Romanization of Russian
Theromanizationof theRussian language(thetransliterationof Russian text from theCyrillic scriptinto theLatin script), aside from its primary use for including Russian names and words in text written in a Latin alphabet, is also essential for computer users to input Russian text who either do not have a keyboard or word processor set up for inputting Cyrillic, or else are not capable oftypingrapidly using anative Russian keyboard layout(JCUKEN). In the latter case, they would type using a system of transliteration fitted for theirkeyboard layout,such as for EnglishQWERTYkeyboards, and then use an automated tool to convert the text into Cyrillic.
Systematic transliterations of Cyrillic to Latin[edit]
There are a number of distinct and competing standards for the romanization of Russian Cyrillic, with none of them having received much popularity, and, in reality, transliteration is often carried out without any consistent standards.[1]
Scientific transliteration[edit]
Scientific transliteration, also known as theInternational Scholarly System,is a system that has been used inlinguisticssince the 19th century. It is based on theCzech alphabetand formed the basis of the GOST and ISO systems.
GOST[edit]
OST 8483[edit]
OST 8483 was the first Soviet standard on romanization of Russian, introduced on 16 October 1935.[2]
GOST 16876-71 (1973)[edit]
Developed by the National Administration for Geodesy and Cartography at theUSSR Council of Ministers,GOST 16876-71 has been in service since 1973. Replaced by GOST 7.79-2000.
ST SEV 1362 (1978)[edit]
This standard is an equivalent of GOST 16876-71 and was adopted as an official standard of theCOMECON.
GOST 7.79-2000 (2002)[edit]
GOST 7.79-2000System of Standards on Information, Librarianship, and Publishing–Rules for Transliteration of the Cyrillic Characters Using the Latin Alphabetis an adoption ofISO 9:1995.It is the official standard of bothRussiaand theCommonwealth of Independent States(CIS).
GOST 52535.1-2006 (2006)[edit]
GOST 52535.1-2006Identification cards. Machine readable travel documents. Part 1. Machine readable passportsis an adoption of anICAOstandard for travel documents. It was used in Russian passports for a short period during 2010–2013 (see below). The standard was substituted in 2013 by GOST R ISO/IEC7501-1-2013, which does not contain romanization, but directly refers to theICAOromanization (see below).
Street and road signs[edit]
Names on street and road signs in the Soviet Union were romanized according to GOST 10807-78 (tables 17, 18), which was amended by newer Russian GOST R 52290-2004 (tables Г.4, Г.5), the romanizations in both the standards are practically identical.
ISO[edit]
ISO/R 9[edit]
ISO/R 9, established in 1954 and updated in 1968, was the adoption of thescientific transliterationby theInternational Organization for Standardization(ISO). It covers Russian and seven other Slavic languages.
ISO 9[edit]
ISO 9:1995 is the current transliteration standard from ISO. It is based on its predecessor ISO/R 9:1968, which it deprecates; for Russian, the two are the same except in the treatment of five modern letters. ISO 9:1995 is the first language-independent, univocal system of one character for one character equivalents (by the use of diacritics) that faithfully represents the original and allows for reverse transliteration for Cyrillic text in any contemporary language.
United Nations romanization system[edit]
TheUNGEGN,a Working Group of theUnited Nations,in 1987 recommended a romanization system for geographical names, which was based on the 1983 version ofGOST 16876-71.It may be found in some international cartographic products.[3]
Library of Congress (ALA-LC)[edit]
American Library AssociationandLibrary of Congress(ALA-LC) romanization tables for Slavic alphabets are used inNorth Americanlibraries and in the British Library since 1975.
The formal, unambiguous version of the system for bibliographic cataloguing requires some diacritics,two-letter tie characters,and prime marks. The standard is also often adapted as a "simplified" or "modified Library of Congress system" for use in text for a non-specialized audience, omitting the special characters and diacritics, simplifying endings, and modifying iotated initials.[4][5]
British Standard[edit]
British Standard 2979:1958is the main system of the Oxford University Press,[6]and a variation was used by the British Library to catalogue publications acquired up to 1975—theLibrary of Congress system(ALA-LC) is used for newer acquisitions.[7]
BGN/PCGN[edit]
The BGN/PCGN system is relatively intuitive for Anglophones to read and pronounce. In many publications, a simplified form of the system is used to render English versions of Russian names, typically convertingëtoyo,simplifying-iyand-yyendings to-y,and omitting apostrophes forъandь.It can be rendered using only the basic letters and punctuation found on English-language keyboards: no diacritics or unusual letters are required, although theinterpunctcharacter (·) may be used to avoid ambiguity.
