Flatten

To flatten a name in the extended Latin character set is to map its characters into the core character set as used in US or UK English, in particular to remove all accents and embellishments on the 26 Latin letters a-z (and A-Z) and to transliterate any additional letters (Eth, Thorn, Eszett etc) into Latin digraphs, in particular:

• Eth (Ð, ð) to dh - for more on Eth see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eth
• Thorn (Þ and þ) to th - for more on Thorn see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorn_(letter)
• Eszett (ß) to ss - for more on Eszett see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esszet

Removal of the accents is a mechanical process but the transliterations may depend on context - in particular Welsh speakers may be more comfortable with a mapping of ð to dd rather than dh.

The purpose of flattening is to ensure that users with keyboards that cannot represent the full range of the extended Latin alphabet (ty[ically those in the US, UK, Australia and similar English-speaking countries) can still access the wiki entries by typing the flattened form.

See also penumbra.

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