A Gift for the Queen — Page xiii
System of Transliteration In transliterating Arabic words we have followed the following system adopted by the Royal Asiatic Society. ا at the beginning of a word, pronounced as a, i, u preced- ed by a very slight aspiration, like h in the English word ‘honour’. ث th , pronounced like th in the English word ‘ thing ’. ح h , a guttural aspirate, stronger than h. خ kh , pronounced like the Scotch ch in ‘ loch ’. ذ dh , pronounced like the English th in ‘ that ’. ص s , strongly articulated s. ض d , similar to the English th in ‘ this ’. ط t , strongly articulated palatal t. ظ z , strongly articulated z. ع ‘, a strong guttural, the pronunciation of which must be learnt by the ear. غ gh , a sound approached very nearly in the r ‘ grasseye ’ in French, and in the German r. It requires the muscles of the