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Vedic
Literature > Vedic Glossary >
Transliteration used in our books |
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We have
mostly used the relatively common convention for transliterating
the Devan¢gari text into Roman script, avoiding some of its
obvious shortcomings. For instance the Samsk¨t
E"
is
written in it as
'ca' which most people pronounce as
'ka' as in
'cat' or
'car', whereas
E"
should be pronounced as
'cha' as in chug or charcoal.
E"
is assigned
'cha'. Similarly
ð"
is
'sha',
^"
is '¾ha'. |
|
Devan¢gari |
Symbol |
Examples |
|
Short Vowels |
|
ì |
a |
cut, but, run,
Never as English a |
|
ò |
i |
pit, sit, fit |
|
í |
u |
put, full |
|
Long
vowels: |
|
ìp |
¢ |
cop, mar, bar, car |
|
òê |
¤ |
need, see |
|
î¡ |
¦ |
soon, moon |
|
Other vowels: |
|
ï |
e |
say, may |
|
ìpu |
o |
more, sore, toe |
|
ïu |
ai |
site, might, light |
|
ìpv |
au |
pout, out |
|
h¡ |
¨ |
see special case |
|
“o |
l |
life,
lid |
|
\"o |
v |
water,
wood |
|
_"o |
s |
sing,
sit |
|
Consonants: |
|
@o¡ |
k |
kick,
kite, cut |
|
B"o |
g |
gut,
gig, go |
|
E"o |
ch |
chug,
church |
|
G"o |
j |
jug,
jig, jar |
|
Jo |
° |
tub,
tiger |
|
Lo> |
² |
deed
, dog |
|
O"o |
t |
math, thin |
|
Qo |
d |
mother, gather |
|
T"o |
p |
pun,
pat, peet |
|
V"o |
b |
bin,
bar, bun |
|
X"o |
m |
man,
me, mist |
|
S"o |
n |
net,
nose |
|
Y"o |
y |
yes,
yet |
|
Zo |
r |
red |
| |
|
Aspirated Consonants: |
|
The
first ten consonants above have their aspirated associates
given below, indicated by adding a letter "h'. These letters
have to be pronounced with more air i.e., exhaling. |
|
kh |
A"o; |
|
|
gh |
C"o; |
|
|
chh |
Fo>; |
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|
jh |
H"o; |
|
|
th |
P"o; |
|
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dh |
R"o; |
|
|
°h |
Ko; |
|
|
²h |
Mo>; |
|
|
ph |
U¡o; |
|
|
bh |
W"o; |
|
|
ng |
(
Do>
) as in sing |
|
| |
|
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Special
cases |
|
j® |
(
c"o
) is as in
c"pS"X"o
(j®¢nam) |
|
´ |
(
N"o
) is with the tongue in the upper palate |
|
sha |
( ð"
) is something between sa and ¾ha |
|
c" |
occurring in
Y"c"
is simplify denoted by "jna' omitting the accent on n |
|
¨ |
(h¡)
is neither "ra' nor "ru' but something in between.
However we write "§gveda' as "Rig Veda' because of its popular
usage in earlier books. Similarly ¨k is written as rik |
|
ª |
(h with a dot below) indicates the samsk¨t visarga
symbol: pronounced with exhalation.
For instance:
@¡:
is kaª,
E":
is chaª,
qZ#
is riª,
S"s#
is nuª
S"pu#
is noª. Note that there is no letter following ª even though
the ending sounds of
qZ# S"s#
etc., are all different, following from the vowel previous to
the symbol ":' |
|
¼ |
is pronounced as half "m' |
|
& |
is a
conjunction that indicates "ì';
Example:
m¢&m¨t“t
X"p&X"wO"pO"o
=
X"p + ìX"wO"pO"o
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