h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I quite like this entry, but I have a minor gripe. I've always seen it spelt Siddhartha, not Siddartha. While I accept it was written ages ago, and I think in Sanskrit/different alphabet, it seems Siddhartha is the more common spelling.

It looks like the original entry was spelt "Siddhartha". Most people in the Peer Review thread referred to him as "Siddhartha". Why was the spelling in this one changed? (Did I miss something in the backlog?)

Searching for 'Siddartha' on Google gets a "Did you mean Siddhartha?" response, plus 15,500 search results. Searching for 'Siddhartha' gets 174,000 search results.

Searching for 'Siddartha' on Amazon.com comes up with several books and DVDs all called "Siddhartha".

I guess there's no point in changing the whole entry now, but would anybody mind if I went to Editorial Feedback with a request for at least a footnote mentioning the alternative spelling?

I don't see any reason why the Eds shouldn't change the whole entry. But if they don't want to, there should certainly be a footnote.

My encyclopaedia lists three different spellings:

Siddhartha
Siddharta
Siddhatha

They all start with Siddh.

I would like to see the whole entry changed. Even if they don't change it, I think they should add a footnote recognising different spellings. Do you think I should head over to EF?

I just don't understand why it was changed from the original entry. I guess it's a mystery.

Yes, you should go to Editorial Feedback.

Okay

(Maybe I need support)

F47997?thread=400521

Probably breaking all of the precepts here; but in reading these entries I can't help wondering whether Buddha would have cared much about the lexical niceties of how to spell Sid....

D

Hey Delicia,

Just walking through? Or are these 'grasshopper' footprints...

D

I wanted to mark this entry, as it is a nicely condensed, in a nutshell sort of thing ... just like in the fairytale where a whole dress + accessoires is hidden in the hazelnut.

Delicia,

An admirable thing to do.

Here's a glass of hazelnut liqueur in your honour... ...

Which fairytale had a dress in a shell? Don't recall that.

D

It's a German one, Aschenbrödel, which is the original of Cinderella, I think. I like concise entries that give rough outlines and lots of keywords one can base further research on. And when one cracks that nut, all the good stuff comes out, and you never get it back into the original nut. Silly simile maybe.

You don't think Buddha would have cared that his name is spelled wrong? Did you skip the part of the entry that mentioned to not "speak incorrectly"?

Actually I don't think he would mind, as Buddhism is largely about learning no to let oneself be irritated?
This spelling is a formal question of translation of Sanskrit? I like it better with the aitches, which transmit a sort singing quality to the word, and also because I've always seen it like that, so it must be tradition, but a European based tradition?
I think what he meant by not speaking incorrectly is trying to speak carefully in every sense. Which is often just as good as one knows.

Good point, Kyle, but I think that 'speaking incorrectly' has more to do with issues such as speaking the truth and not causing your words to cause suffering in others. I think that it probably has less to do with minor spelling differences caused by transcribing a name from one language to a very different one. After all, we only got standardised spelling in English a few decades ago - Shakespeare himself used to spell the same word differently.... and even today we English have learned to live with 'color' and 'leverage' (as a verb)...

and , anyone?

D

Do you think that the organisers of H2G2 should insist that everyone contributing to the site should apply Buddhist principles to what they do? It would speed up the peer review process and no one would ever get flamed again!

D

'You say tomato. I say tomato...'

See how much easier it is to get along in print. But, just for the record, I must say that I, too, prefer 'Siddhartha' wiv a haitch.

There is a wonderful film version if the Hermann Hesse story, now available in DVD, called, coincidentally, 'Siddhartha'. It is quite beautiful, well worth a couple of clicks and a meagre credit card payment. Do read Siddhartha, though. It was powerful stuff, once upon a time, and ought to be again.

JTG

I've heard that it's very good. Will have to get around to reading it...

It may be worth pointing out that the Siddhartha that Hermann Hesse wrote about was not the same person as the historical figure.

Reading of both, one will find parallels, but one's story is not the others'.

Kind of sorry that this entry never linked to my piece on Siddhartha, my super-condensed version.

Is yours an Edited Entry?