By Maj.-Gen. Lord Edward Gleichen, K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.
Chairman of the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names.
In 1878 the Council of the R.G.S., impressed with the necessity of endeavouring to reduce the confusion existing in British maps with regard to the spelling of geographical names, in consequence of the variety of systems of orthography used by travellers and others to represent the sound of native place-names in different parts of the world, formally adopted the general principle which had been long used by many, and the recognition of which had been steadily gaining ground, viz., that in writing geographical native names vowels should have their Italian significance, and consonants that which they have in the English language.
This broad principle required elucidation in its details, and a system based upon it was consequently drawn up with the intention of representing the principal syllabic sounds: this has long been known as the R.G.S. system.
The system thus drawn up was largely adopted by the War Office, the Admiralty, and other Government Departments and private societies. But it was never officially sanctioned, for India, China,[19] Egypt, and many of our Colonies had already their own system (or want of system) for spelling foreign words; added to this, the private firms of map-makers had their own views on the subject, and still spelt their names in a bewildering variety of ways.
The matter came to a head in 1919, when the Admiralty approached the Royal Geographical Society with a request for the authoritative spelling of names. A committee was accordingly formed, with representatives from all Government Departments, each of which bound itself to adopt the spelling recommended.
This “Permanent Committee on Geographical Names,” under the chairmanship of a Member of Council, R.G.S., at once got to work and proceeded to draw up:
1. A revised system of Rules and Alphabet, termed the R.G.S. II system, amplifying and improving on the old R.G.S. system of 1878. (This is given in the succeeding pages.)
2. Lists of doubtful names, with their correct spelling and other details concerned. (These will be published periodically, in the form of leaflets, in the ‘Geographical Journal.’)
3. Tables of Foreign Alphabets transcribed into the R.G.S. II system. (These will be published shortly in the R.G.S. Technical Series.)
It is hoped that the above procedure will gradually result in the correct and uniform spelling of foreign Place-Names throughout the Empire.
It must also be noted that the Government of the United States of America, after an exhaustive enquiry, has adopted a system in close conformity with that of the R.G.S., and has directed that the spelling of all names in their vast territories should, in cases where the orthography is at present doubtful, be settled authoritatively by a Board appointed for the purpose. The two great English-speaking nations are thus working in harmony.
(Termed the R.G.S. II system.)
1. The spelling of every place-name in an independent country or self-governing dominion using the Latin alphabet[20] shall be that adopted by the country or dominion, except in the case in which certain important localities have also, in addition to the official name, another customary name, notably different, in which case the name customary in British use (i.e., “conventional”) may be adopted (e.g., Geneva, Warsaw, etc., for Genève, Warszawa, etc.).
2. The spelling of such place-names in colonial possessions as belong to languages coming under Rule (1) will be spelt in accordance with that rule.
3. The accents and diacritical marks in official use by the above countries will be retained. Wherever it appears desirable, the pronunciation will be shown by giving the name as transliterated on the system below.
4. All other place-names throughout the world will (with the exception of “Conventional” names and some others) be spelled in general accordance with the following system, which is based upon, and differs only slightly from, the system long used by the Royal Geographical Society, from which are derived the War Office system, 1906,[21] and the system of the Intelligence Division, Naval Staff, 1917.[22]
The broad features of this system are—
(a) That vowels are pronounced as in Italian and consonants as in English;
(b) That every letter is pronounced, and no redundant letters are used.
The system aims at giving a close approximation to the local pronunciation; but it is recognised that in some languages, notably Russian, Greek, and Arabic, the necessity for letter-for-letter transliteration often renders this impossible.
Table of Spelling and Pronunciation R.G.S. II.
| a | Long and short, as in lāvă | Somāli, Bukhāră.* |
| ä | As in fat; rare; chiefly in Teutonic languages. | |
| ai‡ | The sound of the two Italian vowels; frequently slurred over, almost as in Eng. aisle, ice | Wadai; Shanghai. |
| au | The two Italian vowels; frequently slurred, almost as ou in out | Sakau; Bauchi. |
| aw | When followed by a consonant, or when terminal, as in awl, law | Dawna, Saginaw. |
| b | As in English. | |
| c | Not to be used, but always replaced by k or s; | Kandahar, Serang. |
| except in the compound ch, and in many conventionally spelt words, as | Calcutta, Celébes. | |
| ch | As in church; never tch or tsch for this sound | Chad, Maroch. |
| d†‡ | As in English. | |
| dh | Soft th as in they: a slight d sound preceding it in Semitic languages | Dhuvu, Riyadh. |
