History, biography and narrative style
Name the source, the event, and the limits of a claim.
An archive word bank
Use fonte for a source, testimonianza for testimony, registro for an official record, and diario for a personal account. A cronologia orders events; a ricostruzione uses sources to explain them. A biografia follows a person, whereas a cronaca follows events. In the fictional Valdombra case, neither one word nor one record proves every possible cause or consequence.
- La fonte è un diario scritto dopo la piena.· The source is a diary written after the flood.
- Il registro documenta l’ordine di chiusura.· The record documents the closure order.
- La cronologia distingue l’avviso dall’ispezione.· The chronology separates the warning from the inspection.
- Una ricostruzione confronta più testimonianze.· A reconstruction compares several testimonies.
Verbs for careful historical claims
Annotare means to note; avvertire means to warn; ordinare means to order; danneggiare means to damage; attestare means to certify or document. Distinguish attestare from suggerire: a source can document an order yet only suggest a motive. Use secondo il diario to attribute a personal account. In biography, do not turn a character’s later memory into a direct quotation from the night of the event.
- Marta annotò la crepa nel suo taccuino.· Marta noted the crack in her notebook.
- Secondo il diario, il fiume cresceva rapidamente.· According to the diary, the river was rising quickly.
- Il registro attesta che il sindaco ordinò la chiusura.· The record documents that the mayor ordered closure.
- Le fonti non provano quante persone evitarono il ponte.· The sources do not prove how many people avoided the bridge.