Talk:Citoyenne Henri

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A fact from Citoyenne Henri appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 23 July 2007.

[edit] Gender and grammar

Wouldn't it be more appropriate for this article--and the lady in question--to be titled "Citizeness Henri"? "Citoyenne" is the feminine form of the word "citizen" in French; compare the usage and the translation at La Citoyenne, a feminist newspaper of the 1800's. I seem to recall reading of other women who were called Citoyenne this or that during the period of the French Revolution, and in translation are traditionally called "Citizeness," but I can't think of a particular example at the moment.

Regardless of whether it would be politically correct in English-speaking countries at the present time, the distinction of male and female nouns & adjectives is still very much a feature of the French language today; and it seems to me that when referring to people from an earlier period we ought to respect the traditional usage, not impose a modern POV.

Furthermore, it seems completely improper and anglocentric to change the spelling of a last name from "Henri" to "Henry." There is no reason to change the spelling when using a name already written in a Roman alphabet. You can find the lady's name in its original form on the French Wikipedia at fr:André-Jacques Garnerin--Textorus 22:54, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

I also can't think of any good reason for changing the last name from "Henri" to "Henry". I think that the article should be renamed. -- Asclepias 23:17, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

It was merely following the usage in the English language sources, which universally refer to her as Citizen Henry. Yomangani^talk 23:22, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

It is moved now, with the translation noted. I haven't added the Citizeness as I haven't seen a single English source with her called that. Yomangani^talk 23:36, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Good job on changing the title. I finally remembered that the most famous example is the notorious Madame DeFarge in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities; she is routinely referred to as "Citizeness DeFarge." A google search turns up other examples. Appreciate your good work on this interesting article.  :-) --Textorus 03:48, 24 July 2007 (UTC)