Coll 30/42 'Correct spelling of Bahrain/Bahrein' [‎41r] (82/109)

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COPY.
P.40577
231. 1. 1.
Permanent Committee on Geographical Names
Royal Geographical Society,
Kensington Gore,
London, S.W. 7.
17th March 1933.
The High Commissioner for India
Public Department,
India House,
Aldwych, W.C. 2.
Sir,
r i> zn
1 1841
' 1933 J
13 ^ 1 beg t0 acknowledge receipt of your letter
* 28X^171 ° f yesterday * wi "th enclosures, regarding the
spelling of Bahrein - Bahrain.
I venture to observe that neither spelling
can strictly be said to be incorrect; it seems rather to be
? ethod of transliterating the Arabic
diphthong "fathaya" is preferred.
With regard to para. 4 in the Political
Wr 8 ” e “° rand - No.797, it may be observed that grammars
of the Arabic spoken in Syria and Iraq give the dual
termination as -en (- ein); and although it may be -ain
by the Hunterian system of transliteration, the P.C.G.N.
has n<-ver hound itself to adopt that system for names
outside India.
« In t}i e "First List of Names in Arabia” the
torm ei was adopted in some names in the Aden Protectorate
qV a of the Resident, who stated that in
b.w. Arabia the pronunciation ms nearer to ei (as in ”rein”)
than to ai (as in ”aisle”). •
considering the desirability of altering
the spelling Bahrein to Bahrain, the P.C.G.N. would be glad
le ? r ? the pronunciation, both local Arab and
Indlan . "the diphthong in that name is as ai in
aisle or as ei in "rein”. In some cases the P.C.G.N. allows
alternative spellings, and this is possibly a case where
such are desirable.
I beg to point out that this name comes in the
proposed "Second List of Names in Arabia” referred to in my
letter of 22nd February to the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , which was
transferred to your Office for disposal as you informed me in
your letter P.39771 of the 9th March. As I stated in tha?
^31 • 1. 1.
letter, if and wnen the P.C.G.N. can afford to print that List
pr 2 p .°S ed l? 8end c °Pies to the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the
in^he'VriuM^iiV? Vie ^ *°. ob J ainln e his comments on names
in the Prjncipalities of Bahrein, Kuwait, and Muscat before Its
actual publication for official and general use.
I am &c.
^(sd) J.H. Reynolds
Secretary, P.C.G.N.