NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION

In the notes, Armenian is transliterated according to the Library of Congress system, but without diacritical marks. However, since this system reflects the classical Armenian pronunciation, in the main text Armenian terms are instead rendered phonetically according to their Western Armenian pronunciation. For example, the main text uses “Avedaran” for Gospels, while the notes use “Awetaran.” The same principle applies to names of individuals, unless an individual’s preferred form in the Roman alphabet is known to exist, as for example “Sirarpie Der Nersessian.” In general, the convention of rendering the familiar ending of Armenian surnames as “ian” is followed rather than transliterating it as “ean” or “yan.” Ottoman Turkish is rendered in the modern Turkish alphabet, though some terms are spelled phonetically for the ease of the reader. Arabic is transliterated according to the system used in the International Journal of Middle East Studies, but without diacritical marks.

All translations from Armenian, Arabic, French, and Turkish are the author’s unless otherwise noted.