Romanization of foreign languages. Words from languages that do not use the Western (Roman) alphabet generally reflect the spellings most com¬ monly seen in English-language contexts.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
VIII
Chinese names are almost always transcribed according to the Pinyin system. Where a Chinese name or term appears as a headword, the older Wade-Giles spelling is given as an or variant. Place- names and biographical names on Taiwan, howev¬ er, are generally listed in their Wade-Giles spelling, with the Pinyin spelling as a variant. A few Chinese names widely used in English (e.g., Confucius) retain their traditional English spelling.
Japanese names and terms are generally transcribed according to the Hepburn system but without macrons to indicate vowel length.
Russian names and terms generally observe tradi¬ tional Western spellings and follow the diacritic- free system employed by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
Arabic names and terms generally follow the best- established Western usage. Except in a few well- established Western transliterations, the l in the arti¬ cle nl- or el- ("the") is not assimilated to a following consonant (thus, we employ the spelling Harun nl- Rnshid, not Harun ar-Rashld), even though such assimilation reflects Arabic pronunciation and is sometimes encountered in English sources.
Cross-references. Cross-references to other articles are indicated by small capitals in sans-serif type for the alphabetized element of the term or name. Thus, "J. von Neumann" sends the reader to the V's, "J. W. von Goethe" to the G's; "Cape Breton Island" sends the reader to the C's, "Cape of Good Hope" to the G's; and so on. In the case of personal names in which
there is no ambiguity as to alphabetical placement, the entire name appears in small capitals.
A term is cross-referenced only when it is likely that the reader of the article within which the cross-ref¬ erence appears would want to be notified about the additional article. Hence many terms for which there are corresponding entries are not highlighted as references. For instance, in the article on Tim Berners-Lee, we have cross-referenced "World Wide Web" (whose invention was his principal achieve¬ ment) but not "Internet," which is naturally cross- referenced within the "World Wide Web" article. Because cross-referencing of this kind is discre¬ tionary, readers should not assume that a noun lacks its own entry simply because it is not refer¬ enced within the article being read.
For the sake of saving space, many people who receive their own entries have their given names abbreviated and their surnames in small capitals when they are mentioned in an article, regardless of how likely the reader of the article is to want to be alerted to the biographical entry. The names of countries, U.S. states, and Canadian provinces, by contrast, are virtually never referenced, regardless of their centrality to a given article, on the pre¬ sumption that readers will correctly assume that the encyclopedia contains articles on all such entities.
Some 3,000 cross-references are provided at their own alphabetical place, to direct the reader who has looked up a variant version of the name or has expected an entry to be alphabetized according to an element other than the one actually used.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Abbreviations
Mass.
Md.
Massachusetts
Maryland
AD
anno Domini
Me.
Maine
Adm.
Admiral
mi
mile(s)
Ala.
Alabama
Mich.
Michigan
Amer.
American
Minn.
Minnesota
Ariz.
Arizona
Miss.
Mississippi
Ark.
Arkansas
ml
millilitre(s)
BC
before Christ
mm
millimetre(s)
C
Celsius
Mo.
Missouri
c.
circa
Mont.
Montana
Cal.
California
mph
miles per hour
Capt.
captain
N
North
cc
cubic centimetre(s)
N.C.
North Carolina
cent.
century, centuries
N.D.
North Dakota
cm
centimetre(s)
NE
northeastern
Co.
Company, County
Neb.
Nebraska
Col.
Colorado, Colonel
Nev.
Nevada
Conn.
Connecticut
N.H.
New Hampshire
Corp.
Corporation
N.J.
New Jersey
cu
cubic
N.M.
New Mexico
D.C.
District of Columbia
NW
northwestern
Del.
Delaware
N.Y.
New York
Dr.
Doctor
Okla.
Oklahoma
E
East
Ore.
Oregon
e-g-
exempli gratia (for example)
oz
ounce(s)
est.
estimate, estimated
Pa.
Pennsylvania
Eth.
Ethiopia
Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
F
Fahrenheit
Pres.
President
fl.
flourished
Queen.
Queensland
Fla.
Florida
r.
reigned, ruled
ft
foot, feet
Rev.
Reverend
g
gram(s)
R.I.
Rhode Island
Ga.
Georgia
S
South
Gen.
General
s.c.
South Carolina
Gov.
Governor
S.D.
South Dakota
i.e.
id est (that is)
SE
southeastern
Ill.
Illinois
Sen.
Senator
in.
inch(es)
sq
square
Ind.
Indiana
St.
Saint
Jr-
Junior
sw
southwestern
K
Kelvin
Tenn.
Tennessee
Kan.
Kansas
UN
United Nations
k g
kilogram(s)
u.s.
United States
km
kilometre(s)
Va.
Virginia
kph
kilometres per hour
vs.
versus
Ky.
Kentucky
Vt.
Vermont
La.
Louisiana
w
West
lb, lbs
pound, pounds
w.v.
West Virginia
m
metre(s)
Wash.
Washington
M.A.
Master of Arts
Wise.
Wisconsin
Maj.
Major
Wy.
Wyoming
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Pronunciation Symbols
3
banana, collide, abut, humdrum
6
saw, all, caught
3
preceding \1\, \n\, \m\, \q\, as
ce
French boeuf, German Holle
in battle, mitten, eaten, lock and key - 3 rj-\; following \1\, \m\, \r.
oe
French feu, German Flohle
as in French table, prisme, titre
oi
coin, destroy
ar
further, merger, bird
P
pepper, lip
a
mat, gag
r
red, car, rarity
a
day, fade, aorta
s
source, less
a
bother, cot, father, cart
sh
shy, mission, machine, special
a
father as pronounced by speakers
t
tie, attack, late, latter
who do not rhyme it with bother,
French patte
th
th
thin, ether
then, either, this
au
now, loud, out
ii
rule, youth, union X'yiin-yonX,
b
baby, rib
few X'fyiiX
ch
chin, nature X'na-chorX
u
pull, wood, book
d
did, adder
IE
German fiillen, hiibsch
e
bet, bed, peck
U2
French rue, German fiihlen
e
beat, easy
V
vivid, give
f
fifty, cuff
w
we, away
g
go, big
y
yard, cue X'kyiiX, union
h
hat, ahead