Checked for validity and accuracy – December 2019 ROMANIZATION OF PERSIAN (Farsi) BGN/PCGN 1958 System (updated 2019) This system was adopted by the BGN in 1946 and by the PCGN in 1958. It is used for the romanization of geographical names in Iran where the Persian language is referred to as Farsi.1 The Persian alphabet utilizes Perso-Arabic script and displays the same characters as the Arabic alphabet with the addition of four ,The same Roman-script conversion values are used for the Persian alphabet as for the Arabic alphabet .(پ,چ ,ژ ,گ) consonant characters wherever the phonological characteristics of the two languages are sufficiently similar (see Romanization of Arabic, BGN/PCGN 1956 System). Where characters common to Arabic and Persian writing have significantly different pronunciations in the two languages, Roman- script conversion values more closely reflecting Persian pronunciation are provided in this system. The Persian system of vowel pointing is similar to that of Arabic, though, as in other Perso-Arabic-script alphabets, the vowel points and some of the diacritical marks are generally omitted from both manual and machine writing and where used are rarely fully applied. Consequently, a reference source may sometimes be required to ensure correct identification of the standard spellings and proper vowels and elimination of dialectal and idiosyncratic variations. In the interest of clarity, vowel pointing to indicate short vowels has been applied to the examples below, and unpointed script has also been shown. (Note: Present limitations in fonts necessitate care in making font selection for complete presentation of the Persian alphabet and its romanization, as many fonts do not include all the required characters, or are not Unicode compliant. It is recommended that a font such as Scheherazade, available from www.sil.org, which includes the entire Unicode extended Arabic sub-range, be used to view this system.)2 1 The BGN/PCGN National System of Romanization for Afghanistan (2007) is used for the romanization of geographical names in Afghanistan and incorporates rules for both Dari-language names, which were included in previous versions of this document and Pashto-language names. 2 Please note that the identification of a particular font does not represent an endorsement of any specific product or manufacturer. 1 Table 1: Consonant Characters Script Roman Example Unicode Unicode value Romanization value Final Medial Initial Independent (Independent) Pointed Script Unpointed Script Romanization (lower case) Eşfahān اصفهﺎن ِاص َفهﺎن - See Note 2 0627 ا ﺎ 1 Būshehr ﺑوشهر ﺑو ِشهر b 0062 0628 ب ﺑ ـﺑ ـب 2 Pārs ﭘﺎرس ﭘﺎرس 067E p 0070 پ ﭘ ـﭘ ـپ 3 Tehrān ﺗهران ﺗِهران 062A t 0074 ت ﺗ ـﺗ ـت 4 S̄amardasht ﺛمردشت َﺛ َمر َدشت 062B s̄ 0073+0304 ث ﺛ ـﺛ ـث 5 Jahānābād ﺟهﺎن آﺑﺎد َﺟهﺎن آﺑﺎد 062C j 006A ج ﺟ ـﺟ ـج 6 Chābahār چﺎﺑهﺎر چﺎ َﺑهﺎر ch 0063+0068 0686 چ ﭽ ـﭽ ـچ 7 ḨoseynīyehNote5 حسینیه ُح َسین َیه 062D ḩ 1E29 ح ﺤ ـﺤ ـح 8 Khūzestān ﺧوزسﺗﺎن ﺧو ِزسﺗﺎن 062E kh 006B+0068 خ ﺧ ـﺧ ـخ 9 Dezfūl دزفول ِدزفو ل 062F d 0064 ﺪ ﺪ ـﺪ ـﺪ 10 Z̄ū ol Faqār ﺫوالفقﺎر ﺫوال َف قﺎر z̄ 007A+0304 0630 ﺫ ﺫ ـﺫ ـﺫ 11 Rostām رسﺗﺎم رُسﺗﺎم r 0072 0631 ر ر ـر ـر 12 Zībā زیﺑﺎ زیﺑﺎ z 007A 0632 ز ز ـﺰ ـﺰ 13 Zhān ژان ژان zh 007A+0068 0698 ژ ﮋ ـﮋ ـﮋ 14 Semnān سمنﺎن ِسمنﺎن s 0073 0633 س س ـس ـس 15 Shīrāz شیراز شیراز sh 0073+0068 0634 ش ش ـش ـش 16 2 Script Roman Example Unicode Unicode value Romanization value Final Medial Initial Independent (Independent) Pointed Script Unpointed Script Romanization (lower case) ـ Şoḩbatābād صحﺑت آﺑﺎد ُصح َﺑت آﺑﺎد ş 015F 0635 ص ص ـص 17 ص ـ Ẕīā’ābād ﺿیﺎء آﺑﺎد ﺿیﺎء آﺑﺎد ẕ 1E95 0636 ض ﺿ ـﺿ 18 ض Ţāleqān طﺎلقﺎن طﺎلِفﺎن ţ 0163 0637 ط ط ـط ـط 19 Z̧olmābād ظلم آﺑﺎد ُظلم آﺑﺎ د z̧ 007A+0327 0638 ﻆ ﻆ ـﻆ ـﻆ 20 Azīzābād‘ ﻋزیز آﺑﺎد َﻋزیز آﺑﺎ د 2018 ‘ 0639 ع ﻋ ﻌ ـع 21 Gharqeh ﻏرقه َﻏرقِ ه 063A gh 0067+0068 غ ﻏ ﻐ ـغ 22 Ferdows فردوس فِر ُد وس f 0066 0641 ف ف ـف ـف 23 Qazvīn قزوین َفزوین q 0071 0642 ق ق ـق ـق 24 Kāshān ﮐﺎشﺎن ﮐﺎشﺎن 06A9 k 006B ک ﮐ ﮑ ـک 25 Gīlān ﮔیﻻن ﮔیﻻن 06AF g 0067 گ ﮔ ﮕ ـگ 26 Lorestān لرسﺗﺎن لُ ِرسﺗﺎن l 006C 0644 ل ل ـل ـل 27 Mashhad مشهد َمش َهد m 006D 0645 م ﻤ ـﻤ ـم 28 Nakhlestān نﺧلسﺗﺎن َنﺧلِسﺗﺎن n 006E 0646 ن ن ـن ـن 29 Valī‘aşr ولیﻌصر َولی َﻌصر v 0077 0648 و و ـو ـو 30 Hormozgān ﻫرمزﮔﺎن ﻫُرمُ زﮔﺎن h 0068 0647 ه ﻫ ه/ ﮩ Note8ه 31 Yazd یزد َیزد y 0079 0649 ی ی ـی ﻰ 32 3 Table 2: Vowel Characters and Diacritical Marks The symbol ◌ represents any consonant character. Roman Example Unicode Unicode Script Romanization value value Pointed Script Unpointed Script Romanization (lower case) Hamadān ﻫمدان َﻫ َمدا ن 064E a 0061 َ 1 Kermānshāh ﮐرمﺎنشﺎه ِﮐرمﺎنشﺎه e 0069 0650 َ 2 Lorestān ارسﺗﺎن لُ ِرسﺗﺎن 064F o 0075 َ 3 Note 2 Ahvāz اﻫواز َاﻫوا ز ā 0101 0627 4 ا Mūsá موسی موس ی á 00E1 0670+0649 ی 5 ā Note 2in word initial Āz̄arbāyjān آﺫرﺑﺎیﺟﺎن آ َﺫرﺑﺎیﺟﺎن 0101 6 0622 ā Note 2in word’ آ Qor’ān قرآن ُقرآ ن 0674+0101 medial Shīrāz شیراز شیراز ī 012B 0649 ◌ی 7 Īrānshahr ایرانشهر ایران َشهر Ī 012A 0649+0627 ای 8 Shūsh شوش شوش ū 016B 0648 ◌و 9 4 Roman Example Unicode Unicode Script Romanization value value Pointed Script Unpointed Script Romanization (lower case) Meymand میمند میِ َم ند ey 0065+0079 0649 ِ ی 10 Nowdeh نوده ن ُود ِه ow 006F+0077 0648 َ و 11 not romanized - Indicates absence of short vowel 0652 َ 12 2019 Note 4 Pā’īn ﭘﺎئین ﭘﺎئین ’ 0674 ٔ 13 0065, Qal‘eh-ye Now قلﻌه نو َقل ِﻌۀ ن ُو e, -ye Notes 4&6- 0621 as eẕāfeh 0079+0065 ء doubling of Moḩammad محمد ُم َح َّمد - 0651 14 consonant Note5 ٔ Numerals ۹ ۸ ۷ ٦,۶ ۵ ٤,۴ ۳ ۲ ۱ ۰ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 .Although Perso-Arabic script is written from right to left, numerical expressions, e.g., ۱۹۵۸ – 1958 are written from left to right 5 NOTES ,( و) vāv ,(ا) The Persian alphabet, in its