This particular standard is part of theBGN/PCGN romanization systemwhich was developed by theUnited States Board on Geographic Namesand by thePermanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use.The portion of the system pertaining to theRussian languagewas adopted by BGN in 1944 and by PCGN in 1947.
Transliteration of names on Russian passports[edit]
InSoviet international passports,transliteration was based on French rules but without diacritics and so all names were transliterated in aFrench-style system.[8]
In 1997, with the introduction of newRussian passports,a diacritic-free English-oriented system was established by theRussian Ministry of Internal Affairs,[8][9]but the system was also abandoned in 2010.
In 2006, GOST R 52535.1-2006 was adopted, which defines technical requirements and standards for Russian international passports and introduces its own system of transliteration. In 2010, theFederal Migration Serviceof Russia approved Order No. 26,[10]stating that all personal names in the passports issued after 2010 must be transliterated using GOST R 52535.1-2006. Because of some differences between the new system and the old one, citizens who wanted to retain the old version of a name's transliteration, especially one that had been in the old pre-2010 passport, could apply to the local migration office before they acquired a new passport. The standard was abandoned in 2013.
In 2013, Order No. 320[11]of theFederal Migration Serviceof Russia came into force. It states that all personal names in the passports must be transliterated by using theICAOsystem,which is published in Doc 9303 "Machine Readable Travel Documents, Part 3".The system differs from the GOST R 52535.1-2006 system in two things:цis transliterated intots(as in pre-2010 systems),ъis transliterated intoie(a novelty).
Transliteration table[edit]
| Cyrillic | Scholarly |
ISO/R 9:1968 | GOST 16876-71(1); UNGEGN (1987) |
GOST 16876-71(2) | ISO 9:1995; GOST 7.79-2000(A) | GOST 7.79-2000(B) | Road signs |
ALA-LC | BS 2979:1958 | BGN/PCGN | Passport (1997) | Passport (2010) | Passport (2013), ICAO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| А | а | a | a | a | a | a | a | a | a | a | a | a | a | a |
| Б | б | b | b | b | b | b | b | b | b | b | b | b | b | b |
| В | в | v | v | v | v | v | v | v | v | v | v | v | v | v |
| Г | г | g | g | g | g | g | g | g | g | g | g | g | g | g |
| Д | д | d | d | d | d | d | d | d | d | d | d | d | d | d |
| Е | е | e | e | e | e | e | e | e (ye)[a] | e | e | e (ye)[b] | e (ye)[c] | e | e |
| Ё | ё | ë | ë | ë | jo | ë | yo | e (ye, yo)[d] | ë | ë[e] | ë (yë)[b] | e (ye)[c] | e | e |
| Ж | ж | ž | ž | ž | zh | ž | zh | zh | zh | zh | zh | zh | zh | zh |
| З | з | z | z | z | z | z | z | z | z | z | z | z | z | z |
| И | и | i | i | i | i | i | i | i | i | i | i | i | i | i |
| Й | й | j | j | j | j (jj)[f] | j | j | y | ĭ | ĭ[e] | y[g] | y[h] | i | i |
| К | к | k | k | k | k | k | k | k | k | k | k | k | k | k |
| Л | л | l | l | l | l | l | l | l | l | l | l | l | l | l |
| М | м | m | m | m | m | m | m | m | m | m | m | m | m | m |
| Н | н | n | n | n | n | n | n | n | n | n | n | n | n | n |
| О | о | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o | o |
| П | п | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p | p |
