Talk:Beersheba

Changes of Hebrew definitions

See discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Judaism#New "twist and turn" as "Hebrew alphabet" is switched to "Hebrew languages" concerning appropriate uses of the word "Hebrew" here. IZAK 05:33, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the debate was move. —Nightstallion (?) ^{Seen this already?} 18:16, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Name

Transliteration into the 'Latin' alphabet (it's not really the Latin alphabet that English uses, since that didn't include W, etc) may now be standardized on "Beer-Sheva" in Israel, but in the vast majority of the English-speaking world, it is not yet the case. E.g., doing a web search, for pages in English, we get:

• about 480,000 for Beer-Sheva
• about 1,260,000 for Beersheba

And of course in books, which have a longer lifetime, it will be skewed even further toward "Beersheba". When it is the most common form in the English-speaking world, that will be the time to change. Noel (talk) 15:50, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

I see different: 1,140,000 for "Beer Sheva," 247,000 for "Be'er Sheva", and 847,000 for Beersheba. But the google test is not a supreme guide for titles. Thus, I've opted to rename into Be'er Sheva since it makes it (immediately) most clear to the English speaker this isn't Beer vowelizationining (and also corrects the b to a v), and I think the clarity of the reader is what we should keep foremost in mind. El_C 14:06, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

If your main concern was for the English-speaker to understand that it's not pronounced like the word Beer, I don't think the move was deserved. There is a sound file attached to the name anyhow, in the infobox. I think we should discuss what this article should be named before unilaterally moving it to whatever we like. I'll start a vote now. -- Template:Country data flagicon Ynhockey ^(Talk) 11:16, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

I object to the vote and its irrational, anglocentric nature. Wikipedia is not a democracy, one should not be so hasty to vote, esp. so early-on. The city has no "B" in the Sheva (see Tel Sheva), phonetically. The Be'er makes the vowelization immediately clear, including when it's linked in other articles. Google hits are not a supreme authority when we're it comes to hundreds of thousands of hits being the minimum figure, and when this minimum figure is used by the govt. of the country the city is in. I am not interested in the spelling ecountered by individual editors so much and find it anectodal, and devoid of any of the rational considerations mentioned. El_C 07:47, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Article should be named...

Beersheba

The most common English spelling by non-Israelis, gets over 800,000 hits on Google. It's also more neutral toward the Arab name. Not used by any official Israeli sources.

1. Support (fairly known city worldwide, IMO it warrants using the world spelling as opposed to the Israeli one). -- Template:Country data flagicon Ynhockey ^(Talk) 11:16, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
2. Support The only spelling I had ever encountered before first seeing a National Geographic map. - Gilgamesh 14:58, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
3. Support, this is the international spelling of the name, as far as I know. --Panairjdde 13:27, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
4. Support: clearly most common name in English. Jonathunder 18:12, 28 April 2006 (UTC)
5. Support Especially since there is a substantial archaeological section for which Be'er Sheva would be contrary to usage. Septentrionalis 20:37, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Beer Sheva

The most common English spelling by Israelis, gets nearly 900,000 hits on Google.

Be'er Sheva

Not a common spelling, gets only 190,000 hits on Google. It is the official Israel Central Bureau of Statistics spelling.

1. given the fact that this spelling reflects the official israeli pronunciation of the city (after all, Be'er Sheva` is located in israel currently) and the official israeli government spelling (who has a right to tell a country how to spell something -- next thing you should tell the americans that they are misspelling Detroit, that they need to write Détroit), i think that be'er sheva (or be'er sheva`) would be the best choice. Dgl 13:42, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

   In English Wikipedia we use to write the names with English spelling. This is a policy, WP:NAME. If you want to contribute to this Wikipedia, you sould accept its rules, the same way people contributing to Hebrew Wikipedia do with Hebrew Wikipedia rules. Thanks.--Panairjdde 13:51, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

everyone has a right to express his view. there is an option here to support the official and proper spelling of be'er sheva` and i am merely indicating that.

You're right. And I am merely commenting on your opinion, that is "expressing my view".What's the point?--Panairjdde 14:47, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.