| e‡ | Long as in eh; short as in bet. (For the e sound in the French je, see note at end on the “neutral vowel”) | Gēlo; Mafĕking.* |
| (ee) | Used for i (q.v.) only in a few conventional names | Darjeeling, Keelung. |
| ei‡ | The two Italian vowels, frequently slurred | Beirut, Raheita. |
| (eu) | Not used as a single sound. | |
| f | As in English; ph must not be used for this sound (except in Greek; see ph) | Mustafa, Maidan-i-Naftun. |
| g | Hard, as in get, gift; never as in gem, gin | Gedáref, Gilgit. |
| gh | Soft guttural, the Arabic ghain غ | Dagh, Baghdad. |
| h | Used only when sounded; or in the compounds ch, dh, gh, kh, sh, th, zh | Vrh, Ahmadabad. |
| i | Long as in marine; short as in piano (not as in pin) | Fiji; Kibonde.* |
| j | As in English; except in transliteration of Russian, Bulgarian, and Chinese, where it equals zh, or the French j § | Japan, Ujiji (Eng. j); but Jitómir, Jelezna, Jao-ping (Fr. j). |
| k | As in English: hard c should never be used (except in conventionally-spelt words)—thus, not Corea, Cabul, but | Korea, Kabul. |
| kh | Hard aspirated guttural, as in the Scottish loch (not as in lock) | Khan, Sebkha. |
| l† | } As in English. | |
| m | ||
| n† | ||
| ng | Has three separate sounds, as in vanguard, finger, and singer. If necessary to distinguish, a hyphen may be placed, as in van-guard, sing-er | In-gássana; Bongo; Ng-ami, Tong-a. |
| o | Long as in both¶; short as in rotund | Angōla, Kigōma; Angŏra, Hŏnŏlulu.* |
| ö | As in German; equals the French eu in peu; or nearly the English sound in fur | Gömle, Yeniköi. |
| (oo) | Used for u (q.v.) only in a few conventional names, chiefly Chinese | Poona, Foochow. |
| oi‡ | The Italian vowels: sometimes slurred as in oil. If necessary for pronunciation, a hyphen may be inserted as in Tro-itskoi. | |
| ou‡ | Dissyllabic, and not as French or English ou | Zlatoust. |
| ow | Represents, as a diphthong, nearly the au sound (above) only in the romanisation of Chinese. Conventional. | |
| p | As in English. | |
| ph | As in loophole; not to be used for the f-sound, except in Greek or conventionally | Chemulpho; Paphos, Haiphong. |
| q | Represents only the Arabic Qaf (ق): i.e. a guttural k | Qena, ʿIraq. |
| qu | Should never be employed to represent the sound of kw: thus, not Namaqua, Quorra, but | Namakwa, Kworra. |
| r† | As in English; should be distinctly pronounced. | |
| s | As English ss in boss, not as in these or pleasure | Rosario, Masikesi. |
| sh | } As in English. | |
| t† | ||
| th | Hard th as in thick, not as in this | Tharmida. |
| u‡ | Long as in rude, or as oo in boot; short as in pull | Zūlū; Rŭanda.* |
| ü | Represents the French u, as in tu (Fr.) | Üsküb. |
| v | } As in English. | |
| w | ||
| x | ||
| y | Always a consonant, as in yard; | Kikuyu, Maya. |
| it should not be used as a terminal vowel, e or i being substituted; e.g., not Kwaly or Wady, but | Kwale, Wadi. | |
| z | As in gaze, not as in azure. | |
| zh | As the s in treasure, the z in azure, or the French j in je; but for the sound in Russian, Bulgarian, and Chinese use j (vide note above under j) | Zhob, Azhdaha. |
| Notes. | ||
| The doubling of a vowel or a consonant is only necessary when there is a distinct repetition of the single sound, and should otherwise be avoided | Nuulua, Loolmalasin, Jidda, Muhammad. | |
| Accents should not generally be employed; but in order to indicate or emphasise the stress, an acute accent may be used | Saráwak, Qántara, Tong-atábu, Paraná. | |
| A long or short mark over a vowel (e.g. ā, ŏ) should only be used (and that sparingly) when without it there would be danger of mispronunciation | Kūt, Hashīn, Angŏra. | |
| Hyphens will not be used except to indicate pronunciation, and with the Persian izafat, -i- | Mus-hil; Pusht-i-Kuh. | |
* The long and short symbols given in this column are merely for explanation, not for use.
† See note at end on Liquid sounds.
‡ Pronounced differently in Greek: see ‘Alphabets of Foreign Languages transcribed into English according to the R.G.S. II system’ (to be published in the R.G.S. Technical Series).
§ This decision has been arrived at chiefly owing to the large number of English (and French) maps of these countries in which the zh sound appears as j.
¶ The true Italian ō is broader than this: almost as in broth.
Inverted Comma and Apostrophe.—The inverted comma ʿ is employed only to represent the Arabic ʿain, ع, and the Hebrew ʿayin, ע. The apostrophe ’ in foreign words indicates a liquid sound. (See below.)
Liquid Sounds.—The occasional “liquid” or “palatalised” sound of d, l, n, r, t, etc. (as in d’you, lure, new, clarion, tune), is as a rule sufficiently represented by a following y; where, however, owing to a following consonant, or to the letter in question coming at the end of a word, the y is inapplicable, the liquid sound will be represented by an apostrophe, thus: d’, l’, n’, r’, t’, etc.
The “Neutral Vowel”.—The “indeterminate” or “neutral” vowel sound (er), i.e. the sound of a in marine, e in often, i in stir, io in nation, o in connect, ou in curious, u in difficult, etc., e in French je, or the often unwritten vowel (َ Fat-ha) in Arabic, etc., is represented as a rule by a: as in Basra, Hawiya; but sometimes by e, when the sound approximates more to e than to a: as Meshed, El Gezira.
(In any guide to pronunciation issued by the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, the “neutral vowel” is represented generally by the italic e: occasionally also by italic a or u.)
This sound must not be confused with e-mute, where the e is not sounded at all: as in Abbeville.