| Р | р | r | r | r | r | r | r | r | r | r | r | r | r | r |
| С | с | s | s | s | s | s | s | s | s | s[i] | s | s | s | s |
| Т | т | t | t | t | t | t | t | t | t | t[i] | t | t | t | t |
| У | у | u | u | u | u | u | u | u | u | u | u | u | u | u |
| Ф | ф | f | f | f | f | f | f | f | f | f | f | f | f | f |
| Х | х | x (ch) | ch | h | kh | h | x | kh | kh | kh | kh | kh | kh | kh |
| Ц | ц | c | c | c | c | c | cz (c)[j] | ts | t͡s | ts[i] | ts[g] | ts | tc | ts |
| Ч | ч | č | č | č | ch | č | ch | ch | ch | ch | ch | ch | ch | ch |
| Ш | ш | š | š | š | sh | š | sh | sh | sh | sh | sh | sh | sh | sh |
| Щ | щ | šč | šč | ŝ | shh | ŝ | shh | shch | shch | shch | shch[g] | shch | shch | shch |
| Ъ | ъ[k] | ʺ | ʺ | ʺ | ʺ | ʺ | ʺ | ʼ | ʺ[l] | ˮ (or loosely ")[m] | ˮ | ʺ | – | ie |
| Ы | ы | y | y | y | y | y | y' | y | y | ȳ (ui)[n] | y[g] | y | y | y |
| Ь | ь[k] | ʹ | ʹ | ʹ | ʹ | ʹ | ʹ | ʼ | ʹ | ʼ (or loosely ') | ʼ | – | – | – |
| Э | э | è | è | ė | eh | è | e' | e | ė | é[e] | e[g] | e | e | e |
| Ю | ю | ju | ju | ju | ju | û | yu | yu | i͡u | yu | yu | yu | iu | iu |
| Я | я | ja | ja | ja | ja | â | ya | ya | i͡a | ya | ya | ya | ia | ia |
| Pre-1918 letters | ||||||||||||||
| І | і | i | i | i | – | ì | i (i')[o] | – | ī | ī | – | – | – | – |
| Ѳ | ѳ | f (th)[p] | ḟ | ḟ | – | f̀ | fh | – | ḟ | ḟ | – | – | – | – |
| Ѣ | ѣ | ě | ě | ě | – | ě | ye | – | i͡e | ê | – | – | – | – |
| Ѵ | ѵ | i (ü)[p] | ẏ | ẏ | – | ỳ | yh | – | ẏ | y̆ | – | – | – | – |
| Pre-18th century letters | ||||||||||||||
| Є | є | ê (j)e[p] | – | – | – | – | – | – | ē | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ѥ | ѥ | ẹ[p] | – | – | – | – | – | – | i͡e | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ѕ | ѕ | dz (ʒ)[p] | – | – | – | ẑ | js | – | ż | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ꙋ | ꙋ | u | – | – | – | – | – | – | ū | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ѡ | ѡ | ô (o)[p] | – | – | – | – | – | – | ō | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ѿ | ѿ | ôt (ot)[p] | – | – | – | – | – | – | ō͡t | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ѫ | ѫ | ą (u)[p] | – | – | – | ǎ | – | – | ą | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ѧ | ѧ | ę (ja)[p] | – | – | – | – | – | – | ę | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ѭ | ѭ | ją (ju)[p] | – | – | – | – | – | – | i͡ą | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ѩ | ѩ | ję (ja)[p] | – | – | – | – | – | – | i͡ę | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ѯ | ѯ | x | – | – | – | – | – | – | k͡s | – | – | – | – | – |
| Ѱ | ѱ | ps | – | – | – | – | – | – | p͡s | – | – | – | – | – |
| Cyrillic | Scholarly | ISO/R 9:1968 | GOST 1971(1); UNGEGN (1987) |
GOST 1971(2) | ISO9:1995; GOST 2002(A) | GOST 2002(B) | Road signs |
ALA-LC | BS 2979:1958 | BGN/PCGN | Passport (1997) | Passport (2010) | Passport (2013), ICAO | |
Table notes[edit]
- ^е =yeinitially, after vowels, and after ъ and ь.
- ^abThedigraphsyeandyëare used to indicateiotationat the beginning of a word, after vowels, and after й, ъ or ь.
- ^abye after ь.
- ^ё
- =yeafter consonants except ч, ш, щ, ж (ch, sh, shch, zh);
- =eafter ч, ш, щ, ж (ch, sh, shch, zh);
- =yoinitially, after vowels, and after ъ and ь.
- ^abcDiacritics may be omitted when back-transliteration is not required.
