17.1. Basic Elements for Names and Dates 17.2. Specialized Name and Date Elements 17.2.1. Corporate Names 17.2.2. Geographic Names 17.2.3. Time Period Names 17.2.4. Personal Names 17.2.5. Style Names
This chapter describes the MEI module used for the encoding of names (names of persons or corporations/organizations) or descriptive phrases for styles, periods or geographical indications. In section Names, Dates, Numbers, Abbreviations, and Addresses it was noted that the elements provided in the core module allow an encoder to specify that a given text segment is a proper noun. The elements provided by the present module allow the encoder to supply a detailed sub-structure for such proper nouns, and to distinguish explicitly between persons and organizations, and between stylistic, periodical or geographical indications.
The chapter begins by discussing the elements provided for the encoding of names ( name) and dates ( date) in general and finishes by addressing more specific elements for corporate names ( corpName), geographic names ( geogName), period names ( periodName), personal names ( persName) and style names ( styleName). In general it is recommended to use standardized forms of proper nouns and to record the names and web-accessible locations of the controlled vocabularies used. There are several commonly-referenced authority files, especially for geographical, organizational and personal names, such as the Gemeinsame Normdatei (GND), the Library of Congress Authorities, the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN), and the MARC code list for relators. Recommendations on which standards could be used can be found in the descriptions of the individual elements.
The basic elements for capturing names and dates are defined in the shared module:
The name element contains the name of an entity that is difficult to tag more specifically as a corpName, geogName, persName, or title. In section Names, Dates, Numbers, Abbreviations, and Addresses it was noted that the name element may be used in place of the more specific elements when it is not known what kind of name is being described or when a high degree of precision is not necessary. For example, the name element might be used when it is not clear whether the name “Bach” refers to a person or a geographic feature. When name parts are needed, use name sub-elements. The recommended values for the @type attribute are:
‘pers’: a personal name
‘corp’: the name of a corporate entity
‘place’: a geographic name
‘process’: the name of a process or mechanical agent
The date sub-element is available within name in order to record any dates associated with the name, for example, creation and dissolution in the case of a corporate entity or place or birth and death dates in the case of an individual. The name of the list from which a controlled value is taken, such as the Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF), may be recorded using the authority attribute.
Examples of the use of the name element:
<name type="pers">Henry VIII, King of England</name>
<name type="corp">The Beatles</name>
<name type="place">Orbach</name>
<name type="process">OMR software</name>The element date contains a date in any format, including a date range. A date range may be expressed as textual content or, when intervening punctuation is present, as a combination of date sub-elements and text.
<date>5/3/05</date>
<date>May 30, 2012</date>
<date>March 1-21, 1812</date>
<date>
<date>March 1, 1812</date>-
<date>March 21, 1812</date>
</date>To be more specific about the date, the attributes in the att.datable class can be used:
startdate: contains the starting point of a date range in standard ISO form
enddate: contains the end point of a date range in standard ISO form
notbefore: contains a lower boundary for an uncertain date
notafter: contains an upper boundary for an uncertain date
isodate: gives the value of a textual date in standard ISO form
calendar: indicates the system or calendar to which a date belongs, for example, Gregorian, Julian, Roman, Mosaic, Revolutionary, Islamic, etc.
cert: signifies the degree of certainty or precision associated with a feature (high, medium, low, unknown)
In the following example, the ambiguous date text “5/3/05” is resolved using the @isodate attribute:
<date isodate="1905-05-03">5/3/05</date>
<date isodate="2005-03-05">5/3/05</date>In addition to the generic name and date elements provided by the shared module, the namesDates module provides for the markup of the specialized cases described below.
Corporate names are non-personal names which refer to structured bodies of one or more persons that act as a single entity. Typical examples include associations, businesses, projects or institutions (e.g.,. ‘the Royal College of Music’ or ‘the BBC’), but also racial or ethnic groupings or political factions where these are regarded as forming a single agency. Organization names typically include some type of indicator or pattern or words that help identify them as non-personal names.
