In linguistics, the donor principle refers primarily to the observance of the original spelling of a loanword from the original ("donor") language. This principle applies in particular to the standardization in the receiver language of exonyms when they are used in publications.[1][2]
The term donor principle is sometimes also used for the particular spelling of names of specific products, brands, institutions, etc., chosen by their owner, founder, designer, etc., when it clashes with the official spelling rules.[3] This often pertains to the use of capital letters, (e.g. YouTube), for example.
References
edit- ^ "Exonyms guidelines synopsis" (PDF). EuroGeoNames.
- ^ Peter Jordan; Milan Orožen Adamič; Paul Woodman (2007). Exonyms and the International Standardisation of Geographical Names. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 11. ISBN 9783825800352.
- ^ Anneke Nunn and Anneke Neijt, The recent history of Dutch orthography (II). Problems solved and created by the 2005 reform, Leuvense Bijdragen. Tijdschrift voor Germaanse Filologie, vol. 95 (2007), p. 117-157 (note: the pdf on the repository page is a 4 MB non-searchable version; a Word version is also available)
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