Judeo-Arabic romanization table

by The Library of Congress

JUDEO-ARABIC

This table was approved in Feb., 2011, by the Library of Congress and the Committee for Cataloging: Asian and African Materials (CC:AAM) of the American Library Association.

Judeo- Arabic	Roman	Examples
‫א‬	ʼ	‫ אל‬/ʼl/ “the” ‫ אבן‬/ʼbn/ “son”
‫ב‬, ‫בּ‬	b	‫ בנין‬/bnyn/ “sons” ‫ ארבע‬/ʼrb‘/ “four”
ּג, ג	g	‫ גרק‬/grq/ “he suffocates” (cf. Standard /ghariqa/)
ּג׳, ג	ḡ	‫ ג׳ינא‬/ḡynʼ/ “we came” (cf. Standard Arabic /jīnā/)
‫ד‬	d	‫ דם‬/dm/ “blood” (cf. Standard Arabic /dam/) ‫ דכרת‬/dkrt/ “she remembered” (cf. Standard Arabic /dhakarat/)
‫ד׳‬	ḏ	‫ ד׳הב‬/ ḏhb/ “gold”
‫ה‬	h	‫ הום‬/hwm/ “they”
‫̈ה‬	ḧ	‫ מדינ̈ה‬/mdynḧ/ “city (of)”
‫ו‬	w	‫ ואחד‬/wʼḥd/ “one” ‫ ארואח‬/ʼrwʼḥ/ “spirits”
‫וו‬	ww	‫ כוואכב‬/kwwʼkb/ “stars” ‫ נבווא‬/nbwwʼ/ “prophecy” ‫ לוורא‬/l-wwrʼ/ “after, behind”
‫ז‬	z	‫ זוג׳תו‬/zwḡtw/ “his wife”
‫ח‬	ḥ	‫ חייאת‬/ḥyyʼt/ “life” ‫ בחר‬/bḥr/ “sea”
‫ט‬	ṭ	‫ טול‬/ṭwl/ “length” ‫ עטא‬/‘ṭʼ/ “he gave”
‫̇ט‬	ẓ	‫ ̇טהר‬ /ẓhr/ “he appeared”
‫י‬	y	‫ יד‬/yd/ “hand” ‫ ביות‬/bywt/ “house” ‫ ידי‬/ydy/ “my hand”
‫יי‬	yy	‫ אייאם‬/ʼyyʼm/ “days” ‫ לייג׳יב‬/l-yyḡyb/ “that he may bring” ‫ רג׳ליי‬/rḡlyy/ “my (two) feet”
‫כ ‬ ‫ ך‬,‫ כ‬,‫ ךּ‬,‫כּ‬	k	‫ כּאנת‬/kʼnt/ “she was" ‫ ד׳אלךּ‬/ḏʼlk/ “that” ‫ כבז‬/kbz/ “bread” (cf. Standard Arabic /khubz/)
‫ל‬	l	‫ לייאלי‬/lyyʼly/ “nights”
‫‫ ם‬,‫מ‬	m	‫ מן‬/mn/ “from” ‫ אסם‬/ʼsm/ “name”
‫ ן‬,‫נ‬	n	‫ נפס‬/nfs/ “soul” ‫ בין‬/byn/ “between”
‫ס‬	s	‫ סמע‬/sm‘/ “he heard” ‫ יסראיל‬/Ysrʼyl/ “Israel”
‫ע‬	‘	‫ עביד‬/‘byd/ “servants”
‫ ף‬,‫פ ‬ ‫ ף׳‬,‫פ׳‬	f	‫ פי‬/fy/ “in”
‫צ‬	ṣ	‫ צנע‬/ṣn‘/ “he did”
‫ ץ׳‬,‫צ׳‬	ṣ̄	‫ ארץ׳‬/ʼrṣ̄/ “earth” (cf. Standard Arabic /arḍ/) ‫ צ׳אלם‬/ṣ̄ʼlm/ “wicked” (cf. Standard Arabic /ẓālim/)
‫ק‬	q	‫ קאל‬/qʼl/ “he said” ‫ מקדס‬/mqds/ “holy”
‫ר‬	r	‫ רבי‬/rby/ “rabbi” (lit., “my lord”)
‫ש‬,‫שׁ‬	š	‫ שעב‬/ š‘b/ “nation” ‫ משרק‬/mšrq/ “east”
‫שׂ‬	ś	‫ ישׂראל‬/Yśrʼyl/ “Israel” (only in Hebrew loan words)
‫ת‬,‫תּ‬	t	‫ תּקול‬/tqwl/ “you say” ‫ סבתּ‬/sbt/ “Sabbath” with no diacritic, the character /‫ת‬/ may correspond etymologically with Standard Arabic /‫ث‬/ /th/, e.g., in ‫ מתל‬/mṯl/ “proverb”
​
Ligature
‫ﭏ‬	initial: ʼl	‫ ﭏ‬/ʼl/ “the” ‫ מﭏ‬/mʼl/ “property”

Notes

1. The ALA/LC system of romanization for Judeo-Arabic provides a one-to-one representation of the consonants in the text, including “alif” (‫‬א), "y" (י) and "w" (ו) which sometimes represent long vowels and sometimes consonants.

