Notational Convention: Terroir in Italics

[doviakw]

I have searched for an existing thread in which to ask this question, but to no avail:

Why is the word Terroir so often shown in italics?

Inquiring minds want to know!

[i hesitated to begin a topic for this but could find no logical place (like "Wine Terms") to put it.]

[Simon_S]

I don't think this is an issue specific to wines. Isolated words that are in another language are frequently printed in italics.

Si

[Rebel Rose]

Exactly. And as the English understanding of the word seems to be so very hard to define, it is considered a very foreign term.

[JohnL]

Interesting "question."

The term is French and there is no exact equivalent in English.

The term has been defined clearly in both French and English.

There is no discrepancy-- we know what it means.

The confusion and ensuing debate is not over the definition but rather how terroir (with or without quotation marks) impacts a wine's quality and how it manifests itself in wine (if and how we perceive it in a finished wine).

This is complicated by the complexity of wine and the process by which grapes grow and are made into wine.

As for the quotes, I think some may use them to in the midst of a discussion or debate to indicate they are making a point based upon how a previous poster or someone else has used the term, an attempt to provide some additional context.

Edited March 30, 2007 by JohnL (log)

[Fat Guy]

The standard rule is "italicize foreign-language words." However, because the English language borrows so many words from other languages, it can be difficult to determine whether a word has been sufficiently incorporated so as to be considered English. For example, if you look at older books and magazines, say from the 1920s, you will invariably see "foie gras" typeset in italics. Today, you'll almost never see that, though you might see "pate de foie gras" italicized because, as a phrase, it's more foreign.

Terroir is gaining acceptance as an English word, and at some point it will surely no longer be italicized. For now, it sort of depends on context. In food and wine media, I wouldn't italicize it. Were I writing the style guide for a general interest publication like Newsweek, I might. Of course, I didn't even bother to italicize Newsweek, so who am I to talk?

Anyway, the eGullet Society has a concise style guide of its own. Here's how we handle foreign-language terms:

Non-English terms

• No italics for commonly used non-English terms. (For culinary terms, if a moderately traveled gourmet would know what the term means, it is not italicized): carpaccio, moo goo gai pan, foie gras, e.g., i.e., et al.
  
• Italicize (and define on first mention) non-English terms not in common usage: ichimi (Japanese chile).
  

[JohnL]

Interesting FG!

I agree that terroir must be close to gaining non italicized status based on its usage and general acceptance in English speaking countries.

We probably shouldn't italicize it here at eGullet.

It has been a long time since I took copy editing in school--I totally forgot about the italics rules.