The corpName element is frequently used within the The MEI Header of an MEI document. It is typically found in the respStmt element:
<respStmt>
<corpName>Library of Congress</corpName>
</respStmt>It may also be used wherever it is necessary to mark a corporate name, for example when a corporation is responsible for a certain event in the history of a musical work:
<history>
<eventList>
<event>
<p>First performance by
<corpName>The Boston Symphony Orchestra</corpName>,
<date>October 22, 1881</date>.
</p>
</event>
</eventList>
</history>When it is necessary to provide structure for a name, the separate parts of the name may be encoded in corpName sub-elements, for example:
<corpName>Federal Research Division,
<corpName>Library of Congress</corpName>
</corpName>Standard designations for corporate bodies can be taken from a controlled vocabulary, such as the Gemeinsame Normdatei (GND). If a controlled value is used, the list from which it is taken should be recorded. In this case, the following attributes are particularly relevant:
authority: to record the list from which a controlled value is taken,
authURI (authority URI): to record the web-accessible location of the controlled vocabulary from which the value is taken,
dbkey (database key): to record a value which serves as a primary key in an external database.
Geographic names are proper noun designations for places (e.g.,. Baltimore, Maryland), natural features (e.g.,. Black Forest) or political jurisdictions (e.g.,. Quartier Latin, Paris).
The element can be used, e.g., to label geographical names in titles:
<title>
<geogName>Bohemia</geogName>: Folk Songs
</title>
<title>Music in the
<geogName>German Democratic Republic</geogName>
</title>Geographic name sub-parts may be encoded in geogName sub-elements. For example:
<p>
<geogName>
<geogName>Baltimore</geogName>,
<geogName>Maryland</geogName>
</geogName>
<geogName>
<geogName>French Quarter</geogName>,
<geogName>New Orleans</geogName>,
<geogName>Louisiana</geogName>
</geogName>
</p>To enable localization of an organization, or to specify names of places with identical names, the use of controlled vocabulary is recommend for names of administrative divisions, such as cities, states, and countries. In this case, the following attributes are particularly relevant:
authority: records the list from which a controlled value is taken, e.g., the Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN),
authURI (authority URI): records the web-accessible location of the controlled vocabulary from which the value is taken,
dbkey (database key): records a value which serves as a primary key in an external database.
The encoder may use these attributes in combination. In case of the German city of Frankfurt, for example, a clarification whether Frankfurt am Main or Frankfurt an der Oder is meant can be achieved by referring to the ID of the TGN entry:
<!-- Frankfurt am Main --><geogName authURI="www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/tgn" authority="TGN" dbkey="7005293">Frankfurt</geogName>
<!-- Frankfurt an der Oder -->
<geogName authURI="www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/tgn" authority="TGN" dbkey="7005972">Frankfurt</geogName>The names of places given within addresses can be marked with geogName elements, for example:
<corpName authURI="http://d-nb.info/gnd" authority="GND" dbkey="2007744-0">German Research Foundation</corpName>
<address>
<addrLine>Kennedyallee 40</addrLine>
<addrLine>53175
<geogName authURI="www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/tgn" authority="TGN" dbkey="7005090">Bonn</geogName>
</addrLine>
<addrLine>
<geogName authURI="www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/tgn" authority="TGN" dbkey="7000084">Germany</geogName>
</addrLine>
</address>The periodName element is for names which describe a particular period of time, for example, those which characterize obvious similarities in style, such as ‘Baroque’ or ‘3rd Style Period’:
<periodName>Baroque</periodName>The date sub-element is available within periodName in order to record any dates associated with the name that should be captured in the text, for example, start and end dates of the named period:
<periodName>Baroque (
<date>1600</date>-
<date>1750</date>)
</periodName>Recording start and end points of a certain period using the @startdate and @enddate attributes may prove to be better for machine processing:
<periodName enddate="1750" startdate="1600">Baroque</periodName>If a controlled value is used, the list from which it is taken should be recorded. In this case the following attributes are relevant:
authority: to record the list from which a controlled value is taken,
authURI (authority URI): to record the web-accessible location of the controlled vocabulary from which the value is taken,
dbkey (database key): to record a value which serves as a primary key in an external database.
