"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٧‎٣‎٧] (١٢٦٢/١٢٥٤)

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APPENDIX S.
Explanation of the system of transliteration.
A few remarks are necessary to explain the system of transliteration
adopted in the Gazetteer. Classical Arabic can be transliterated accord
ing to fixed principles, for not only is the spelling of every word well
established by usage but the phonetic values of the characters are also
invariable; in other words, the letters are known and they are always
pronounced in the same way. Transliteration of the names falling
within the scope of the present Gazetteer is, however, as will appear
from the following considerations, a more difficult and complicated
matter. In the first place, though a majority of the names are Arabic,
many are Persian and some are Baluchi. Further the correct spelling
of a large proportion, even in the native character, is uncertain; indeed
it may be said that those alone have an established orthography in the
vernacular that are derived either from proper names or from common-
nouns, and that the spelling of names of uncertain derivation is a matter
of conjecture. More disconcerting still is the fact that local authorities
frequently differ even as to the sounds of the names which they are
invited to reduce to Arabic character. A final insuperable obstacle to
"transliteration" in the strict sense is the circumstance that the same
Arabic letter is not always pronounced alike in the various parts of the
Gulf or even throughout the same district. In the circumstances it has
been deemed best to attempt as far as possible & phonetie rendering of
each name into English supported in every case by the equivalent in
Arabic character : the place in the Gazetteer of the equivalent, which has
invariably been obtained from native sources, can be ascertained by means
of the index. An advantage of this double system is that it enables us
to do away in the English with a multiplicity of marks distinguishing
different uses of the same consonant and to dispense in the Arabic with
vowel-marks which from the phonetic standpoint would sometimes be
positively misleading.
The above considerations have therefore led to the adoption of the
following system of Transliteration for the Gazetteer
1—Vowels.
1. The Vowel Fat-hah I- is represented in all cases by A. except in
the majority of names, etc., in Persia when the vowel is followed by
Persian He (^) in which case it is represented by E.
Examples—Bahrain, Bandar ''Abbas, Musallamiyah, Bushehr,
Muhammareh, Nasiriyah and Nasiriyeh.
2. The Vowel Kasrah 7 is represented by I. Examples—Lingeh
Dizful, Sikandariyah.