generally used form, employs only the characters found in the consonant table, the long vowels alef .1 of the vowel table. The short vowel marks in column 1 of the vowel table are traditional auxiliary characters (آ) and the alef maddeh ( ی) and ye used only sporadically to indicate the exact reading of a given word. The Persian vowel characters 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10, which are romanized á, ī, ū, ey, and ow may be pointed in two different ways, as shown in the vowel table. :occurs with the following uses (ا) Alef .2 a. Word initially, it indicates that the word begins with a vowel or diphthong. The alef itself is not romanized, but rather “carries” a short vowel; Īrān → ایران .to denote an initial long vowel ī or ū; e.g و or ی Anjīreh, or precedes → انﺟیره ,.e.g قرآن ,.Ābādān. Non-initially it indicates ’ā in words of Arabic origin and must be so romanized; e.g → آﺑﺎدان ,.it represents ā; e.g ,(آ) b. With maddeh .ma’āb → مآب ,Qor’ān → .Tūkā → ﺗوﮐﺎ ,Fārs → فﺎرس ,.c. Medially and finally it represents ā; e.g .ra’s. See also note 4 → رأس ,.d. Medially and finally in words of Arabic origin, alef may serve as the bearer of hamzeh, e.g occur. They may be romanized k·h, z·h, s·h, and g·h in order to differentiate these ﮔهـ and ﺴه ,زﻫ ,ﻜه Occasionally the character sequences .3 .respectively غ and ش , ژ , خ romanizations from the digraphs kh, zh, sh, and gh, which are used to represent the characters .is not regarded as a character of the Persian alphabet, but as a diacritical mark, and as such is not always expressed in writing (ء) Hamzeh .4 when) ( ئ) or ye ,( ؤ) vāv ,( أ) In fully pointed words, however, it appears in several graphic forms, standing alone or written in conjunction with alef written in conjunction, these vowels simply “carry” the hamzeh and should not themselves be romanized). In each of these cases, hamzeh should .mo’taman → مؤﺗمن ,Sha’nābād → شأن آﺑﺎد ,’şafrā → صفراء ,’joz → ﺟزء ,.be romanized simply with the apostrophe (’): e.g Occasionally a word may appear pointed according to the strict Arabic tradition so as to indicate an initial hamzeh. This initial hamzeh should should be أنﺟیره and انﺟیره never be romanized. A vowel character positioned above or below a hamzeh, however, should be romanized: e.g. both romanized simply Anjīreh. .(to represent the -ye form of the eẕāfeh (see note 6 ی or ه Hamzeh is also sometimes written over final In names of Arabic origin, a consonant character which would ordinarily be written with a shaddah, (ٔ ), in Arabic should be romanized by .5 .Moḩammad → محمد ,.writing the equivalent consonant letter twice, e.g 6 :pronunciation governs its rendition as follows ,(ی) In Persian the mark is named tashdīd, and when it appears on the letter ye - should be romanized ( ی ه) a. When the first ye has a vocalic value the combination should be transliterated -īy.