Muhammad Diyab al-Itlidi

“ In Oriental history, however, particularly the history of the Arabs, this barrier need not stand in the way of an earnest student. Language, habits, mode of life, amongst the Arabs of the desert are little changed from what history represents them to have been more than twelve centuries ago. This fact may possibly create an interest in a record of those times.
When, at the instance of my kind friend Mr. Frederick Ayrton, of Cairo, I undertook the translation of the following tales and anecdotes, it was with no idea of appending historical notes. ”

“ I trust that with the foregoing explanation readers will have no difficulty in giving to every word its correct pronunciation, and that the object attained by following the above rules will compensate those not acquainted with the original language for the unfamiliar appearance of the words. ”

“ The vocal sound of ow in how I express by au; when doubled in the same word, by aww, as in Tawwâm.
"The Arabic suffix, when used to denote an ordinary or gentilic adjective, I have represented by y, which somewhat in the same way constitutes the formative of many of our English adjectives, e.g., windy from wind, stormy from storm, etc. This terminal y should be pronounced with a ringing Italian i sound. "The acute accent (ˊ) over a vowel denotes the syllable to be accentuated: attention to this expedient will prevent such mispronunciations as Maskát instead of Máskat. ”