Talk:Xi

Xi County
An important question was raised on my talk page as to whether the three DOI durably archived references for Xi here indicate an English word Xi or a "word" Xi County. (cf. Orange County, etc.) I suggested that there may be some documents that mention this Xi as a county without the word being followed by the word 'county'- perhaps in lists of counties of Linfen or etc. I don't care about this aspect of Wiktionary word/entry title policy as much as I care about documenting the existence of 'Xi' with spaces on either side, be it here or be it on a Xi County page- separate from a page for Xixian, which likely deserves a page too. Since 'Xi' could be used in a list of counties in Linfen or perhaps like (but awkwardly?) "Xi, Linfen, Shanxi, China", I think 'Xi' is an English language word. Nobody complains when we talk about Qin or Han because those are common as dynasty titles, despite the fact they are one syllable. There's extreme difficulty in finding examples of 'Xi' if they are out there given in commonness of the word 'Xi' to refer to other things. Here is the discussion from the talk page: --Geographyinitiative (talk) 16:47, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Just something to keep in mind is single-character counties, like I'm not sure how well they are attested as just Xi (without County or instead of Xixian). — justin(r)leung { (t...) 06:11, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
 * As you know, this is an intergenerational, long-term problem of English terminology on geography in China that is as old as Western interaction with China. There is a split between "xian/hsien" users and "county" users when it comes to one-syllable county names. In respect of the other usage, added Xixian as a synonym.Let me know what you think of the citations I added for 'Xi'. I have always used OCLC to reach the three durably archived requirement, but in this case (for the first time) I'm attempting to use DOI. Some of the material is unusual. Not sure if DOI works for durably archived/PRM requirement.I imagine there might be uses of 'Xi' like "counties of Linfen including Daning, Xi, and Xiangning" out there, hence I don't create a 'Xi County' page. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 09:17, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I would consider things with DOIs durably archived. Right now, all the quotes on Xi only show "Xi County" or "Xi county". Ideally, I would like to see evidence for what you think might exist, but I guess we could keep it at Xi for now. (I'm just comparing this situation to entries like Orange County, which I think you are aware of.) — justin(r)leung { (t...) 14:33, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Justin, I trust your judgment so you tell me what's best: my goal is to get every Hanyu Pinyin county name onto English Wiktionary by the end of the summer. I presume there's no objection to the two or three-syllable county names that don't include the word 'county' in the entry title. Should I just skip the one-syllable county names so as to cause fewer headaches down the road? Or can I just keep going and then if a decision is made later, everything can be transferred to where it needs to go? Do I need to make an Anyang County page in addition to the Anyang page? You just tell me what to do and I'll do it the way you say. I just want to get something out there- frankly I don't give one rat's behind about whether the word 'county' or 'hsien' is included'- and then let people play with the foundation I've made over the coming years. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 21:38, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I think maybe we can skip the monosyllabic county names for now, but maybe you can keep a list of these to be dealt with later on, after you're done with the other county names. I think it would also benefit from discussion more widely, like in WT:TR or even WT:BP, to see what others say before we proceed further. — justin(r)leung { (t...) 21:46, 10 June 2021 (UTC)