A consistent romanization scheme for Arabic, Classical Persian, and Urdu
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على نبينا محمد. أما بعد:
1 Introduction
Arabic, Persian, and Urdu all use the Arabic script. However, they are often transcribed/transliterated with independent schemes. We present a romanization scheme that is consistent and is suitable for works that deal with more than one of the above languages
2 Romanization scheme
We first present the romanization scheme for Arabic and Classical Persian. We borrow from the schemes in Wikipedia 1, 2 but we modify them to be consistent. Entries are only shown in the “Persian romanization” column if they don’t exist, or are different in the Arabic romanization.
2.1 Consonants
| Consonant | Arabic rom. | Persian rom. |
|---|---|---|
| ء | ʾ | |
| ب | b | |
| پ | – | p |
| ت | t | |
| ث | ṯ | s̱ |
| ج | ǧ/j | |
| چ | – | č |
| ح | ḥ | |
| خ | x/ḫ | |
| د | d | |
| ذ | ḏ | ẕ |
| ر | r | |
| ز | z | |
| ژ | – | ž |
| س | s | |
| ش | š | |
| ص | ṣ | |
| ض | ḍ | ẓ |
| ط | ṭ | |
| ظ | ḏ̣ | ẕ̣ |
| ع | ɛ | |
| غ | ġ | |
| ف | f | |
| ق | q | |
| ك/ک | k | |
| گ | – | g |
| ل | l | |
| م | m | |
| ن | n | |
| ه | h | h,– |
| و | w | v/w |
| ي/ی | y | |
| ة | ḧ,ẗ,t |
Notes:
There are two options for ج: ǧ/j and خ: x/ḫ. Either are acceptable.
The transliterations of letters ث، ذ، ض، ظ differ between Arabic and Persian. The base letter is different to reflect the basic pronunciation, but, to be consistent, the Roman diacritics are common.
The letter ظ is transliterated as ḏ̣ in Arabic and ẕ̣ in Persian, i.e., with combined macron below and dot below. This is a better transliteration for Arabic since ظ is closer to ذ than to ز. ẓ, the usual transliteration of this Arabic letter is reserved for ض in Persian.
The letter ع is transliterated as ɛ instead of the more usual ʿ. This is to better distinguish it from that of ء: ʾ.
ة is transcribed as t in fully vowelized Arabic transcription, e.g. مِنْ جِهَةٍ أُخْرَى min jihatin ʾuxrā. Otherwise, in pausa pronunciation ḧ is to be used except in the construct state where ẗ is to be used. Examples: الصفة المشبهة al-ṣifaḧ al-mušabbahaḧ, عَلامَة تأنيث ɛalāmaẗ taʾnīṯ. This scheme is better than not transcribing it at all in pausa because the “h” sound is clearly audible in words like مِرْآة.
ه may be skipped in Persian transcription in words like خانه xāna.
2.2 Vowels
| Vowel | Arabic rom. | Persian rom. |
|---|---|---|
| ـَ | a | |
| ـِ | i | |
| ـُ | u | |
| ـَا | ā | |
| ـِی | ī | |
| ـُو | ū | |
| ـَوْ | aw | |
| ـَیْ | ay | |
| ـوࣳ | - | ō |
| ـیۧ | - | ē |
Note:
- Regarding the diacritics of the majhūl vowels in the Arabic script, see this article: 3
2.3 Romanization of Urdu
Urdu follows the same Romanization scheme as Persian but adds the following:
| Consonant | Urdu rom. |
|---|---|
| ٹ | ʈ |
| ڈ | ɖ |
| ڑ | ɽ |
| ں | ň |
| ھ | ʰ |
Note:
- Transliteration of retroflex consonants and aspiration is taken from IPA.