Transliteration
In different humanities disciplines it is common to refer to certain concepts, names, and titles from languages written in non-Roman scripts. In Western philosophical works, Ancient Greek is often referenced, whereas works engaging with Eastern philosophy and religion often use terms from Japanese, Mandarin, Sanskrit, and Tibetan.
As a rule, we prefer uniform transliteration (romanization) standards. Moreover, in the case on non-alphabetical writing systems we prefer also the original orthography to be included. As an example of proper practice, see, for example, A Buddha Land in This World by Lajos Brons and Kidder Smith's Li Bo Unkempt.
The original language may be mentioned between parentheses, italicized, thus:
…Laurence invited the ridicule of his peers by thinking that the Greek idea could be translated with "concept"…
Or the other way around:
…as when cockroaches consider agapē (love)…
For non-Romanalphabetical scripts, no parentheses are needed around concepts or names:
Three of the four Japanese and Chinese Buddhists on this list had Zen/Chan 禪 affiliations. Uchiyama belonged to Sōtō 曹洞 Zen and Lin Qiuwu was ordained at Kaiyuan Temple in Tainan, which was originally also affiliated to Sōtō Zen, but which had switched to Rinzai 臨濟 Zen some time before Lin’s ordination. (Brons, A Buddha Land in This World, 173)
Title of works should be mentioned first in their common English translation, followed by romanization and original orthography between parentheses:
To understand the Lord of Heaven, whose real name is the Eastern King, we’ll need recourse again to Dongfang Shuo, that jester to the Han’s Martial Emperor. His Classic of Divine Marvels (Shenyijing 神異經) begins like this: (Smith, Li Bo Unkempt, 49)
Ancient Greek
For Greek we use the ALA-LC romanization standard, without indication of tone.
| Greek | ALA-LC (2010) |
|---|---|
| α | a |
| αι | ai |
| β | b |
| γ | g |
| n (before velar stop) | |
| δ | d |
| ε | e |
| ει | ei |
| ζ | z |
| η | ē |
| θ | th |
| ι | i |
| κ | k |
| λ | l |
| μ | m |
| ν | n |
| ξ | x |
| ο | o |
| οι | oi |
| ου | ou |
| π | p |
| ρ | rh (word-initially) |
| r | |
| σ | s |
| ς | |
| τ | t |
| υ | y |
| u (in diphthongs) | |
| υι | ui |
| φ | ph |
| χ | ch |
| ψ | ps |
| ω | ō |
Japanese
For Japanese, we follow Hepburn romanization according to the ALA-LC romanization standard.
Mandarin
For Mandarin, we follow Pinyin romanization without tone marks, following the ALA-LC romanization standard. When other romanization standards for specific names (for example from Taiwan) are more common, these are used.
Russian
For Russian, we use the BGN/PCGN romanization.
| А (а) | A (a) | |
| Б (б) | B (b) | |
| В (в) | V (v) | |
| Г (г) | G (g) | |
| Д (д) | D (d) | |
| Е (е) | Ye (ye) |
|
| E (e) | All other cases | |
| Ё (ё) | Yë (yë) |
|
| Ë (ë) | All other cases | |
| Ж (ж) | Zh (zh) | |
| З (з) | Z (z) | |
| И (и) | I (i) | |
| Й (й) | Y· (y·) | Before а, у, ы, or э. Used primarily for romanization of non-Russian-language names from Russian spelling. The use of this digraph is optional. |
| Y (y) | All other cases | |
| К (к) | K (k) | |
| Л (л) | L (l) | |
| М (м) | M (m) | |
| Н (н) | N (n) | |
| О (о) | O (o) | |
| П (п) | P (p) | |
| Р (р) | R (r) | |
| С (с) | S (s) | |
| Т (т) | T (t) | |
| У (у) | U (u) | |
| Ф (ф) | F (f) | |
| Х (х) | Kh (kh) | |
| Ц (ц) | Ts (ts) | |
| Ч (ч) | Ch (ch) | |
| Ш (ш) | Sh (sh) | |
| Щ (щ) | Shch (shch) | |
| Ъ (ъ) | ˮ | This letter does not occur at the beginning of a word. |
| Ы (ы) | Y· (y·) | Before а, у, ы, or э. Used primarily for romanization of non-Russian-language names from Russian spelling. The use of this digraph is optional. |
| ·y | After any vowel. Used primarily for romanization of non-Russian-language names from Russian spelling. The use of this digraph is optional. | |
| Y (y) | All other cases. This letter does not occur at the beginning of words of Russian origin. | |
| Ь (ь) | ʼ | This letter does not occur at the beginning of a word. |
| Э (э) | ·e | After any consonant except й. Used primarily for romanization of non-Russian-language names from Russian spelling. The use of this digraph is optional. |
| E (e) | All other cases | |
| Ю (ю) | Yu (yu) | |
| Я (я) | Ya (ya) |
Sanskrit & Pāli
For Sanskirt and Pāli we follow the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration.
| Devanāgarī | Transcription | Category | |
|---|---|---|---|
| अ | a | A | monophthongs |
| आ | ā | Ā | |
| इ | i | I | |
| ई | ī | Ī | |
| उ | u | U | |
| ऊ | ū | Ū | |
| ऋ | ṛ | Ṛ | syllabic liquids |
| ॠ | ṝ | Ṝ | |
| ऌ | ḷ | Ḷ | |
| ॡ | ḹ | Ḹ | |
| ए | e | E | diphthongs |
| ऐ | ai | Ai | |
| ओ | o | O | |
| औ | au | Au | |
| ं | ṃ | Ṃ | anusvara |
| ः | ḥ | Ḥ | visarga |
| ँ | ˜ | chandrabindu[2] | |
| ऽ | ' | avagraha | |
| velars | palatals | retroflexes | dentals | labials | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| क k K |
च c C |
ट ṭ Ṭ |
त t T |
प p P |
tenuis stops |
| ख kh Kh |
छ ch Ch |
ठ ṭh Ṭh |
थ th Th |
फ ph Ph |
aspirated stops |
| ग g G |
ज j J |
ड ḍ Ḍ |
द d D |
ब b B |
voiced stops |
| घ gh Gh |
झ jh Jh |
ढ ḍh Ḍh |
ध dh Dh |
भ bh Bh |
breathy-voiced stops |
| ङ ṅ Ṅ |
ञ ñ Ñ |
ण ṇ Ṇ |
न n N |
म m M |
nasal stops |
| ह h H |
य y Y |
र r R |
ल l L |
व v V |
approximants |
| श ś Ś |
ष ṣ Ṣ |
स s S |
sibilants |
Tibetan
For Tibetan, we follow the Wylie transliteration system, again according to ALA-LC standards.
Other Scripts
For any scripts not mentioned here, we follow ALA-LC romanization.