being used as if it was a surname, which it isn't in this case. Unusual for Dan Brown to get any facts incorrect
(Loved the book by the way. As a thriller rather than a religious text)
"da Vinci" is like using the second half of a sentence without the first part. If you are going to use da Vinci, it should be within the sentence Leonardo da Vinci.
Some modern Italians use the da or di in their full surname. They either like the look of it, or have such an affiliation with the area that follows that they believe they can use it legitimately.
As SAM said, just spell it how they want you to. Why make a fuss?
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Da Vinci, as in the book title. It's being used as if it was a surname, which it isn't in this case. Unusual for Dan Brown to get any facts incorrect
I don't think he claimed the book to be anything but fiction, it's other people and their own interpretations of what they believed to be evidence that suggested otherwise.
As for his naming convention, well Wiki has it down as da Vinci... But I'm sure Michelangelo had a few choice names for his rival.
He did claim that the book was factually based, and many people believed him.
It's a literary device, and probably the people deceived enjoyed it even more than I did.
If they are using da Vinci as a stand alone phrase, I think they are wrong.
I'm not knocking wiki. I can't afford a new edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica every year, and besides, wiki updates by the second not the year.
Also I'd be very surprised if the EB has information on every episode of Futurama, which was vital for one of my Sciforum posts recently.
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You are mistaken.
He tried, unsuccessfully, to get his publishers to categorize his book as non-fiction.
I saw him claim such himself in an interview.
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
What, you don't think such a highly successful author has a flair for publicity stunts?
I think the non-fiction angle came from his defence in the plagiarism court case, which also reeked of a publicity stunt.
Facts, as you will probably know, are not subject to copyright, though the style of presenting them and the words used can be.
Facts, as you will probably know, are not subject to copyright, though the style of presenting them and the words used can be.
Da Vinci should never be used as 'Da Vinci' except at the start of a sentence. Da Vinci means 'of vinci', so taken literally we would never refer to him simply as 'da Vinci' anyway.
I have seen it used both ways on commercial type websites so i though it was weird. Shouldn't there be an official word on this?
I have seen it used both ways on commercial type websites so i though it was weird. Shouldn't there be an official word on this?
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How about De'Ath.
They are so determined that you pronounce it Duh-Ath rather than Death that they stick in an extra apostrophe.
Or is there a part of the name missing.
Taking of missing, some sections of Sciforum, including this august section, seem to be missing from the menu.
Any ideas why? Wait, found them again. There are little pluses to click which reveal them.
They are so determined that you pronounce it Duh-Ath rather than Death that they stick in an extra apostrophe.
Or is there a part of the name missing.
Taking of missing, some sections of Sciforum, including this august section, seem to be missing from the menu.
Any ideas why? Wait, found them again. There are little pluses to click which reveal them.
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Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
In America, we leave the fine points of orthography and typography to the style manuals. You won't find advice on such a contemporary issue in Strunk & White, which most of us consider the bible of writing, or MLA, which is geared toward academics. But perhaps it's in the New York Times or Chicago Tribune stylebooks. As I said, we Americans are pretty lackadaisical about how we write people's names. Prince (the temperamental rock star from Minnesota) got away for several years with using a made-up sign for a name, for which he had to ship the character to printers. None but the trendiest publications bothered using it, and since no pronunciation was ever explained, the country started calling him The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, or less kindly as TAFKAP.
I'm not sure who you're talking about. According to this website, that may be some unfortunate person's real surname. In any case it's hard to Google. The apostophe was probably added specifically to solve that technical problem.
People should take a second look at the website names they create before registering them. If this one for Mr. Tully De' Ath the architect is meant to be taken seriously, it's as poor (or as crafty) as the one for the Manhattan stationery boutique Pen Island.
The De Aths have their own coat of arms
Here they have dropped the apostrophe and even the space and are simply Death.
http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.c/qx/death-coat-arms.htm
Here they have dropped the apostrophe and even the space and are simply Death.
http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.c/qx/death-coat-arms.htm