A misplaced diacritical mark turns Arabic adornment into fornication

Evidence

A contributor quotes an Arabic book called Kitaˆb al-Zıˆna, but by an unfortunate misprint the macron in Zıˆna appears over the “a,” thus making it a quite different word. In Arabic, written or spoken, the two words are distinct, and could not be confused. In transcription, the misplacement of the macron transforms adorn­ ment into fornication. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1320

Categorization

• CANDY: A single shifted macron transforming adornment into fornication is a delightfully concrete party fact.
• SHARE: Send to anyone working in transliteration or typography standards — the Arabic ‘zina’ accent-shift example lands specifically with philologists and type nerds.