2.3.2.4 Foreign Words

Foreign words and phrases used in English prose are usually italicized when they remain recognizably foreign or technical: conjunctio, imago, solve et coagula. If a word or phrase has become common in English, set it in roman type: ad hoc, per se, vice versa. As a working rule, terms listed in the main entries of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary may be treated as naturalized English. Related forms should normally be handled consistently.

Quoted foreign words, phrases, or sentences are set in roman type within quotation marks. Foreign proper nouns are also set roman: Aiwass, Boleskine, Cefalù, Eleusis, Paris, Thelema Abbey. Transliterated terms that remain foreign should generally be italicized, especially when the transliteration is being discussed as such: agapē, daimōn, henosis. Abbreviations of common foreign phrases are set roman even when the full phrase would be italicized: et al., e.g., i.e., sic.

Terms in italics remain foreign or technical in ordinary English prose. Terms in roman type are treated as naturalized English, proper names, standard abbreviations, or established scholarly forms. When a term is being discussed as a term, it may be italicized regardless of its normal treatment.