Transliteration
In different humanities disciplines it is common to refer to certain concepts from languages written in non-Roman scripts. In Western philosophical works, Ancient Greek is often referenced, whereas works engaging Eastern philosophy and religion often use terms from Japanese, Mandarin, Sanskrit, and Tibetan.
As a rule, we prefer that 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.
For any scripts not mentioned here, we follow ALA-LC romanization.
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.