Referência para os Álbuns de Tintim | Reference for the Tintin Albums

 

A Canonical Reference for the Tintin Albums

Ronald Kyrmse
kyrmse@gmail.com
2023-07

 This proposal could have been in French, for the Tintin albums were originally written in that language. However, since English has become “canonical” on the Web, this may be the way to reach a wider audience, including Francophones: maybe not too heavy a sacrifice.

 Tintinology may well be classed with the sciences, even though it may be debatable whether under Art Criticism (for which the mention of the term ligne claire for Hergé’s drawing style should suffice), under Sociology or under (an)other discipline(s). No matter what, it is clear that there exists the need for a concise notation in order to enable reference to the various works. Holmesians (who are called Sherlockians in America) refer to “their” 56 short stories and 4 novels (and to some apocryphal material) by standard four-letter abbreviations: thus HOUN is The Hound of the Baskervilles, SCAN is A Scandal in Bohemia and REDH is The Red-Headed League.

 Should we employ a simple numbering scheme, from 1 to 24, for the canonical albums? This has the advantage of extreme conciseness and internationality. Something may also be said for letters running from A to X. This presents the fortuitous advantage that the “unknown” letter X will stand for the incomplete Alph-Art album.

 In favour of abbreviations it can be said that they have a more mnemonic character. Those who use them will not be obliged to have resource to memory or to a list of albums to find their references with ease. In this proposal, they should be derived from the first significant word (noun, adjective, verb), always excluding such components of the title as Tintin and pays (and its translations) – just as Holmesians do not include the word Adventure in their abbreviations.

 They should, then, be two- or three-letter abbreviations, since four letters seem to be above the requirements for a mere 24 albums. I here propose three, since two would from the very start cause conflicts among COngo and COke, OReille and OR noir, SEcret and SEpt. I try to avoid subterfuges like CN × CK, OR × ON, SE × 7B in these cases. The same argument, then, applies to other languages. In the attached table I give – in addition to the original French – proposals for English, German and my native language, Brazilian Portuguese. It should be noted that even the adoption of three-letter abbreviations does not guarantee the absence of conflicts – these have been solved ad hoc. Examples are BLack Island × BLack Gold and REd Rackham × REd Sea. An examination of the German abbreviations will show that even further compromises – some debatable – were necessary due to syntactic considerations (and KÖN might be written as KOE if confusion with KON is feared).

 I propose to notate album, page and frame as in the following examples, using commas to divide numerical information:

 

Character	First appears	Name first mentioned
Archibald Haddock	CRA 14,9 9,14,9	CRA 43,5 9,43,5
Tryphon Tournesol / Cuthbert Calculus	TRE 5,6 12,5,6	TRE 5,13 12,5,13
Dupond et Dupont / Thompson & Thomson	CON 1,1 2,1,1	CIG 5,13 4,5,13

 Here are some more instances, illustrating the use of C for the cover, T for the title page, and subscript year numbers for historically different versions:

 

	Appears on…
Syldavian mountains through the legs of the Moon rocket	OBJ C 16 C
Black Gold in Arabic	ORN C 15 C
A culprit	BIJ T 21 T
Tintin escorted by kilted British soldiers; Elegant in Yiddish	ORN48 16,5 1548,16,5
Tintin escorted by Khemkhâh soldiers	ORN71 16,5 1571,16,5

Table of Canonical Abbreviations for Tintin Albums

 

Album No.	French	English	German	Portuguese (Brazil)
1	SOV Tintin au pays des Soviets	SOV Tintin in the Land of the Soviets	SOW Tim im Lande der Sowjets	SOV Tintim no País dos Sovietes
2	CON Tintin au Congo	CON Tintin in the Congo	KON Tim im Kongo	CON Tintim no Congo
3	AME Tintin en Amérique	AME Tintin in America	AME Tim in Amerika	AME Tintim na América
4	CIG Les Cigares du pharaon	CIG Cigars of the Pharaoh	ZIG Die Zigarren des Pharaos	CHA Os Charutos do Faraó
5	LOT Le Lotus bleu	BLU The Blue Lotus	BLA Der Blaue Lotos	LOT O Lótus Azul
6	ORE L'Oreille cassée	BRO The Broken Ear	ARU Der Arumbaya-Fetisch	IDO O Ídolo Roubado
7	ILE L'Île Noire	BLI The Black Island	INS Die Schwarze Insel	ILH A Ilha Negra
8	SCE Le Sceptre d'Ottokar	KIN King Ottokar's Sceptre	KÖN König Ottokars Zepter	CET O Cetro de Ottokar
9	CRA Le Crabe aux pinces d'or	CRA The Crab with the Golden Claws	KRA Die Krabbe mit den goldenen Scheren	CAR O Caranguejo das Pinças de Ouro
10	ETO L'Étoile mystérieuse	SHO The Shooting Star	STE Der geheimnisvolle Stern	EST A Estrela Misteriosa
11	SEC Le Secret de La Licorne	SEC The Secret of the Unicorn	EIN Das Geheimnis der „Einhorn“	SEG O Segredo do Licorne
12	TRE Le Trésor de Rackham le Rouge	RER Red Rackham's Treasure	RAC Der Schatz Rackhams des Roten	TES O Tesouro de Rackham, o Terrível
13	SEP Les Sept Boules de cristal	SEV The Seven Crystal Balls	SIE Die sieben Kristallkugeln	SET As 7 Bolas de Cristal
14	TEM Le Temple du Soleil	PRI Prisoners of the Sun	SON Der Sonnentempel	TEM O Templo do Sol
15	ORN Tintin au pays de l'or noir	BLG Land of Black Gold	GOL Im Reiche des Schwarzen Goldes	OUR Tintim no País do Ouro Negro
16	OBJ Objectif Lune	DES Destination Moon	REI Reiseziel Mond	RUM Rumo à Lua
17	MAR On a marché sur la Lune	EXP Explorers on the Moon	MON Schritte auf dem Mond	EXP Explorando a Lua
18	AFF L'Affaire Tournesol	CAL The Calculus Affair	FAL Der Fall Bienlein	CAS O Caso Girassol
19	COK Coke en stock	RES The Red Sea Sharks	KOH Kohle an Bord	PER Perdidos no Mar
20	TIB Tintin au Tibet	TIB Tintin in Tibet	TIB Tim in Tibet	TIB Tintim no Tibete
21	BIJ Les Bijoux de la Castafiore	CAS The Castafiore Emerald	JUW Die Juwelen der Sängerin	JOI As Joias da Castafiore
22	VOL Vol 714 pour Sydney	FLI Flight 714	FLU Flug 714 nach Sydney	VOO Voo 714 para Sydney
23	PIC Tintin et les Picaros	PIC Tintin and the Picaros	PIC Tim und die Picaros	PIC Tintim e os Pícaros
24	ALP Tintin et l'Alph-Art	ALP Tintin and Alph-Art	ALP Tim und die Alphakunst	ALF Tintim e a Alfa-Arte

Brazilian Portuguese titles are by Companhia das Letras; previous editions have divergent titles:
5 – O Loto Azul (Flamboyant, Record)
6 – A Orelha Quebrada
8 – O Cetro de Otokar (Flamboyant, Record)
9 – O Caranguejo das Tenazes de Ouro (Flamboyant, Record)
12 – O Tesouro de Rackham o Terrível (Flamboyant, Record)
19 – Carvão no Porão
22 – Vôo 714 para Sidnei (Record)
23 – Tintim e os Tímpanos (Record)