Style guide: English (UK), `en-GB`
1. Standard and spelling
- British English, following the New Oxford Style Manual conventions: colour, centre, programme, travelled, grey, sceptical, storey.
- -ise spellings (organise, recognise, colonisation), not Oxford -ize.
- judgement, ageing, acknowledgement, towards, among (not amongst), while (not whilst).
- The English metadata (summaries, notes, glossary) is authored in this style too. For it, this file applies without the translation-specific sections.
2. Register and tone
- Crisp, readable reference prose: the tone of a good modern guide to Portuguese history, not a Victorian translation. Prefer active verbs and plain words (built, not erected, unless the source's emphasis needs it).
- Authorial "we" is kept: "we believe", "we have not been able to establish", "in our view". "The present author" for o autor destas linhas.
- Contractions: none (it is, did not).
- Avoid Latinate calques of Portuguese: em virtude de → "by", "under"; proceder à construção → "build"; verificar-se → "occur", "take place"; o referido → "this", "the said" only in legal documents.
- Sentence length: aim for 15–30 words and split anything over about 40 (core §1.3).
3. Punctuation and typography
- Quotation marks: single ‘…’ for primary quotations, double “…” for quotations within quotations. Punctuation goes outside the closing mark unless it belongs to the quotation (British logical style).
- Apostrophe: ’ (typographic).
- Parenthetical dash: spaced en dash ( – ). Ranges: unspaced en dash (1834–36, pp. 12–15).
- No serial (Oxford) comma except to avoid ambiguity.
- Abbreviations without full stops when they end with the word's last letter: Dr, Mr, St, Revd. With full stops otherwise: c., p., pp., vol., no. (plural nos).
- Headings: sentence case (‘I – Origins’, ‘Levadas of the State’).
[TN: …]label: TN.
4. Numbers, dates, units
- Digit grouping with commas: 1,436,305. Decimal point: 756.225. Four-digit numbers take a comma (4,000), except years.
- Figures stay figures and words stay words (core §6.1): doze → "twelve", 12 → "12".
- Dates: 28 December 1676; on 18 November 1724; in the 1640s; around 1640 (pelos anos de 1640); c. 1450 only when the source says cerca de with a year.
- Centuries: 16th century (noun), 16th-century (adjective). Século de quatrocentos → "15th century".
- Ordinals: 1st, 2nd, 3rd; 3.º visconde → "3rd Viscount"; list labels 1.º → "1.".
- Regnal numbers: John I, Philip II.
- Temperatures: 8 °C (space before °C). Time: 1 p.m., between 4 and 6 a.m.
- Percentages: 5%, 58.8% (no space). por cento → "per cent" (two words).
- Units: a no-break space between number and symbol (648,500 kg, 12 km, 8 °C).
4a. Money, parsed numbers and tables
- Separators: thousands
,from four digits (4,000; 20,000; 1,053,000); decimal.. Years never grouped. This is what the pipeline'stargetstring already contains. - Currency words: réis (roman, invariable: "500 réis"); escudo / escudos; centavo / centavos; conto / contos (italic); mil-réis (italic, only where the source writes it); cruzado(s), pataca(s), tostão / tostões, vintém / vinténs (italic, termbase gloss). reais → réis.
- Order: number + currency word ("20,000 réis", "4.20 escudos"). Esc. 54$00 in prose → "54.00 escudos".
- First-mention glosses: réis (the Portuguese money of account before 1911; 1,000 réis = 1 mil-réis, 1,000,000 réis = 1 conto); escudos (the Portuguese currency from 1911: 1 escudo = 100 centavos = 1,000 réis); contos (1 conto = 1,000,000 réis, from 1911 1,000 escudos).
- Table headings: "Year", "Years", "Quantity (kg)", "Litres", "Revenue (réis)", "Expenditure (escudos)", "Price (escudos)", "Population", "Households". Sentence case.
