ORTHOGRAPHY OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 
249 
ORTHOGRAPHY OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 
In 1878 the Council of the R.G.S., impressed with the necessity of 
endeavouring to reduce the confusion existing in British maps with 
regard to the spelling of geographical names, in consequence of the variety 
of systems of orthography used by travellers and others to represent 
the sound of native place-names in different parts of the world, formally 
adopted the general principle which had been long used by many, and 
the recognition of which had been steadily gaining ground, viz., that in 
writing geographical native names vowels should have their Italian 
significance, and consonants that which they have in the English language. 
This broad principle required elucidation in its details, and a system 
based upon it was consequently drawn up with the intention of repre¬ 
senting the principal syllabic sounds. 
It will be evident to all who consider the subject, that to ensure a fairly 
correct pronunciation of geographical names by an English-speaking 
person an arbitrary system of orthography is a necessity. It is hardly 
too much to say that in the English language every possible combination 
of letters has more than one possible pronunciation. A strange word, or 
name, even in our own language is frequently mispronounced. How 
much more with words of languages utterly unknown to the reader ! 
The same necessity does not arise in most Continental languages. In 
them a definite combination of letters indicates a definite sound, and 
each nation consequently has spelt foreign words in accordance with the 
orthographic rules of its own language. 
It was therefore not anticipated that foreign nations would effect any 
change in the form of orthography used in their maps, and the needs of 
the English-speaking communities were alone considered. 
The object aimed at was to provide a system which should be simple 
enough for any educated person to master with the minimum of trouble, 
and which at the same time would afford an approximation to the sound 
of a place-name such as a native might recognise. No attempt was made 
to represent the numberless delicate inflexions of sound and tone which 
belong to every language, often to different dialects of the same language. 