2. Judeo-Arabic texts are produced both with and without vocalization. Because of the multiglossic nature of Judeo-Arabic and its texts, when the short vowels are not represented in the text, there no way to treat them that would be useful and reliable across all dialects. It is also not practical for catalogers to attempt to provide vowels matching those of Standard Arabic, because of the frequent difficulty of matching Judeo-Arabic lexical items to equivalent Standard Arabic forms. Even if there were an attempt to provide a complete “normalization” of Judeo-Arabic morphology for all the parts of speech, a kind of artificial “cataloging dialect,” neither catalogers nor patrons could be expected to study it in enough depth to make it useful, nor could it agree in all points with any actual dialect.

3. Because Hebrew script as used for the Hebrew language does not contain characters for all the phonemes in the Judeo-Arabic dialect(s), Judeo-Arabic texts usually differentiate several Hebrew characters to show the different intended pronunciations. Thus "plain" ‫ ג‬usually corresponds to Standard Arabic ‫ غ‬(ghayn), while "differentiated" ‫ ג‬followed by geresh (ג׳‬) or with a superscript dot or other marking usually corresponds to Standard Arabic ج‬ (jīm). The table does not represent all the possibilities for "differentiation" in Judeo-Arabic texts but the common ones that are cited may stand for any of the others.

4. If the text to be romanized is vocalized with Tiberian Hebrew vowel points, represent the full text with vowels in the transcribed fields of the bibliographic record (MARC fields 245, 250, 260, 4XX). Add a 246 “variant title” field to such records with the consonantal romanization of the 245╪a as provided in this table.

5. When Hebrew words or phrases are embedded in a Judeo-Arabic context, romanize them in Judeo-Arabic style--that is, without short vowels and with Judeo-Arabic consonantal values (thus /Hgdh šl Fsḥ/ not /Hagadah shel Pesaḥ/). An independent string of Hebrew words, e.g., in the title proper of a work, may be romanized as Hebrew, but catalogers have the option to add a 246 giving the Judeo-Arabic consonantal transcription:

	245 10	Sefer Ṿa-tagid li-vene Yiśraʼel
	246 3	Sfr W-tgyd l-bny Yśrʼl

6. For romanizing Hebrew text with vowels, including abbreviated honorifics or religious formulae, use the guide to ALA/LC Hebrew romanization prepared by Paul Maher in Hebraica Cataloging (Washington, D.C. : Cataloging Distribution Service, Library of Congress, 1987); online edition, slightly revised, http://www-sul.stanford.edu/hebraicafunnel/Hebraica_Cataloging_Manual/Hebraica%20Cat%20Manual%20Feb%202006%20Draft.pdf.

‫והווא ספר אליהו הנביא ז"ל‬
w-hwwʼ sefer Eliyahu ha-Navi, zal

‫ יצ"ו‬,‫החכם כמהר"ר יהודה שתרוג
‬ he-ḥakham k. mo. ha-r. R. Yehudah Śitrug, y. ts. ṿ.

7. In cases where it is possible, that is when the Judeo-Arabic consonants of the text can be matched with a Standard Arabic interpretation, a 246 “variant title” field in Standard Arabic may be provided for additional access. Narrative texts in particular may have standard Arabic titles and may indeed be direct adaptations of standard Arabic originals.

8. Name authority work presents a problem when specifically Judeo-Arabic names are involved—e.g., the forename /Mqyqṣ/. A group such as the Association of Jewish libraries may choose to keep an online list of found romanizations and code such headings (romanized as seems reasonable) “provisional” until they can be added to the list of authorized forms. Robert Attal’s ”ha-Sifrut ha-ʻArvit-ha-Yehudit be-Tunisyah : meʼah shenot yetsirah (1861-1961) : tsiyunim bibliyografiyim” (Yerushalayim: Mekhon Ben-Tsevi le- ḥeḳer ḳehilot Yiśraʼel ba-Mizraḥ, 2007) provides a name index to Tunisian authors that includes French forms as they appear on added title pages. This may serve as a tool to establish forms for authors such as:

‫ חיים‬,‫בשירי
‬ = Bsiri, Haïm, not
Bashiri, Hayim.

9. Establish Hebrew or Standard Arabic forenames and surnames according to the rules in AACR2/RDA and the LCRIs/LCPSs for those languages; provide references in systematic ALA/LC Judeo-Arabic romanization.

(Numbered examples below are from Robert Attal’s ha-Sifrut ha-ʻArvit-ha-Yehudit be-Tunisyah : meʼah shenot yetsirah (1861-1961) : tsiyunim bibliyografiyim, Yerushalayim: Mekhon Ben-Tsevi le- ḥeḳer ḳehilot Yiśraʼel ba-Mizraḥ, 2007.)

10. As in the ALA/LC romanization tables for (Standard) Arabic and Hebrew, follow all conjunctions and prepositions prefixed to other words with a hyphen in romanization:

(523)
‫ואבן
‬ w-ʼbn

(222)
‫קצת יוסף הצדיק
‬ qṣt Ywsf h-ṣdyq

(552)
‫בביאן
‬ b-byʼn
cf. Standard Arabic /bi-bayān/

11. The filing indicator in a 245 field beginning with the definite article /ʾl-l is set to 2 (the alif diacritic is not counted).

(523)
‫אלטיור
‬ ʼl-ṭywr

12. Doubled consonants (marked in Standard Arabic with the diacritical mark shaddah) are represented as doubled in Judeo-Arabic romanization only if the letter is printed twice in the source:

(525)
‫אלגדדאר אל ׄכוואן
‬ ʼl-gddʼr ʼl-kwwʼn

BUT:

(627)
‫חכאית מחמד
‬ ḥkʼyt Mḥmd
cf. Standard Arabic /ḥikāyat Muḥammad/