Μη σας πιάνει άγχος που δεν βρίσκουμε άκρη με την αραβική ορθογραφία. Να δείτε τι είχε πάθει ο κακόμοιρος ο Εγγλέζος εκδότης του Λώρενς της Αραβίας...
Επειδή δεν βρίσκω στο Διαδίκτυο, για να σας παραπέμψω εκεί, το σχετικό παράρτημα των
Επτά στύλων της σοφίας, με τα ερωτήματα του επιμελητή και τις αλλούτερες απαντήσεις του Λώρενς, αντιγράφω από τη
Δέκατη τρίτη φυλή του Άρθουρ Καίσλερ, που παρουσιάζει από δεύτερο χέρι το σόου:
T. E. Lawrence was a brilliant orientalist, but he was as ruthless in his spelling as he was in raiding Turkish garrisons. His brother, A. W. Lawrence, explained in his preface to Seven Pillars of Wisdom:
The spelling of Arabic names varies greatly in all editions, and I have made no alterations. It should be explained that only three vowels are recognized in Arabic, and that some of the consonants have no equivalents in English. The general practice of orientalists in recent years has been to adopt one of the various sets of conventional signs for the letters and vowel marks of the Arabic alphabet, transliterating Mohamed as Muhammad, muezzin as mu'edhdhin, and Koran as Qur'an or Kur'an. This method is useful to those who know what it means but this book follows the old fashion of writing the best phonetic approximations according to ordinary English spelling.
He then prints a list of publisher's queries re spelling, and T. E. Lawrence's answers; for instance:
Query: "Slip [galley sheet] 20. Nuri, Emir of the Ruwalla, belongs to the 'chief family of the Rualla'. On Slip 23 'Rualla horse', and Slip 38, 'killed one Rueli'. In all later slips 'Rualla'."
Answer: "Should have also used Ruwala and Ruala."
Query: "Slip 47. Jedha, the she-camel, was Jedhah on Slip 40."
Answer: "She was a splendid beast."
Query: "Slip 78. Sherif Abd el Mayin of Slip 68 becomes el Main, el Mayein, el Muein, el Mayin, and el Muyein."
Answer: "Good egg. I call this really ingenious."
Σαν να απαντάει ο Δόκτωρ Χάους δε σας φαίνεται;