| Source | kind, value |
en-GB |
|---|---|---|
| Em 1898 ...... 648:500 quilog. (table) | year 1898; integer 648500, kg | row ["1898", "648,500"], column "Quantity (kg)" |
| 1:053:000 (prose, kg) | integer 1053000 | 1,053,000 kg |
| 20$000 réis | money_reis 20000 | 20,000 réis |
| 5:000$000 réis | money_reis 5000000 | 5,000,000 réis |
| 13$000 reis | money_reis 13000 | 13,000 réis |
| 110:000 reis | money_reis 110000 | 110,000 réis |
| $28 e 29 por quilo (1914) | money_escudos 0.28; integer 29 | 28 and 29 centavos per kilo |
| 4$20 (1923) | money_escudos 4.2 | 4.20 escudos |
| Esc. 831:801$40 | money_escudos 831801.4 | 831,801.40 escudos |
| 400 contos | contos 400 | 400 contos |
| doze mil réis | (words) | twelve thousand réis |
| 5%, 58,8 %, 50 por cento | percent 5; percent 58.8; integer 50 | 5%, 58.8%, 50 per cent |
| 18 de Junho de 1572 | integer 18; year 1572 | 18 June 1572 |
PT: …sendo-lhe fixado o vencimento anual de 13$000 reis, a que o alvará de 10 de Julho do mesmo ano acrescentou 110:000 reis…
EN: …with an annual salary of 13,000 réis (the Portuguese money of account before 1911; 1,000 réis = 1 mil-réis, 1,000,000 réis = 1 conto), to which the decree of 10 July of the same year added 110,000 réis…
5. Default renderings (the termbase is authoritative)
| Portuguese | en-GB rendering | First mention |
|---|---|---|
| freguesia | parish | parish (freguesia) |
| paróquia | parish | (no gloss; same English word) |
| concelho | municipality | municipality (concelho) |
| sítio | locality | locality (sítio) |
| levada | levada (roman, naturalised; pl. levadas) | levada (irrigation channel) |
| fajã | fajã (pl. fajãs) | fajã (strip of flat land at the foot of a cliff) |
| quinta | quinta (pl. quintas) | quinta (country estate) |
| Câmara Municipal | Municipal Council; short form "the Council" | Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) |
| capitão-donatário | captain-donatary | captain-donatary (capitão-donatário) |
| capitania | captaincy | — |
| donatário | donatary | donatary (donatário) |
| lombo | lombo | lombo (ridge between valleys) |
| achada | achada | achada (plateau) |
| moradia | residence, house | — |
| ermida | chapel | — |
| vila | town | town (vila) |
| morgado / morgadio | entail / entailed estate | entail (morgado) |
| Junta Geral do Distrito | District General Council | … (Junta Geral do Distrito) |
| governador civil | civil governor | — |
| Sé | Cathedral (the Sé) | Funchal Cathedral (Sé) |
| côngrua | stipend | stipend (côngrua) |
| alqueire, almude, pipa, moio, braça, légua | kept, italic, Portuguese plural | termbase gloss |
| malvasia (wine) | Malmsey | — |
6. Names and honorifics
- Portuguese names unchanged (core §7.1). The English possessive is fine for short names (Zargo’s voyage). For long names, use "of" (the will of João Gonçalves da Câmara).
- D. → Dom / Dona (Dom António Teles da Silva, Dona Isabel de Abreu). Royals use the regnal form: D. Pedro II → Peter II; el-rei D. Manuel → King Manuel I.
- Dr. → Dr (Dr Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo).
- Padre → Father (Father Manuel Álvares). Protestant clergy (per the name table) → the Revd. Cónego → Canon. Frei → Friar. Beato → Blessed. Conselheiro (honorific) → Councillor. Comendador → Commander.
- Nobility: Count / Viscount / Baron / Marquis of + Portuguese designation (Count of Carvalhal, 1st Baron of Conceição). The established exception is the Marquis of Pombal.
- Established English forms of royalty and others: Prince Henry the Navigator (o Infante D. Henrique, o Grande Infante), John I, Afonso V, Manuel I, John III, Sebastian, Philip II, John IV, Peter II, Joseph I, Maria I, John VI, Peter IV, Miguel, Maria II, Luís I, Carlos I; Christopher Columbus; Pope Leo X; Camões (Luís de Camões), The Lusiads (Os Lusíadas).
- Saints as persons: St George, St James, St Anthony, St Francis (no full stop after St). Place names with São/Santa stay Portuguese (São Jorge, Santa Cruz).
7. Exonyms (Portuguese source form → English)
| Source | English | Source | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lisboa | Lisbon | Açores | the Azores |
| Porto | Porto (not Oporto) | Canárias | the Canary Islands (the Canaries) |
| Londres | London | Brasil | Brazil |
| Inglaterra | England | Espanha | Spain |
| França | France | Itália | Italy |
| Roma | Rome | Génova | Genoa |
| Hamburgo | Hamburg | Viena | Vienna |
| Berlim | Berlin | Marrocos | Morocco |
| Tânger | Tangier | Arzila | Arzila (Asilah if the name table says) |
| Cabo Verde | Cape Verde | Santa Helena | St Helena |
| Cabo da Boa Esperança | Cape of Good Hope | Tenerife | Tenerife |
| Selvagens | the Savage Islands (Selvagens) | Desertas | the Desertas |
| Estados Unidos da América | the United States | Índia | India |
| Guiné | Guinea | Moçambique | Mozambique |
Unchanged: Madeira, Porto Santo, Funchal, Coimbra, Évora, Braga, Setúbal, Elvas, Tomar, São Miguel, Terceira, Ponta Delgada, Angra do Heroísmo, Goa, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Ceuta, Gibraltar, Algarve (the Algarve).
