Travis,
interesting questions, you know? As I am moving through time quite liberally in my three projects in the works (Mykeanean Greece, Achaemenid Egypt (and Pericles's Athens), and late Roman Empire with the Goths) my standards have been changing and evolving...
As of late I've settled in something like this:
When there's no satisfactory term in Spanish (which is my current writing language, although that may change in the future; and of course, if I manage to get published, I'd expect to be translated to, at least, 38 other languages, hehe ;-) ) ) I use the Latin/Original one, specially if its a significant name, title or rank.
(For example
limes instead of "Frontier")
I do so as well to mark a difference between ancient and current meanings, which I consider important to have in mind, as important to the timeframe and historical context.
(E.g.:
comes and
dux, which in modern Spanish are
conde and
duque, but that due to the development of nobility in Spain, a Duke has always Greatness and it's the first in the queue after the Monarchy (duces are always Great of Spain, usually given to non-ruling heirs of the crown) while a Count can be Great or not, and it's always below the corresponding Marquess, which is always below a Duke, Great or not. Therefore, following this scheme, I consider misleading calling the character "Count Belisarius" (not in my novel, of course, but in general) instead of
Comes Belisarius, because the title is decieving. Comes Belisarius is better, and people gets, eventually, used to it.
Of course, a good glossary of terms at the end helps, and a short explanation in the text can be handy, although pedant at times if it's unnatural. This, of course, may be changed by an Editor if the writer has not sound arguments like mine to defend this position, which can be unpopular, but I think necessary to give the novel the right feeling, contextually speaking.
The same criteria, of course, apply to some titles in Greek, Egyptian, Persian, Phoenician, etc (kybernetes, polemarkhos, etc) which I use sporadically, basically when I feel it's a good time to remind the reader we are in the past which is different from the present, in thinking, and in the way of living (I'm not going to pretend I am such a good writer that readers eventually forget this is a novel in the past, because I am sure I am not, but I do tend to lose myself into the past while writing, these are also "notes to self"... :-) ) )
Lord, master, etc.. are common names and therefore I would use them in Spanish as well, but
primipilus would be a title, either I'd be forced by an editor (which I don't yet have) to use an equivalent modern title in the military (master sargent, or something like that) or it would go in Latin.
Anyway, this is changing and evolving while I test the equilibrium interface and find the right dynamical tension between correctness and comfortability for the readers, which are the primary focus of a novel, even a historical one. For example, in the Goths/Romans novel, I am transcribing names as they'd sound to a Spanish ear depending on the context I want the reader to think in:
Alarīks in a Gothic context, but
Alarico (Spanish name, from Latin Alaricus) in a Roman one (including own late Alaric's POV, and if writing in English I'd use Alaricus, yes...);
Paulo Cornelio Ruber Theodorico instead of Paulo Cornelio Ruber Thiudarīks[/i] in all instances, except where an all Gothic-and-no-Roman POV is expressed (like, e.g. an anti-Roman Gothic character who wants to remind Paulo of his Gothic origins), and so on... In this last case,
Theodoricus would be the normal Roman way of pronouncing
Thiudarīks in Antiochia per Orontem, where the character got finally adopted by a Roman senator (eek! :-) ) ) In this case I have bet for using the aspirated consonants instead of the voiced Spanish equivalents (i.e.
Theodorico instead of the usual
Teodorico) so the readers don't forget this is not the old History they preferred to forget when they were younger (years ago it was compulsory to learn the complete list of Visigoth kings from Alaric (or Athaulf) onwards, a very long list! People tend to hate the Goths for that, and I want them to enjoy the novel!)
Of course, if I ever find an Editor to publish my novel, I'd hand some signed first editions to the people who's helping me, as well as a proper acknowledgement in the book itself (if you can read Spanish, count on it :-) ) ).
This is the Fate of amateur writers, at least for the time being. Anyway, I am a slow writer, I tend to investigate carefully (or at least as carefully as I can afford) and try to make the novels historically (and specially hoplologically!) sound; that makes me slower...
Hope this extremely long reply is helpful in solving any doubts.
BTW, if you don't write, and you'd like to, Just Do So! Writing Historical Fiction/Novels, from someone who likes the time period, is extremely gratifying, writing a novel (as opposed to shorter works, which I have done many times) is an experience to be felt, the difference is not just cuantitative, as I used to think, there's really a qualitative difference in writing a novel, a depth that good novels can afford (I stress the "good" part, bad novels are a shallow as a raindrop)... If you already write, tell us! :-P P
Thanks for all the help, really!
aue atque uale
PS- a shameless plug: I blog with some regularity about my writing as it relates to the History or Hoplology behind the curtain, the blog is
de praeterito tempore and I have some links to other places where I also discuss these things with other writers or knowledgeable people... Please, feel free and more than welcome to visit and participate...
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