Editing Anglicisation (section)

=== Linguistic anglicisation ===
{{Main|Anglicisation (linguistics)}}

Linguistic anglicisation is the practice of modifying foreign words, names, and phrases to make them easier to spell, pronounce or understand in [[English language|English]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="ReferenceB"/> The term commonly refers to the respelling of foreign words, often to a more drastic degree than that implied in, for example, [[Romanization|romanisation]].

Non-English words may be anglicised by changing their form and/or pronunciation to something more familiar to English speakers. Some foreign place names are commonly anglicised in English. Examples include the [[Denmark|Danish]] city København ([[Copenhagen]]), the [[Russia]]n city of Moskva ([[Moscow]]), the [[Sweden|Swedish]] city of Göteborg ([[Gothenburg]]), the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] city of Den Haag ([[The Hague]]), the [[Spain|Spanish]] city of Sevilla ([[Seville]]), the [[Egypt]]ian city of Al-Qāhira ([[Cairo]]), and the [[Italy|Italian]] city of Firenze ([[Florence]]). The [[India|Indian]] city of Kolkata was once anglicised as [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], until the city chose to change its official name back to Kolkata in 2001. Anglicisation of words and names from indigenous languages occurred across the [[English-speaking world]] in former parts of the [[British Empire]]. [[Toponymy|Toponyms]] in particular have been affected by this process.

In the past, the names of people from other language areas were anglicised to a higher extent than today. This was the general rule for names of Latin or (classical) Greek origin. Today, the anglicised name forms are often retained for the more well-known persons, like [[Aristotle]] for Aristoteles, and [[Adrian IV|Adrian]] (or later [[Hadrian]]) for Hadrianus. During the time in which there were large influxes of immigrants from [[Europe]] to the [[United States]] and [[United Kingdom]] during the 19th and 20th centuries, the names of many immigrants were never changed by immigration officials but only by personal choice.