Category talk:Words and phrases by language

Cleaning up this category
I just came across this Category:Words and phrases by language.

It's currently a strange hotchpotch of a container category, which AFAICS has 4 types of subcat:
 * 1) sub-cats by language, such as or
 * 2) sub-cats by country, such as and  (neither "Scottish" nor "Iranian"  is a language).
 * 3) ambiguously-named subcats which could refer either to a language or to a country. For example ,
 * 4) sub-cats by language family, such as or

This is messy; only first set should be in this category.

I propose that
 * 1) all the categories by language should be renamed to include the word "language": e.g. → and →
 * 2) The by-country subcats should be deleted. Categorising languages by country will cause massive category clutter on the more widely-used languages, such as Arabic, English, Spanish and French
 * 3) The ambiguously named categories should be similarly renamed, e.g. →
 * 4) The categs by language family should all be renamed to include the phrase "language family": e.g. →

Any thoughts? -- Brown HairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 21:05, 11 March 2013 (UTC)


 * For the most part I support BrownHairedGirl's suggestions, with a minor caveat and an addition.


 * Caveat: I'm not sure the addition of the word "language" to category names is necessary. An explanation on the category page, like that at Category:English words may suffice, perhaps strengthened a bit (e.g. "Articles that are about Spanish language words, not words associated with Spain or ideas described by Spanish words").


 * Addition: The explicitly "by culture" subcategories should be somehow reorganized. Maybe the easiest way to do that is to remove them from this category altogether and make something like into which the surnames and given names subcats (and maybe Category:Native American toponymy, too) could be moved.


 * And while we're at it, what should be done about Category:Native American words and phrases‎? It has the by-country (actually continent) problem, but contains by-language subcats for Guaraní, Nahuatl, and Quechua. Cnilep (talk) 02:49, 12 March 2013 (UTC)


 * I broadly agree, but suggest attempting rescue before deletion, e.g. all three articles currently held directly in are all Avestan, and could be categorised as such; alternatively, the Iranian categories could be renamed using "Iranian languages sub-family". – Fayenatic  L ondon 20:06, 10 April 2013 (UTC)
 * I have since come across and others like it, so I set up . If the Scottish category cannot be renamed/split by "language" then this could re-home it. – Fayenatic  L ondon 18:38, 17 May 2013 (UTC)