B-V-W Confusion

My friends who are trying to decide how to spell mantras that are coming to us from Sanskrit through Tibetan script are frustrated about when to use the letters B, V, and W. Here are the troublesome letters:

Chart by Drimay.

Part of the issue is Tibetan and Indian pronunciation, but another related issue is the evolution of our alphabets.

Latin Alphabet

For comparison, look at the evolution of the Latin/Roman alphabet. For centuries, the shape V was used to represent the sound /u/. Look:

Ancient Latin inscription in Libya, circa 1-2 AD, with Phoenician inscription, too. See Rufus written as RVFVS. http://lila.sns.it/mnamon/index.php?page=Esempi&id=23&lang=en 

Latin inscription on the Pope Paul V (PAVLVS QVINTUS) Aqueduct, year 1621AD. http://aqueducthunter.com/fiora/fiora4.html

Cornerstone on the Los Angeles Public (PVBLIC) Library, year 1925.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Public_Library

Here is something more about the evolution of the Latin alphabet:

The original Latin alphabet was: A B C D E F Z H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X

The oldest Latin inscriptions do not distinguish between /ɡ/ and /k/, representing both by C, K and Q according to position. K was used before A; Q was used (if at all) before O or V; C was used elsewhere. This is explained by the fact that the Etruscan language did not make this distinction. C originated as a turned form of Greek Gamma (Γ) and Q from Greek Koppa (Ϙ). In later Latin, K survived only in a few forms such as Kalendae; Q survived only before V (representing /kw/), and C was used everywhere else. G was later invented to distinguish between /ɡ/ and /k/; it was originally simply a C with an additional diacritic.

Phonetics:

• C stood for /ɡ/
• I stood for both /i/ and /j/.
• V stood for both /u/ and /w/.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Latin_alphabet

As for European pronunciation, just ask some of your friends from Germany and Eastern Europe to pronounce words containing the letters V and W. 

Indian Alphabets:

Indian alphabets also evolved over time. To understand the Tibetan spelling and writing system, we should factor in the timing of Buddhism entering Tibet and the state of the India alphabets at that time. Padmasabhava, the great yogi from the Swat Valley who subdued Tibet, lived during the 8th Century CE. Atisha, who was from Bengal, came to Tibet around the year 1000 CE. 

Devanagari, the main alphabet used to write Hindi and Sanskrit nowadays, continued to evolve after Buddhism went to Tibet. The Tibetan alphabet more closely resembles the Indian writing system from the year 600-800, according to this chart (of the letters Ka, Ja, Ma, Ra, Sa, and A):

And look at this chart of the modern-day Bengali alphabet, where no distinction is made between B and V:

http://www.easybengalityping.com/

I was looking for an image of the Devanagari alphabet from about 1000 years ago that I've seen in archaeological museums in India. It shows that there was no distinction between the letters for B and V. I can't find that image online, but if it surfaces, I will add it to this post. The point is that there would be no reason for the Tibetans to distinguish these two sounds in Sanskrit mantras, with Buddhism arriving in Tibet before these sounds were distinguished in Indian writing.

The Tibetan people are not necessarily wrong when they don't say Va /v/ when pronouncing mantras. It's true that Tibetan people in general cannot pronounce Va, but in many contexts, Ba or Wa is completely legitimate according to Indian pronunciation. E.g., the so-called Va letter in the Devanagari alphabet is pronounced Wa /w/ when it comes after a consonant as in swáhá (sváhá). 

I don't have much luck when asking modern-day Indian people how to pronounce 'vajra.' They don't usually know what I'm talking about. Some will attempt 'wajra.' Nepalis pronounce it 'bajra' and you can see the name on maps, spelled 'Bajra.' (We will leave alone the issue of Ja, today. See other post about the word Vajra.)

This short post here is not meant to be conclusive; it's just to show that the issue is not that clear. It is understandable that we are going to have trouble deciding which letters to use when transliterating Sanskrit mantras from Tibetan script.