In most cases Ottoman administrative terms as well as place names have been transcribed in their Arabic form. Although their pronunciation may have been largely influenced by the Turkish language used predominantly by the local administration, we have followed the written form as it appears in the main source of this work: the Arabic local court records. Nevertheless, there are a few instances of administrative terms that were originally Turkish; in these cases we did not use the Arabicized version but rather the authentic Turkish form (in modern spelling). Words or names that have already become part of English usage (e.g. kadi) have been used in their accepted form.