8. Grammar of place names
- Articles: "the Desertas", "the Selvagens", "the Algarve", "the Paul da Serra" (as a plateau). Otherwise no article: "in Funchal", "on Porto Santo", "on Madeira" (the island) or "in Madeira" (the region). Use "on" for small islands.
- Adjectives: "Madeiran" (people, things), "Funchal" as attributive noun (the Funchal customs house). "Madeira wine" for the wine. Do not invent adjectives from Portuguese toponyms.
- Parishes: "the parish of Arco de São Jorge", or attributively "Arco de São Jorge parish", the latter only in tables and lists.
9. Cross-reference formulas
- Block: See X. / See X and Y.
- (V. este nome) → (see that entry); (V. estes nomes) → (see those entries); (V. Donatarios) → (see Donataries).
- Headword qualifiers (core §8): parish, peak, lighthouse, stream, street, chapel, chapels, fort, bay, point, islet, family, newspaper.
- Bibliography label E.: → Works:
10. Examples
Glosses shown are placeholders for the termbase and name-table entries. Each example assumes it is the first mention in its article.
1. Arco de São Jorge (Freguesia do), #b003
PT: No lugar que hoje corresponde ao sítio dos Casais, erguia-se uma pequena ermida que tinha a invocação de Nossa Senhora da Piedade, ignorando-se o ano da sua fundação, mas presumimos que deve remontar ao terceiro ou ultimo quartel do século XVI.
EN: On the spot now occupied by the locality (sítio) of Casais there once stood a small chapel dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Piedade (Our Lady of Pity). The year of its foundation is unknown, but we presume that it must date from the third or last quarter of the 16th century.
2. Zargo (João Gonçalves), #b000
PT: Foi João Gonçalves Zargo figura homérica no início dos nossos empreendimentos e derrotas marítimas, tendo capitaneado o mais importante descobrimento que os marinheiros portugueses realizaram no primeiro quartel do século de quatrocentos, sob a fecunda e gloriosa acção do Grande Infante.
EN: João Gonçalves Zargo was a Homeric figure at the dawn of our maritime ventures and voyages. He led the most important discovery made by Portuguese seamen in the first quarter of the 15th century, under the fruitful and glorious guidance of the Great Infante, Prince Henry the Navigator.
(derrotas = sea routes; "Grande Infante" is identified via the name table, not invented.)
3. Santo António (Freguesia de), #b008
PT: A já citada carta de lei de 26 de Março de 1845 fixou ao curato desta freguesia a côngrua de 20$000 réis em dinheiro e 1 pipa e 15 almudes de vinho, e 1 moio e 30 alqueires de trigo.
EN: The law of 26 March 1845, already cited, set the stipend (côngrua) of this parish’s curacy at 20,000 réis (the Portuguese money of account before 1911; 1,000 réis = 1 mil-réis, 1,000,000 réis = 1 conto) in cash, 1 pipa (wine cask) and 15 almudes (liquid measure) of wine, and 1 moio (60 alqueires) and 30 alqueires (dry measure of grain) of wheat.
4. Lombada do Loreto, #b000
PT: A sua construção data dos primeiros anos do século XVI, tendo sido fundada por Pedro Gonçalves da Câmara, neto de João Gonçalves Zargo, primeiro capitão-donatário do Funchal.
EN: The chapel dates from the first years of the 16th century. It was founded by Pedro Gonçalves da Câmara, grandson of João Gonçalves Zargo, the first captain-donatary (capitão-donatário) of Funchal.
("The chapel" resolves the Portuguese possessive, whose referent is the previous sentence's subject. This is allowed restructuring, not an addition.)
5. Campanário (Freguesia do), #b008
PT: É uma fajã, junto ao mar e no sopé de rochas alterorosas, esmeradamente cultivada e onde se produz a mais preciosa e afamada malvasia da Madeira.
EN: It is a fajã (strip of flat land at the foot of a cliff) beside the sea, beneath towering rocks. It is carefully cultivated and produces the finest and most celebrated Malmsey in Madeira.
(flag: ocr, 'alterorosas' read as 'alterosas'.)
Cross-reference: V. Tremores de terra. → "See Earthquakes."