1923%20Memoir%20on%20Maps%20of%20Chinese%20Turkistan%20by%20Stein%20s

62 THE AIBl'S [Chap. Ill
form of tlie nsme as actnally l~rononi~cod b.y the local inhabitants or
Spe'lina l'urki locnl pides, refraining from any attem1)t to spell the rlame in accordauce
names.
with its presumed correct Torki et~ymology. I am aware that this
method of record 11as implied in certain cases obvious i~lconsistencies. But it appeared the
safest in the case of a geogral)hical stiltlent like myself ~vlro, thong11 an Orientalist fa~niliar
\\.it11 Persian and the spolieu la~lguage of Cliinese Torltist-iin, does not profess to be a 'l'urkologizt.
It must nlso be ren~rntbered that the Easteru 'l'urki spolten in the Tiirint basin
and adjacent regions has not rvolved a standard literary form, arid tl~at any atteulpt to spell
their local names after tlre fashion atloptcd in nod ern lit,erary ~~roductions of t,he Turliishst.'ealiing
1,opulat.ion of liussiau Central Asia ancl regions further \vest would very often render
them unrecognizable to tile peo11le on tlre spot.
In recordin? Turki a ~ ira~~ian ~ d names I l~ave follo\\red the s)-stem of transliferation
al>proved by the International Congress of Orientalists and used also,
Systcm of tmoslile~.;b- in its simplified Hu~rteriat~ form, for Indian Government p~~blications.
tiol?.
Tl~e use of tliacritieal marks I~as, ho\verer, been restrictell to tlrc indispensable
minin~nm. Hence no distinction 11as been tnade in the case of words derired from
Arabic between tile se\reral kinds of'sibilants, gutturals, etc., wllicll are pronoonced alike by
the people of Cllinese Turkistiio.
It llas seemed to me courcuiel~t t,o separate the componeut parts of Turlci and friini;rn
names, wherever clearly recognizable as distinct nords, by tile uniform
Co~u~~osition of 'hrrlti
3U,l naulCa, employment of hyphens, and to use these, too, to marl; tile connection
with the names prollcr of such common terms as tlrrtcdn or pass, ~>~o=cir
or sllriue, Lul (also kol, k~tl! or lal:e, etc. I rnnst, honerer, confess in t,l~is ~nattcr of hylillens
and similar to occasional ir~consistencics, hoping tllat they \\ill he the more readily excused
iu view of the prolonged period owr which both the original snrveyr and t,heir cartograpllic
elaboratiou ha~e extended. Finally, I trust that the convenient brevity and significance of
such Turki terms as srri (gravel plateau or stony glacis), y~ir (ravine in alluvial soil), ytirdu,tg
(mind-eroded ridge), and a few ot,hers, mill be held to justify their use in clescripti\.e entries of
the map, eveu on gronnd \\.liere 'l'urki is not the local tongue.
Thus the word for 'lake ' lnny xppenr as the -&be, de6e or-,lala; the \vorrl for '~uill ' at the begineoncludi~~g
part of locnl nnmes in the nnme region as niug or end of compouu~l ~inwes as tiglrat,t~ae, fiighiir-
-kul, -kol or .k61; similarly the word for 'hillock' as ittert, liiylreaejr, or lirgoittre~r, etc.