HistoricalQuote

HistoricalQuote is a term used in historiography and digital humanities to refer to a quotation attributed to a person, work, or era from the past. It encompasses direct cited phrases, sometimes rendered in translation, as well as short paraphrases that convey an original sentiment or argument. The term is not tied to a single object but to the practice of recording, preserving, and analyzing notable statements from history.

In traditional scholarship, historical quotes are collected from primary sources such as manuscripts, inscriptions, and recorded speeches, and from credible secondary sources. They are used to illustrate points, set historical context, or provide evidence for claims. The credibility of a quote depends on attribution, dating, source reliability, and the preservation of original wording and context.

Authentication challenges include misquotation, translation error, and anachronistic interpretation. Researchers address these issues through source criticism, verification against original documents, cross-referencing with other contemporaneous records, and consideration of editorial bias or later rewording.

In digital contexts, HistoricalQuote may describe a data element within quotation databases, corpora, or APIs. Typical metadata includes the quotation text, author or source, date or period, location, original language, translation, provenance, and an assessment of reliability. Such records enable search, textual analysis, and provenance tracking and are valuable in education, journalism, and cultural research.

See also: quotation, quotation database, provenance, misquotation, historiography.