Guidelines:Terminology
Overview
Terminology is the means by which articles on Zelda Wiki are named. Most articles are derived from official terms.
Terminology
- For conditional use of non-English terms, see the Nomenclature section below.
Terms are determined by two independent—but complementary—conditions:
- If a word is surrounded by differently-colored text in any officially licensed media.
- If a word is capitalized in any officially licensed media, to indicate a titular sense.
Both of these conditions respect the canon order. If a given word does not fit either condition, it is not applicable as terminology. If a term is present in English and a given piece of media has been confirmed to have been localized into a foreign language, the direct comparative instance of a term in English may be considered as a term in that language, even if it does not follow the two aforementioned conditions. If a term is not present in American English but exists in either British English or Japanese (in that order), it may be borrowed from those languages, provided they follow the two established conditions and are marked with the corresponding types on the Name template for British English and Japanese respectively where appropriate.
To determine the name or title of a character, enemy, boss, location, dungeon, or item in a game, the following hierarchy should be followed:
Template:Tab2 Names always take priority over titles through this hierarchy.
Terminology may occasionally change between multiple instances of a subject. In this case, the general term for the subject is drawn from the latest main-series title to meet the terminology conditions above. Remakes of a game fit within this condition and may supersede a prior main-series title, though ports of a title do not qualify. If no main-series title is available for a term, the canon order may be followed until an applicable term is reached. If a recurring subject of a term appears but goes unnamed in a given iteration, it is acceptable to borrow from the latest term applying to that subject provided that it is clearly established that it goes unnamed in that iteration's respective section. These instances must be updated to the latest term each time that term changes. However, if a term exists for a subject in a given article of media, regardless of the general term, it is applied in every instance regarding that iteration.
Partial omissions of terms (for instance, when characters say "the Ceremony" in reference to the Wing Ceremony), should not be taken as alternatives or replacements of the whole terms they belong to. However, if a term appears as an omission but places higher than the "full name" in the hierarchy above (such as "Graveyard" and "Kakariko Village Graveyard"), these are to be treated as two separate terms.
Names of articles should almost always be singular, while the lead sentence therein must be plural if more than one of the subject exists and the subject is not a character or boss.
When used outside of citations, all terminology must be capitalized. Similarly, partial omissions of a term must be capitalized (such as saying the Temple as short for the Temple of Time, or the Sword in lieu of the Master Sword).
Nomenclature
Nomenclature is the section in which all foreign terms or names of a subject and their meanings are recorded either by the Names or Names Table templates. The etymology behind the American English name of a subject may be placed above either template, though all other languages must have their etymologies placed within the aforementioned templates. Every nomenclature table should be in its own section and with a left alignment (|align= left). Names derived from a non-Latin alphabet must use the Romanize template and must be accompanied by a transliteration of the given text.
Entries in the meaning column may be translated from the original language, though any stylizations of names which aren't loanwords should be retained as a transliteration of the name in the original language. It is acceptable to omit a period from entries in the meaning field if they are translations of the given text and not an explanation concerning the translation. Explanations must be separated from translations by one line.