ARABIAN PENINSULA; LEVANT; IRAN.

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First List of Names in Arabia. (N.W. and S.W.). A collection of 8 pamphlets, all but one in their first editions, with lists of geographical names of the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant - including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Trans-Jordan, Syria ("the French Mandatory Territory"), and Iraq - as well as Iran. They were produced by the Royal Geographical Society for soldiers and surveyors working with maps.The Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (P. C. G. N.) was a body of scholars and linguists who regularly met to discuss policies and practical issues such as the correct spellings of foreign geographical names for use in official documents and publications. In 1921 the Committee updated the RGS System of rules for spelling native names - first adopted by the War Office, and later used by the Admiralty in 1885 and throughout the First World War - which led to the creation of this series of lists. Major General Edward Gleichen (1863-1937), formerly Director of the Political Intelligence Bureau, was its first Chair (1920-37).The differences in vowel pronunciation among the Arabic colloquials, and between colloquial and classical Arabic, had generated a variety of alternative spellings for place names in the Arabic-speaking world. The introductions explain preferences for vowel renditions, acknowledging the use of alternative official spellings specific to the French mandatory territory in Syria. Some place names include the Hebrew o

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