List of Initial Articles

In some MARC fields, a numeric value (0-9) specifies the number of character positions associated with an initial definite or indefinite article to be disregarded in sorting and filing processes. Initial articles may also simply be deleted in the formulation of the heading.

Refer to the Variable Field documentation for instructions about how to handle initial articles in individual fields. Refer to the OCLC Bibliographic Formats and Standards manual, field 245, section on the 2^nd indicator, for instructions on how to set non-filing indicators that can be applied more globally.

List of articles by article name

An asterisk (*) before an indefinite article indicates that the same form in also used for cardinal numeral "one". Therefore, care must be taken to distinguish meaning.

Article	Language
a	English, Hebrew, Hungarian, Portuguese, Yiddish
a'	Gaelic, Scottish
al-	Arabic
am	Gaelic, Scottish
an	English, Gaelic, Scottish, Yiddish
an t-	Gaelic, Scottish
as	Portuguese
az	Hungarian
*bat	Basque
* bir	Turkish
das	German, Yiddish
de	Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish
dei	Norwegian
den	Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
der	German, Yiddish
det	Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
di	Danish, Yiddish
die	Afrikaans, German, Yiddish
dos	Yiddish
* een, eene	Dutch
* egy	Hungarian
* ei	Norwegian
* ein	German, Norwegian, Yiddish
* eine	German, Yiddish
* eit	Norwegian
el	Spanish
el-	Arabic
* en	Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
* et	Danish, Norwegian
* ett	Swedish
* eyn, eyne	Yiddish
gl', gli	Italian
ha-	Hebrew
hai	Classical Greek, Modern Greek
he	Hawaiian
he (add diacritic)	Classical Greek, Modern Greek
he-	Hebrew
* heis	Modern Greek
* hen, hena	Modern Greek
* henas	Modern Greek
het	Dutch
hinar, hinir	Icelandic
hi, hin, hinn	Icelandic
ho	Classical Greek, Modern Greek
ho-	Hebrew
hoi	Classical Greek, Modern Greek
i	Italian
il	Italian, Old Provencal
ka	Hawaiian
ke	Hawaiian
l'	French, Italian, Old Provencal, Modern Provencal
la	Esperanto, French, Italian, Old Provencal, Modern Provencal, Spanish
las	Old Provencal, Spanish
le	French, Italian, Old Provencal
les	French, Old Provencal
lh'	Old Provencal
lhi	Old Provencal
li	Old Provencal, Modern Provencal
lis	Modern Provencal
lo	Italian, Old Provencal, Modern Provencal
los	Old Provencal, Spanish
lou	Modern Provencal
lu	Modern Provencal
* mia	Modern Greek
'n	Afrikaans, Dutch
na	Hawaiian, Gaelic, Scottish
na h-	Gaelic, Scottish
* nje (add diacritic), nji	Albanian
ny	Manx
* o	Hawaiian, Portuguese, Rumanian
os	Portuguese
't	Dutch
ta	Classical Greek, Modern Greek
the	English
to	Classical Greek, Modern Greek
to (add diacritic)	Classical Greek
* um, uma	Portuguese
umas	Portuguese
* un	French, Italian, Modern Provencal, Rumanian, Spanish
* un'	Italian
* una	Italian, Old Provencal, Modern Provencal, Rumanian, Spanish
unas	Spanish
* une	French
* uno	Italian, Modern Provencal
unos	Spanish
* uns	Old Provencal, Portuguese
* us	Old Provencal
y, yn	Manx
y, yr	Welsh

Based on the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules 2^nd ed. 2002 revision Appendix E and Initial Definite and Indefinite Articles from MARC 21 Format for Authority and

Bibliographic Data.

aml 3/24/2003

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This page is maintained by Angela Laack and John Milazzo.

List of Initial Articles

List of articles by article name

Article

Language

Last updated 03/28/2003