Londinium, Lundenwic or just London?

[Dr Kellogg]

What language would be the adequate to name cities in a scenario set in the Early Middle Ages?

Old Norse, Anglo-Saxon etc
The languages used in everyday life. I guess this option reflects the dull ambience of that time. Yet, it might be confusing regarding city names like Gleaweceastre and Oxanforda.

Modern English
The language everyone understands. But i think modern city names and pre-feudal units would be a bad match.

Latin
The language used on most maps and deeds at that time. This would be some kind of compromise although a map full of Latin named cities may look aseptic in some way.

[techumseh]

Whatever the spelling at the time is the right one.

[tanelorn]

I think that because -at least in western Europe- Latin was almost the sole language used in writen (church) sources, spelling at the time means Latin spelling, literally.
Writings in old English (the language of the "Anglo-Saxons") are scarce before the Venerable Bede, and he's around the turn of the 8th c. AD
Of course oral tradition is an entirely different matter.

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by techumseh
Whatever the spelling at the time is the right one.

Unfortunately there was no written anglo saxon language until quite late. And in anycase, spelling was not standardised for about 10 more centuries.

I think Dr Kellog should make the choice on the basis of the atmosphere he wishes to get across. If the scenario is 5th or 6th century and has a heavy Anglo Saxon content, Lundenwic has a good feel to it. But London or Londinium will be more recognisable if the scenario is more general. It's probably also a good idea to be consistent with the names used for other cities.

RJM

[Case]

I agree with the argument that the best name is the one which is consistant with the other city names. This applies to more than just pre-modern scenarios IMO - I think that scenarios that use the native language name for each citiy are a bit silly (eg, WW2 scenarios in which all the German city names use their German spelling).

[curtsibling]

I think city names should be consistent, like in a map.

And indeed, name conventions should be based on the mood of the scenario.

[Timor_Leste]

Originally posted by Case
I think that scenarios that use the native language name for each citiy are a bit silly.

Since I'm considering doing a scenario with each civ's cities in their native language, could you explain why you think it's silly? Maybe you're considering something I'm not...

[Case]

I prefer a consistant naming convention. IMO using different naming conventions is a bit 'gimmicky'.

[Gagliaudo]

Choose a language, and put the cities' other-language-names in the readme