Personal names within an MEI document may simply be marked with the persName element containing a proper noun or proper noun phrase referring to an individual. Personal names, however, often consist of several components, like forenames and surnames, but also other components, such as inherited or life-time titles of nobility, honorific or academic prefixes, military ranks or traditional descriptive phrases. These components may be marked using name sub-elements, the function of which may be indicated using the @type attribute. In this case, @type attribute may take the following values:
‘forename’: contains a forename, given or baptismal name.
‘surname’: a family (inherited) name, as opposed to a given, baptismal, or nick name.
‘rolename’: contains a name component which indicates that the referent has a particular role or position in society, such as an official title or rank.
‘addname’ (additional name): contains an additional name component, such as a nickname, epithet, or alias, or any other descriptive phrase used within a personal name.
‘namelink’ (name link): contains a connecting phrase or link used within a name but not regarded as part of it, such as van der or of.
‘genname’ (generational name): contains a name component used to distinguish otherwise similar names on the basis of the relative ages or generations of the persons named.
<persName>
<name type="forename">Henry</name>
<name type="genname">VIII</name>,
<name type="rolename">King of England</name>,
<date>1491-1547</date>
</persName>
<persName>
<name type="surname">Kilmarnock</name>,
<name type="forename">William</name>
<name type="forename">Boyd</name>,
<name type="rolename">Earl of</name>
</persName>The persName element is often enclosed in the respStmt element which may occur within titleStmt, pubStmt, seriesStmt and change. This usage of the persName element typical looks like this:
<sourceDesc>
<source>
<titleStmt>
<title>Im wunderschönen Monat Mai</title>
<respStmt>
<persName>Robert Schumann</persName>
</respStmt>
</titleStmt>
</source>
</sourceDesc>Apart from the composer or originator of a musical work, however, there could be many other persons involved in the genesis of a musical work, such as librettists, lyricists, arrangers, editors, transcribers, printers, publishers, etc. The special roles of these persons may be marked using the @role attribute on persName. For example:
<persName role="arranger">Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart</persName><persName role="lyricist">Heinrich Heine</persName>The Marc code list for relators offers a variety of controlled terms that may serve as values for this use of @role.
For names in the metadata header, the use of a controlled list, such as the Gemeinsame Normdatei (GND) or the Library of Congress Name Authorities, is recommended. The name and web-accessible location of the list may be recorded using the @authority and @authURI attributes, respectively. To record a value which serves as a primary key in an external database, the @dbkey attribute may be used.
For maximal machine-processability, these three attributes may be used in combination. For example:
<persName authURI="http://d-nb.info/gnd" authority="GND" dbkey="118584596" role="composer">Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart</persName>Music can be divided into different styles, genres, and forms. The term style denotes a mode of expression, or more particularly, the manner in which a work of art is executed:
“In the discussion of music, which is orientated towards relationships rather than meanings, the term raises special difficulties; it may be used to denote music characterized of an individual composer, of a period, of a geographical area or center, or of a society or social function. For the aesthetician style concerns surface or appearance, though in music appearance and essence are ultimately inseparable. For the historian a style is a distinguishing and ordering concept, both consistent of and denoting generalities; he or she groups examples of music according to similarities between them.” (Source: “Style”, Grove Music Online, accessed: April 27, 2012)
The name of a musical style can be marked by the styleName element, for example:
<styleName>bebop</styleName>It may be, e.g., used for recording a style name within a title:
<title>La voix du
<styleName>bebop</styleName>
</title>or to record a style of a certain epoch by using the styleName sub-element:
<periodName>Modern
<styleName>Jazz</styleName>
</periodName>If a controlled value is used, the list, from which it is taken should be recorded. In this case the following attributes are particularly relevant:
Musical forms and genres must be distinguished from musical style. Form and genre are typically indicated using the classification element, described in chapter Classification.