Quotations

From Fresh Dictionary

Contents 1 Index to templates 2 How to choose a quotation 3 How to format a quotation 4 What year should be used 5 The use of abbreviations 6 Debated authorship

Index to templates

Various templates are in use in order to facilitate adding heavily-quoted authors. See /Templates for a complete list of these.

How to choose a quotation

A quotation should be chosen that,

1. Extends the time period that the usage spans, or
2. Illustrates the meaning by its surrounding context.

All quotes should be from works in the language of the word in question, followed by an English translation when appropriate. If a word is one which is known to have been coined in a specific work in another language (such as robot) then the information should go in the etymology section rather than the quotations section.

Quotes should only be from dateable printed source, except for in the case of earliest usage where reliably dateable electronic sources (e.g. usenet) can be used.

How to format a quotation

Quotations should be ordered from earliest to the most recent. In most cases the definitions are in a bulleted list in the following format.

1. First definition
   • Year: Author, Source title - First quotation

     Translation (if needed)

   • Year: Author, Source title - Second quotation
2. Second definion

   .......

which would be entered as
#First definition
#*'''Year:''' Author, ''Source title'' - First quotation
#*'''Year:''' Author, ''Source title'' - Second quotation
#*:Translation <nowiki>#Second definion
#*.......

Please note:

1. Type faces should be as indicated.
2. The illustration shows the marks that will insure proper indentation
3. No blank lines are included within these entries. Blank lines in a numbered list will cause the numbering to be altered.
4. In the quotation itself the word being illustrated should be in bold face.

An example:

1. ... definition ...
   • 1990: Chip Morningstar and F. Randall Farmer, The lessons of Lucasfilm's habitat - *: The players are represent by animated figures that we call "Avatars". Avatars are usually, though not exclusively, humanoid in appearance. In this scene you can see two of them, carrying on a conversation.

The 1913 Webster Dictionary uses quotes but shows only the quote and the surname of the author, in that order. The year and the specific work need to be researched and added, and that is tedious, painstaking work. Expanding the information on these quotes would help Wiktionary's credibility, but it is not mandatory. Simply put what you have in the proper order, and someone else can research the added details.

Formerly, quotations were formated with the quotation itself between the year and author. This has been changed to accomodate the use of templates for frequently quoted works.

What year should be used

The year should be the year of original authorship; unless the work is a first edition the date of the edition should be placed in the edition section.

The use of abbreviations

In most cases abbreviations should be avoided unless their usage is almost universal, and they are listed below

• In place of an authors name
  • anon = anonymous author
• After an author's name
  • ed. = editor
  • tr. = translator
• Before a year
  • c. = circa or about
  • a. = ante or before
  • p. = post or after

Debated authorship

In a work of which there is mainstream debate (so for instance "Funeral Elegy" would be mainstream debate, but not the first folio of Shakespeare) about who the author is this should be indicated either by listing the suspected authors, or by listing the most likely author and placing the phrase (uncertain) after the authors name.