Chapter Nota Bene of Introductory Remarks by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

Nota Bene

In the use of the Glossary

(A.) The dates attached to quotations are not always quite consistent. In beginning the compilation, the dates given were those of the publication quoted; but as the date of the composition, or of the use of the word in question, is often much earlier than the date of the book or the edition in which it appears, the system was changed, and, where possible, the date given is that of the actual use of the word. But obvious doubts may sometimes rise on this point.

The dates of publication of the works quoted will be found, if required, from the BOOK LIST, following this Nota bene.

(B.) The system of transliteration used is substantially the same as that modification of Sir William Jones’s which is used in Shakespear’s Hindustani Dictionary. But—

The first of the three Sanskrit sibilants is expressed by (s), and, as in Wilson’s Glossary, no distinction is marked between the Indian aspirated k, g, and the Arabic gutturals kh, gh. Also, in words transliterated from Arabic, the sixteenth letter of the Arabic alphabet is expressed by (t). This is the same type that is used for the cerebral Indian (t). Though it can hardly give rise to any confusion, it would have been better to mark them by distinct types. The fact is, that it was wished at first to make as few demands as possible for distinct types, and, having begun so, change could not be made.

The fourth letter of the Arabic alphabet is in several cases represented by (th) when Arabic use is in question. In Hindustani it is pronounced as (s).

Also, in some of Mr. Burnell’s transliterations from S. Indian languages, he has used (R) for the peculiar Tamil hard (r), elsewhere (r), and (g) for the Tamil and Malayalam (k) when preceded and followed by a vowel.