''Sine nomine'' (abbreviated s.n.) is a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
expression, meaning "without a name". It is most commonly used in the contexts of publishing and
bibliographical
Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
listings such as
library catalog
A library catalog (or library catalogue in British English) is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations. A catalog for a group of libraries is also ...
s, to signify that the
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
(or distributor, etc.) of a listed work is unknown, or not printed or specified on the work. It is to be compared with ''
sine loco'' (''s.l.''), "without a place", used where the place of publication of a work is unknown or unspecified. While it may sometimes be used to disclose an unknown
authorship
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
, this is more commonly indicated as ''
anon.'' or similar.
The phrase and its abbreviation have been deprecated in
Anglophone
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the ''Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest language ...
cataloging
In library and information science, cataloging ( US) or cataloguing ( UK) is the process of creating metadata representing information resources, such as books, sound recordings, moving images, etc. Cataloging provides information such as auth ...
with the adoption of the
Resource Description and Access
Resource Description and Access (RDA) is a standard for descriptive cataloging initially released in June 2010, providing instructions and guidelines on formulating bibliographic data. Intended for use by libraries and other cultural organization ...
standard, which instead prescribes the unabbreviated English phrase "publisher not identified" (or "distributor not identified", etc.). ''Sine loco'' is likewise replaced by "place of publication not identified".
See also
*''
Liber sine nomine''
*''
Missa sine nomine
A ''Missa sine nomine'', literally a "Mass without a name", is a musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass, usually from the Renaissance, which uses no pre-existing musical source material, as was normally the case in mass composition. Not all ...
'', literally, a Mass without a name
References
External links
{{Wiktionary
Latin meaning
Latin words and phrases
Library cataloging and classification