- ^jjis accepted if reverse transliteration is needed
- ^abcdeAn optionalmiddle dot(·) may be used to signify:
- non-digraphs (тс =t·s,шч =sh·ch);
- y·= й before а, у, ы, э (йа =y·a,йу =y·u,йы =y·y,йэ =y·e);
- y·= ы before а, у, ы, э (ыа =y·a,ыу =y·u,ыы =y·y,ыэ =y·e);
- ·y= ы after vowels;
- ·e= э after consonants except й.
- ^ий is eitheriyory,and ый is eitheryoryy.
- ^abcтс is romanizedt-sto distinguish it from ц =ts.
- ^It is recommended to usecbeforei, e, y, j,butczin all other cases.
- ^abUnicode recommends encoding the primes used for the soft and hard signs asU+02B9ʹMODIFIER LETTER PRIMEandU+02BAʺMODIFIER LETTER DOUBLE PRIME,and the apostrophes for the same as themodifier letter apostrophes,U+02BCʼMODIFIER LETTER APOSTROPHEandU+02EEˮMODIFIER LETTER DOUBLE APOSTROPHE.
- ^Before the 2012 revision of the table, ъ was not romanized at the end of a word. Since that date, it is always romanized.
- ^ъ is not romanized at the end of a word.
- ^The British Library uses ы =ui,ый =uy.
- ^In GOST 7.79-2000 CyrillicіinUkrainianandBulgarianis always transliterated as Latinias well as in Old Russian and Old Bulgarian texts where it is usually used before vowels. In the rare case that it falls before a consonant (for example, in the word міръ), it is transliterated with an apostrophei'.
- ^abcdefghijkSome archaic letters are transcribed in different ways.
Latin script[edit]
In a second sense, theromanizationorLatinization of Russian[14]may also indicate the introduction of a dedicatedLatin alphabetfor writing the Russian language. Such an alphabet would not necessarily bind closely to the traditional Cyrillic orthography. The transition from Cyrillic to Latin has been proposed several times throughout history (especially during the Soviet era), but was never conducted on a large scale, except for informal romanizations in the computer era.
The most serious possibility of adoption of a Latin alphabet for the Russian language was discussed in 1929–30 during thecampaign of latinisation of the languages of the USSR,when a special commission was created to propose a latinisation system for Russian.[15]
Latin letter names in Russian[edit]
The letters of the Latin script are named in Russian as following (and are borrowed fromFrenchand/orGerman):[16]
- A:a(а)
- B:be(бэ)
- C:ce(цэ)
- D:de(дэ)
- E:jeore(е) or (э)
- F:ef(эф)
- G:georže(гэ) or (жэ)
- H:ašorha(аш) or (ха)
- I:i(и)
- J:jotorži(йот) or (жи)
- K:ka(ка)
- L:elʹ(эль)
- M:em(эм)
- N:en(эн)
- O:o(о)
- P:pe(пэ)
- Q:ku(ку)
- R:er(эр)
- S:es(эс)
- T:te(тэ)
- U:u(у)
- V:ve(вэ)
- W:dublʹ-ve(дубль-вэ)
- X:iks(икс)
- Y:igrek(игрек) oripsilon(ипсилон)
- Z:zet(зет)
See also[edit]
- Scientific transliteration of Cyrillic
- Romanization of Belarusian
- Romanization of Bulgarian
- Romanization of Macedonian
- Romanization of Serbian
- Romanization of Ukrainian
- Faux Cyrillic
- Template:ru-IPAfor theWiktionarytemplate to automatically generate pronunciation for Russian words
Notes[edit]
- ^Ivanov, Lyubomir (2017)."Streamlined Romanization of Russian Cyrillic".Contrastive Linguistics.XLII(2). Sofia: 66–73.ISSN0204-8701.Archivedfrom the original on 3 March 2022.Retrieved11 March2021.
In general, the present practice of Russian transliteration would seem fairly messy, inconsistent, and subject to not infrequent change.
- ^Vinogradov, N. V. (1941).Karty i atlasy(in Russian). Directmedia. p. 44.ISBN978-5-4475-6305-9.Archivedfrom the original on 12 March 2017.Retrieved9 March2017.
- ^Zots, Ivan Vladimirovich (2020)."Modern Romanization of Russian Toponyms per UN Technical Reference: Phonological and Orthographic Analysis".Preprints.doi:10.20944/preprints202006.0095.v1.2020060095. Archived fromthe originalon 19 September 2020.
