Tasnif Style Guide — Page 52
52 TAŞNİF STYLE GUIDE until they reach their final state of accurate pronunciation in their original language—it was Peking before it was Beijing; it was Bombay before Mumbai, etc. Further, several Islamic terms did not even exist in the OED as recently as ten years ago, and new foreign terms are constantly being added. Therefore, the transla- tors should apply judgement based on the following guidance: 1. Do not always take the OED's first spelling available. In some cases, it may be an archaic spelling. Take, for exam- ple, the following OED entries for Quran and mullah: British English- Koran | kɔ:'ra:n, kǝ'ra:n | (also Qur'an or Quran British English mullah I'mɅlǝ, 'mʊlə | (also mulla) noun a Muslim learned in Islamic theology and sacred law: [as title]: Mullah Nasir-ud-Din. 2. Do not use a foreign term simply because it appears in the OED. A translator and reviewer must assess whether the audience will be acquainted with such a term. For exam- ple, the following terms that appear in the OED would not be understood by the average non-Urdu-speaking reader unless the individual already knew the Urdu language,