the introduction in order to know the pattern associated with each of the stem numbers ("II" through "X") and reconstruct such verb forms based solely on the stem number and the abstract consonantal root. Transcription and orthography Transcriptions (for specific details, see Hans Wehr transliteration) are provided for the past tense of the basic verb form, for the vowel of the imperfect tense, and for all nouns and particles, but they are not provided for verb forms of the derived stems, except for any irregular forms, the rare XI to XV stems, and the quadriliteral roots. The morphology of the derived stems II-X is regular and is given in Wehr's "Introduction". Other parts of speech such as nouns are fully given transcriptions. Foreign words are transliterated according to pronunciation, for which Arab students at the University of Münster were consulted. This means that the sounds , , , , , , , and , which are used in Modern Standard Arabic pronunciation among well-educated and careful speakers, but cannot be easily represented in standard Arabic script (even with full vowel diacritics), can be unambiguously indicated. Examples would be مانجو mangō 'mango fruit/tree' and كوري kōrī 'Korean'. As for the Arabic orthography used, word-initial glottal stops or hamza (i.e. the vs. vs. distinction) are not written either in the Arabic of the entries or in the transliteration. For example, (transliterated akala, "to eat", from the root ʼ k l), which has an initial hamzat al-qaṭʽ, and (ibn "son", from the root b-n), which does not have an initial hamzat al-qaṭʽ, are both written without a hamza represented in either the Arabic or the transliteration. In transliteration systems such as DIN 31635, the first would be transliterated as ʼakala, with an apostrophe representing hamza, and the second as ibn, without an apostrophe. Hamzas in the middle and end of words, however, are written, as in maʼkal "food". Word-final yā’ (-y or -ī) and alif maqṣūra (-ā) are not distinguished in the Arabic: they are both written as , without dots (an Egyptian custom). They are, however, distinguished in the transliteration: for example, ("to double") and ("bending") are both written as , but the first is transliterated as ṯanā and the second as ṯany. Editions Shortly after the publication of the first German version in 1952, the Committee on Language Programs of the American Council of Learned Societies recognized its excellence and sought