Malfuzat - Volume IX — Page xxxvii
Publisher’s Note xxxvii Short vowels are represented by: a for __ َ َ ___ (like u in bud ). i for __ ِ ِ ___ (like i in bid ). u for __ ُ ُ ___ (like oo in wood ). Long vowels by: a for __ ٰ ٰ ___ or آ آ (like a in father ). i for ی ی __ ِ ___ or __ ٖ ___ (like ee in deep ). u for و و __ ُ ___ (like oo in root ). Other vowels by: ai for ی ی __ َ ___ (like i in site ). au for و و __ َ ___ (resembling ou in sound ). Please note that in transliterated words the letter ‘e’ is to be pronounced as in ‘prey’ which rhymes with ‘day’; however the pronunciation is flat without the element of English diphthong. If in Urdu and Persian words ‘e’ is lengthened a bit more it is transliterated as ‘ei’ to be pro- nounced as ‘ei’ in ‘feign’ without the element of diphthong thus ‘ ےک ’ is transliterated as ‘Kei’. For the nasal sound of ‘n’ we have used the sym- bol ‘n’. Thus the Urdu word ‘ ی ںیم ’ is transliterated as ‘mein’. The consonants not included in the above list have the same pho- netic value as in the principal languages of Europe. As noted above, the single quotation mark ‘ is used for transliterat- ing ع ع which is distinct from the apostrophe ’ used for ء ء. We have not transliterated some Arabic words which have become part of English language, e. g. Islam, Mahdi, jihad, Ramadan, and ummah. The Royal Asiatic Society’s rules of transliteration for names of persons, places, and other terms, are not followed throughout the book as many of the names contain non-Arabic characters and carry a local transliteration and pronunciation style.