- ^Shaw, J. Thomas (1967).Transliteration of Modern Russian for English-Language Publications.Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
- ^Guide to Style and Presentation of MSS(Pamphlet). Slavonic and East European Review. c. 1966.
- ^Waddingham, Anne (2014).New Hart's Rules: The Oxford Style Guide.Oxford University Press. p. 240.ISBN978-0-19-957002-7.Archivedfrom the original on 12 March 2017.Retrieved9 March2017.
- ^"Search for Cyrillic items in the catalogue".British Library. 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 12 July 2020.Retrieved9 March2017.
- ^abMinistry of Internal Affairs."Order No. 310 (26 May 1997)"(in Russian).Archivedfrom the original on 13 June 2018.Retrieved9 March2017.
- ^Ministry of Internal Affairs(22 January 2004)."Order No. 1047 (31 December 2003)"(in Russian). No. 3386.Rossiyskaya Gazeta.Archivedfrom the original on 25 September 2011.Retrieved24 February2011.
- ^Federal Migratory Service(5 March 2010)."Order No. 26 (3 February 2010)"(in Russian). No. 5125.Rossiyskaya Gazeta.Archivedfrom the original on 12 March 2017.Retrieved9 March2017.
- ^Federal Migratory Service(27 March 2013)."Order No. 320 (15 October 2012)"(in Russian). No. 6041.Rossiyskaya Gazeta.Archivedfrom the original on 12 March 2017.Retrieved9 March2017.
- ^Lunt, Horace Grey (2001).Old Church Slavonic Grammar(7 ed.). Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 17–18.ISBN3-11-016284-9.Archivedfrom the original on 30 April 2016.Retrieved11 October2015.
- ^Timberlake, Alan (2004).A Reference Grammar of Russian.New York: Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521772921.Archivedfrom the original on 28 April 2016.Retrieved11 October2015.
- ^Wellisch, Hans H. (1978).The Conversion of Scripts, Its Nature, History, and Utilization.New York: Wiley.ISBN0471016209.
- ^""О латинизации русского алфавита""(in Russian). 18 January 2010.Archivedfrom the original on 30 August 2013.Retrieved26 April2013.
- ^Russian names of Latin Letters
References[edit]
- American Library Association & Library of Congress Romanization
- Russian(2012)
- Church Slavonic(2011)
- British Academy.Transliteration of Slavonic: Report of the Committee for the Transliteration into English of Words Belonging to Russian and Other Slavonic Languages.Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol. VIII (2017). 20 pp.
- Gerych, G.Transliteration of Cyrillic Alphabets.Ottawa University, April 1965. 126 pp.
- "GOST 7.79-2000. System of standards on information, librarianship and publishing. Rules of transliteration of Cyrillic script by Latin alphabet"(in Russian). Federal Agency on Technical Regulating and Metrology. 2002.
- "GOST R 52290-2004. Traffic control devices. Traffic signs. General technical requirements"(in Russian). Federal Agency on Technical Regulating and Metrology. 2006. p. 111.
- "GOST R 52535.1-2006. Identification cards. Machine readable travel documents. Part 1. Machine readable passports"(in Russian). Federal Agency on Technical Regulating and Metrology. 2007. p. 9.
- "IIHF Transcription of Russian"(PDF).International Ice Hockey Federation.February 2011. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 4 April 2016.Retrieved9 March2021.
- Machine Readable Travel Documents, Doc 9303, Part 3(PDF)(7th ed.). ICAO. 2015. pp. 33–34.
- Pedersen, Thomas T. (2006)."Summary of romanization systems for Russian"(PDF).Institute of the Estonian Language.
- UNGEGNWorking Group on Romanization Systems (2016)."Russian"(PDF).Institute of the Estonian Language.
- U.S. Board on Geographic NamesForeign Names Committee Staff (1994).Romanization Systems and Roman-Script Spelling Conventions(PDF).pp. 93–94.
External links[edit]
- "ONLINE transliteration of the text from Cyrillic to Latin".Cyrillic → Latin transliteration (LC).Cestovatelské stránky.
- "Foreign geographical names".Place Names Database.Institute of the Estonian Language.
- Comparative transliteration of Russianinto various European languages, Morse, Braille, Georgian and Arabic