The Savannah morning news., 1904-02-25
WARSHIP IN DRYDOCK AT
NAGASAKI.
PHOTOGRAPHY OF THIS WAR.
FROM the New York Sun.


We NAV expect a fine assortment of
spellings for place names in Japan, Ko-
rea and China. 1t is not a matter that
need worry the painstaking persons
who revise the war dispatches before
they are put in type. The other day a
publisher suspected that he had paid
too dearly for a map complied for him
because the name of a Korean treaty
port was spelled Mokpo. He discovered
the form Mok-p-ho on another good
map and it seemed more impressive.
But who shall decide what is correct
when the doctors disagree?
No uniform system for the transit
Grafton of these Eastern names into
either English, German or French has
ever been adopted. We are no, much
enlightened even when we consult the
best German maps. which. in their
spelling of Oriental place names, per-
haps come nearer to representing ma
tive RECOMMENDATIONS than those of any
other country. If we consult the Kie-
pert maps we shall find many spellings
that differ from those on the Andree
MAPS. and in that court of last resort.
Stielers Hand Atlas, many spellings
are discovered that differ from them
both. If we are perplexed between
Wiju and Wi-ju we may turn to well
written English monthly published at
the capital of Korea. Surely, this mag
azine should give the acceptable trans
liberation of the name Of the Korean
town; but here we are confronted by an
photographed monstrosity. Eitchu
and prefer implement on one of the
other horns of the dilemma.
Several ATTEMPTS have been made to
secure uniform spelling of these East
ern names, and they have helped the
map makers to a considerable extent;
but the outcome has not resulted In
uniformity and is confusing.
Kiepert adopted rules by which he
regulated the spelling of these place
names on his maps, and later RIGHT
hofen suggested rules for the spelling
of Chinese names; but the Germans
to-day mix up the two systems, and
the geographers of other Western coun-
tries. while conforming with some of
the principles laid down by these au-
thorities, do not adhere to either of
them.
There are many difficulties in the
way. The broad foundation of the best
geographic photography in America
and Great Britain is, as stated in the
rules of the Royal Geographical So
ciey, that vowels should be pronounced
as in Italian, consonants as in Eng
lish and that the true sound of the
word as locally pronounced shall be
taken as the basis of spelling But
what is the true sound of the word as
locally pronounced? Metchnikov in his
language map of China, for example.
gives eleven principal dialects of the
Chinese language as spoken in China
proper. A foreigners idea of the cor
rect spelling of Chinese place name
usually depends upon the particular
group of natives with whom he con-
fers. If he adopts the Cantonese pro-
nunciation of the name of Chnese's
capital he will say that Pekin is the
best English approximation of the
sound. If he learns the pronuncia-
tion from the inhabitants of the prov
ince in which the capital is situated
he will say that the best English rem
dering is Peking. He may add Incl
dentally that the name of this prov
ince appears on American and British
maps as Pe-chili or Pechili, or Chilli,
or Chill.
A few years ago our board on geo.
graphic names ruled that the spelling
of "Pekin" should be used in all gov
eminent publications; but the board
was even violently assailed with
weighty objections to this orthog-
raphy. and last year 1t felt constrained
to reverse its earlier decision; so Pek
ing is now the governmental usage in
this country.
Another difficulty is that all the
Oriental RECOMMENDATIONS seem to
Western ears more or less vague and
indecisive. As Reelus remarks, Amer
leans and Europeans are constantly
struggling to diminish between !, m,
and b, between h and p between len
and ian and between an and. in.
1t is sort of go-as-you-please spell
ing match. The best way for Western
ers who are not Orientalists Is to
adopt the simplest spellings used on
good maps. Hyphens have their sig
nificance, but they are better omitted
than misplaced. Ping-Yang represents
the correct sound more nearly to the
ordinary reader than P-hjong-Yang.
Chifu is perhaps better than Che-foo,
and no one need feel injured If the hy-
phen is omitted.
We can understand what places are
meant and worry along very well, even
though some of the spellings be truly
wonderful. Some day order win be
brought out of this chaos; but it may
not be until the whole question of the
proper local pronunciations and the
best phonetic representations of them
is submitted to a, committee of COM
petent Orientalists whose decisions
shall be generally accepted.