Re: [NTG-context] bibliography again: “von” and “van”

Hi Jörg, Though, generally, the von, as well as a few others, are nobility particles in Germany, but not necessarily always noblility particles, but at times signify the place where a persons ancestor came from! Now, in the case Goethe you are right that he was ennobled. Therefore the von is not truly part of his name. He should be listed as you rightly mentioned under Goethe and not "von Goethe“. It is impossible for a bibliographic system to handle this, so there is no switch for it! So, it is up to the author of a text to set up his entries properly, by putting the von in the right part of the name field. regards Keith

Am 27.01.2015 um 19:20 schrieb Jörg Weger :

The default way to diplay (inverted) names with “von” and “van” is “von Goethe” and “van Halen” in in-text references and “von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang” and “van Halen, Edward”. The problem with this is that while AFAIK the Dutch “van Halen” means that one of his ancestors came ”from” a place/city called “Halen” in German names the “von” is always a sign of nobility. Even long before monarchy and nobility was abolished in Germany by the revolution of 1919 you would not have talked about “von Goethe” but simply “Goethe”–so in a reference it would be “(Goethe 1774)” and “Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von” in the publications list, but still “(van Halen 1984)” and “van Halen, Edward”. It would be nice if you could switch between two modes while invoking the citation. I have not yet discovered where this order is defined.