Editing Domesday Book (section)

==Name==
The manuscripts do not carry a formal title. The work is referred to internally as a {{lang|la|descriptio}} (enrolling), and in other early administrative contexts as the king's {{lang|la|brevia}} (short writings). From about 1100, references appear to the {{lang|la|liber}} (book) or {{lang|la|carta}} (charter) of Winchester, its usual place of custody; and from the mid-12th to early 13th centuries to the Winchester or king's {{lang|la|rotulus}} ([[Rotulus|roll]]).<ref name="Hallam 1986, pp. 34–5">Hallam 1986, pp. 34–35.</ref><ref>Harvey 2014, pp. 7–9.</ref>

To the English, who held the book in awe, it became known as "Domesday Book", in allusion to the [[Last Judgment]] and in specific reference to the definitive character of the record.<ref>Harvey 2014, pp. 271–328.</ref> The word "doom" was the usual [[Old English]] term for a law or judgment; it did not carry the modern overtones of [[wikt:doomsday|fatality or disaster]].<ref>Harvey 2014, p. 271.</ref> [[Richard FitzNeal]], [[Lord High Treasurer|treasurer of England]] under [[Henry II of England|King Henry II]], explained the name's connotations in detail in the {{Lang|la|[[Dialogus de Scaccario]]}} ({{c.}}1179):<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=fitzNigel |editor1-first=Emilie |editor1-last=Amt |editor2-first=S. D. |editor2-last=Church |title=Dialogus de Scaccario: the Dialogue of the Exchequer; Constitutio Domus Regis: Disposition of the King's Household |series=Oxford Medieval Texts |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=2007 |isbn=9780199258611 |pages=96–99 }}</ref>

{{blockquote|The natives call this book "Domesday", that is, the day of judgement. This is a metaphor: for just as no judgement of that final severe and terrible trial can be evaded by any subterfuge, so when any controversy arises in the kingdom concerning the matters contained in the book, and recourse is made to the book, its word cannot be denied or set aside without penalty. For this reason we call this book the "book of judgements", not because it contains decisions made in controversial cases, but because from it, as from the Last Judgement, there is no further appeal.}}

The name "Domesday" was subsequently adopted by the book's custodians, being first found in an official document in 1221.<ref>Hallam 1986, p. 35.</ref>

Either through [[false etymology]] or deliberate [[word play]], the name also came to be associated with the Latin phrase {{lang|la|Domus Dei}} ("House of God"). Such a reference is found as early as the late 13th century, in the writings of [[Adam of Damerham]]; and in the 16th and 17th centuries, [[Antiquarian|antiquaries]] such as [[John Stow]] and Sir [[Richard Baker (chronicler)|Richard Baker]] believed this was the name's origin, alluding to the church in Winchester in which the book had been kept.<ref>Hallam 1986, p. 34.</ref><ref>Harvey 2014, pp. 18–19.</ref> As a result, the alternative spelling "Domesdei" became popular for a while.<ref>Hallam 1986, p. 118.</ref>

The usual modern scholarly convention is to refer to the work as "Domesday Book" (or simply as "Domesday"), without a definite article. However, the form "the Domesday Book" is also found in both academic and non-academic contexts.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Domesday Book Online |url=http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/faqs.html |access-date=7 December 2018 |archive-date=24 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124211005/http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/faqs.html |url-status=live }}</ref>