In the context of genres such as Gothic literature and Gothic music should "Gothic" be capitalized? Although names of genres are generally not capitalized, these happen to share the name of a historic ethnic group. My confusion comes from the fact that these genres have essentially no connection to the Gothic people, so should they still retain the capitalization given to names of ethnic groups?
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3Merriam-Webster, for one, says that, in the sense you mention, it is "often not capitalized." (The examples don't make it clear, because they provide sentences that start with the word.)– Jason BassfordCommented Apr 27, 2020 at 17:18
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A century ago it was almost always capitalised in contexts like Gothic literature, but increasingly today it's not.– FumbleFingersCommented Apr 27, 2020 at 17:38
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2 Answers
There is no simple answer.
Goth band has been overtaken by goth band in written material- See ngram.
A BBC article on World Goth Day - 22/May use goth for the music/bands/kids-in-black-clothes but Gothic (capital) for the novels and architecture.
In 1979, another British band, Bauhaus, released Bela Lugosi’s Dead, which is often cited as one of the first examples of goth music. The song title refers to the Hungarian actor who played Count Dracula in the 1931 Hollywood film. It's a song full of eerie noises, and it sounds as if it could have been recorded in a Gothic castle. Goth music gave rise to a subculture: goth. The traditional goth image includes black or purple clothes, tons of black eyeliner and dark make-up. Some goths dress in lavish faux-Victorian clothes recalling characters from Gothic film and literature.
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‘Goth’ and ‘Gothic’ have had many different meanings. It is strange to think that a word referring to an ancient population became a way to describe a new and exciting style of literature, film and, eventually, music. — BBC
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1John Robb's book The art of darkness: The history of goth uses the lower-case form. Goth was originally a demonym but it's not uncommon for demonyms to lose their capital as they become detached from the original meaning, like china (porcelain), japan (varnish), and a variety of offensive colloquial terms like welsh (to avoid payment).– Stuart FCommented Nov 12 at 11:06
Gothic is always capitalized because it refers to the Goth people of central Europe. Even when referencing things like "that Goth chick" it is capitalized. Gothic architecture or Gothic apparel is still referencing the Goth people, though possibly not in an enlightened way.
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Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.– Community BotCommented May 19, 2022 at 6:10
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2If we follow that logic, a word like sodomite ought to always be written with a capital, but it oughtn't. Do you know what makes this a special case?– JoachimCommented May 19, 2022 at 12:17
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1And you should serve cake on a China plate off a Damask tablecloth– Stuart FCommented Nov 12 at 11:07
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1Even 'english' in the sense of a type of spin applied to a pool ball [mainly a US usage] is often lowercased and accepted as such. Genericisation is a fact of life; sandwiches, french fries, wellingtons, aspirins and hoovers are now generic terms (though the Biro company successfully sued someone lowercasing their product in print). The 3 downvotes (I won't increase) are for hyperprescriptivism and the etymological fallacy. Commented Nov 12 at 12:03