I have struggled for quite some time with the conundrum of capitalization as it concerns the names of fantasy races. For the longest time I have capitalized many of my non-human race names. This seemed fairly acceptable until I realized that humans were "yet another race", and if the names of the various other races were capitalized, well, Human should be capitalized too. "The five Humans stood at the table waiting for the Scaithi to leave the room," just looks awkward and silly.
But in science-fiction we are often met with capitalization on the names of virtually every alien races. For example, let us make up the name Xorthergon for the multi-tentacled, six-eyed inhabitants of the planet Xortherga. Why then would Xorthergon be capitalize while human would not be capitalized? Because Xortherga is then name of a planet, and Xorthergons are the people from the planet Xortherga. A human from Earth (or Terra) might be called an Earthling, or more often in modern sci-fi, a Terran, but the word “human” would not be capitalized (unless of course the planet Earth changed its name to “Hum”).
But back to the subject of fantasy. Tolkien, as we know, did sometimes capitalize Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit, and Men, but as far as I know he did this only as it pertained to the collective race of Elves, Dwarfs, Hobbits, or Men. When he spoke of a small party of dwarfs or a group of hobbits in the Shire, he did not capitalize their racial name. However, I feel that consistency is key.
Almost universally, the names of species are lower cased, such as dog, cat, wolf, human, with the exception of scientific Latin names (Canis lupus, Homo sapien, etc.). On the other hand, virtually every race name is capitalized (African America, Latino, Caucasian, and so forth), and we also have Vikings, Celts, and so forth. But in the broad context, the very general term for our species, “human”, is never seen capitalized (well, except at the beginning of a sentence).
So why are fantasy race names, such as elf, dwarf, ogre, and so forth, usually lower cased? Which is more correct: elf or Elf; dwarf or Dwarf? Are there any hard and fast rules, or am I just over thinking the problem? Does any have any particular suggestions or insight?
But in science-fiction we are often met with capitalization on the names of virtually every alien races. For example, let us make up the name Xorthergon for the multi-tentacled, six-eyed inhabitants of the planet Xortherga. Why then would Xorthergon be capitalize while human would not be capitalized? Because Xortherga is then name of a planet, and Xorthergons are the people from the planet Xortherga. A human from Earth (or Terra) might be called an Earthling, or more often in modern sci-fi, a Terran, but the word “human” would not be capitalized (unless of course the planet Earth changed its name to “Hum”).
But back to the subject of fantasy. Tolkien, as we know, did sometimes capitalize Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit, and Men, but as far as I know he did this only as it pertained to the collective race of Elves, Dwarfs, Hobbits, or Men. When he spoke of a small party of dwarfs or a group of hobbits in the Shire, he did not capitalize their racial name. However, I feel that consistency is key.
Almost universally, the names of species are lower cased, such as dog, cat, wolf, human, with the exception of scientific Latin names (Canis lupus, Homo sapien, etc.). On the other hand, virtually every race name is capitalized (African America, Latino, Caucasian, and so forth), and we also have Vikings, Celts, and so forth. But in the broad context, the very general term for our species, “human”, is never seen capitalized (well, except at the beginning of a sentence).
So why are fantasy race names, such as elf, dwarf, ogre, and so forth, usually lower cased? Which is more correct: elf or Elf; dwarf or Dwarf? Are there any hard and fast rules, or am I just over thinking the problem? Does any have any particular suggestions or insight?
