Transliteration and Vocalization

Special Characters For Cut and Paste

What follows is a simple "cheat-sheet" that you can you for cutting and pasting special characters. For a fuller discussion of Syriaca.org standards for transliteration, see Syriaca.org's "Transliteration and Vocalization Standards".

Syriac Transliteration

Lower Case: ʾ, ḍ, ḥ, ḳ, ṭ, ʿ, š, ṣ, ẓ and ā, â, ē, ê, ĕ, ī, î, ô, ū, û

Upper Case: ʾ, Ḍ, Ḥ, Ḳ, Ṭ, ʿ, Š, Ṣ, Ẓ and Ā, Â, Ē, Ê, Ĕ, Ī, Î, Ô, Ū, Û

European Special Characters

Lower Case: à, á, â, ä, æ, è, é, ê, ë, ì, í, î, ï, ò, ó, ô, ö, œ, ù, ú, û, ü

Upper Case: À, Á, Â, Ä, Æ, È, É, Ê, Ë, Ì, Í, Î, Ï, Ò, Ó, Ô, Ö, Œ, Ù, Ú, Û, Ü

N.B. You shouldn't need these if you are using a Mac. On a PC you can input these character using an international keyboard.

Use of Special Characters

Syriaca.org uses material in multiple ancient and medieval languages: Syriac, Greek, Arabic, etc. This requires a set of Unicode characters not easily available via a normal QWERTY keyboard. This page discusses some of the most common special characters needed for transliteration of Syriac text. For a fuller list see this list of Unicode characters.

Syriaca.org has a preferred Anglicized transliteration system. This site is designed to allow you to cut and past the special characters you will use in transcribing and marking up the translated texts. I have given the transliteration for the full Syriac and Arabic alphabets below even though in most cases the letters are simply those you would find on your normal English keyboard.

The Syriac consonants are transliterated with the following Unicode characters:

ʾ, b, g, d, h, w, z, ḥ, ṭ, y, k, l, m, n, s, ʿ, p, ṣ, q, r, š, and t.

ʾ, B, G, D, H, W, Z, Ḥ, Ṭ, Y, K, L, M, N, S, ʿ, P, Ṣ, Q, R, Š, and T.

Please note that the characters: ʾ and ʿ are not inverted commas or apostrophes but are the unicode “modifier letter right half ring” and “modifier letter left half ring” characters. Thus modifier letter left half ring ʿ is used to transliterate ʿayn and modifier letter right half ring ʾ is used to transliterate ālap.

Sources

1. This page is derived from Syriaca.org, "Transliteration and Vocalization Standards" as modified by Daniel Schwartz, "Special Characters for Transliteration, Romanization, and Vocalization".
2. Tom Elliott, David Michelson, Gabriel Bodard, Eli Weaverdyck, Valeria Vitale, and Sarah Bond, “Name Romanization Guide,” Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places, November 23, 2016, https://pleiades.stoa.org/help/name-romanization-guide.
3. Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz, and Lucas Van Rompay, eds. The Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2011).