Cyrillization of Arabic


Cyrillization of Arabic is the conversion of text written in Arabic script into Cyrillic script. Because the Arabic script is an abjad, an accurate transliteration into Cyrillic, an alphabet, would still require prior knowledge of the subject language to read. Instead, systems of transcription have normally been used.

Russian system

Vowels

Note: The following tables use the letter hamza as a carrier to illustrate the use of diacritics. It is not part of these signs.
To record short vowels after a consonant, optional signs are used above this consonant. To write long vowels, the same signs are used plus the corresponding consonant letter.

Hamza

The glottal stop has complex notation rules. It can be written as a single character on the line ⟨ﺀ⟩, thus not distinguishing itself from other consonants, but much more often it is written above or below three carrier letters: alif, vav, ya. At the same time, hamza, like any consonant, can be both before and after a vowel. At the beginning of words, the hamza is written exclusively above or below the alif.
The combination "alif-hamza + fatha + alif" is written in a special way through alif-madda.
The absence of a hamza is occasionally recorded with a wasla sign.
In unvoiced texts, even the complete absence of over- or signed hamza is possible, which further complicates transcription. Hamza is almost never written over the alif of the definite article.

Definite Article

As with the hamza, there are some difficulties in rendering the Arabic definite article. In neutral position, it is read and transcribed as al-. In certain positions, the sound - l - can be assimilated with the subsequent consonant. After vowels, the initial a - usually disappears.

Nunation

The term ‘’nunation’’ in Arabic grammar refers to the case endings of the “indefinite state”. Sometimes, for historical reasons, after the nunation, the silent letters alif-maksura or a simple alif are additionally written.

Other signs

sukun over a consonant denotes the absence of any vowel after that consonant. Not transcribed at all.shaddah over a consonant denotes the doubling of that consonant. Transcribed accordingly by doubling the letters.