Category talk:Words and phrases by language

Cleaning up this category

I just came across this Category:Words and phrases by language.

It's currently a strange hotchpotch of a container category, which AFAICS has 4 types of subcat:

1. sub-cats by language, such as Category:Arabic words and phrases or Category:Hindi words and phrases
2. sub-cats by country, such as Category:Scottish words and phrases and Category:Iranian words and phrases (neither "Scottish" nor "Iranian" is a language).
3. ambiguously-named subcats which could refer either to a language or to a country. For example Category:Spanish words and phrases, Category:Irish words and phrases
4. sub-cats by language family, such as Category:Semitic words and phrases or Category:Germanic words and phrases

This is messy; only first set should be in this category.

I propose that

1. all the categories by language should be renamed to include the word "language": e.g. Category:English words and phrases→Category:English language words and phrases and Category:Arabic words and phrases→Category:Arabic language words and phrases
2. The by-country subcats should be deleted. Categorising languages by country will cause massive category clutter on the more widely-used languages, such as Arabic, English, Spanish and French
3. The ambiguously named categories should be similarly renamed, e.g. Category:Spanish words and phrases→Category:Spanish language words and phrases
4. The categs by language family should all be renamed to include the phrase "language family": e.g. Category:Germanic words and phrases→Category:Germanic language family words and phrases

Any thoughts? --BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 21:05, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

For the most part I support BrownHairedGirl's suggestions, with a minor caveat and an addition.

Caveat: I'm not sure the addition of the word "language" to category names is necessary. An explanation on the category page, like that at Category:English words may suffice, perhaps strengthened a bit (e.g. "Articles that are about Spanish language words, not words associated with Spain or ideas described by Spanish words").

Addition: The explicitly "by culture" subcategories should be somehow reorganized. Maybe the easiest way to do that is to remove them from this category altogether and make something like Category:Names by culture into which the surnames and given names subcats (and maybe Category:Native American toponymy, too) could be moved.

And while we're at it, what should be done about Category:Native American words and phrases‎? It has the by-country (actually continent) problem, but contains by-language subcats for Guaraní, Nahuatl, and Quechua. Cnilep (talk) 02:49, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

I broadly agree, but suggest attempting rescue before deletion, e.g. all three articles currently held directly in Category:Iranian words and phrases are all Avestan, and could be categorised as such; alternatively, the Iranian categories could be renamed using "Iranian languages sub-family". – Fayenatic London 20:06, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

I have since come across Category:Indian words and phrases and others like it, so I set up Category:Words and phrases by culture. If the Scottish category cannot be renamed/split by "language" then this could re-home it. – Fayenatic London 18:38, 17 May 2013 (UTC)