国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

form of the name as actually pronounced by the local inhabitants or
Spelling of Turkî local guides, refraining from any attempt to spell the name in accordance
names. with its presumed correct Turkî etymology. I am aware that this
method of record has implied in certain cases obvious inconsistencies. ⁶ But it appeared the
safest in the case of a geographical student like myself who, though an Orientalist familiar
with Persian and the spoken language of Chinese Turkistân, does not profess to be a Tur-
kologist. It must also be remembered that the Eastern Turkî spoken in the Târim basin
and adjacent regions has not evolved a standard literary form, and that any attempt to spell
their local names after the fashion adopted in modern literary productions of the Turkish-
speaking population of Russian Central Asia and regions further west would very often render
them unrecognizable to the people on the spot.

In recording Turkî and Irânian names I have followed the system of transliteration
approved by the International Congress of Orientalists and used also,
System of translite- in its simplified Hunterian form, for Indian Government publications.
ration. The use of diacritical marks has, however, been restricted to the indis-
pensable minimum. Hence no distinction has been made in the case of words derived from
Arabic between the several kinds of sibilants, gutturals, etc., which are pronounced alike by
the people of Chinese Turkistân.

It has seemed to me convenient to separate the component parts of Turkî and Irânian
names, wherever clearly recognizable as distinct words, by the uniform
Composition of Turkî employment of hyphens, and to use these, too, to mark the connection
and Iranian names. with the names proper of such common terms as dawân or pass, mazâr
or shrine, kûl (also kol, kul) or lake, etc. I must, however, confess in this matter of hyphens
and similar points to occasional inconsistencies, hoping that they will be the more readily excused
in view of the prolonged period over which both the original surveys and their cartographic
elaboration have extended. Finally, I trust that the convenient brevity and significance of
such Turkî terms as sai (gravel plateau or stony glacis), yâr (ravine in alluvial soil), yârdang
(wind-eroded ridge), and a few others, will be held to justify their use in descriptive entries of
the map, even on ground where Turkî is not the local tongue.