Ukrainian Place Names: Difference between revisions

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[[Category:Informational]]
[[Category:Informational]]


As you are likely already aware, it is best practice to spell Ukrainian place names using transliterations based on the Ukrainian language rather than the Russian language, e.g. it's Kyiv not Kiev.  Ukraine is a large country (233,062 square miles = 603,628 square kilometers), so there are too many place names to list them all.  But here we'll try to have the most common and/or most newsworthy ones. Because there isn't a perfect one-to-one correspondence between the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, you will occasionally encounter swaps of i/y/j - for example, President Zelenskyy's name (Ukrainian Зеленський) could plausibly be transliterated as Zelenskyy, Zelenskyi, Zeleneskyj.  In this article we generally adhere to the following convention: Ukrainian і = Russian и = Latin i; Ukrainian и = Russian ы = Latin y; Ukrainian й = Russian й = Latin i.  The scientific transliteration of й as j is quite rare in the media; it is most often rendered as i, e.g. Кривий Ріг is usually spelled Kryvyi Rih, but sometimes rendered as y, as in Zelenskyy's name. Additionally, where appropriate, we will omit certain symbols or letters to better match what is likely to be found in media.  For example, the soft sign in Зеленський could be rendered as an apostrophe (viz. Zelens'kyy) but this is rarely seen.  Another example is the y-glide in soft vowels is sometimes ommitted, e.g. Kyiv (Київ) could be Kyjiv or Kyiiv, but this too is rarely seen.
As you are likely already aware, it is best practice to spell Ukrainian place names using transliterations based on the Ukrainian language rather than the Russian language, e.g. it's Kyiv not Kiev.  Ukraine is a large country (233,062 square miles = 603,628 square kilometers), so there are too many place names to list them all.  But here we'll try to have the most common and/or most newsworthy ones.
 
Because there isn't a perfect one-to-one correspondence between the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, you will occasionally encounter swaps of i/y/j - for example, President Zelenskyy's name (Ukrainian Зеленський) could plausibly be transliterated as Zelenskyy, Zelenskyi, Zeleneskyj.  In this article we generally adhere to the following convention: Ukrainian і = Russian и = Latin i; Ukrainian и = Russian ы = Latin y; Ukrainian й = Russian й = Latin i.  The scientific transliteration of й as j is quite rare in the media; it is most often rendered as i, e.g. Кривий Ріг is usually spelled Kryvyi Rih, but sometimes rendered as y, as in Zelenskyy's name.
 
Additionally, where appropriate, we will omit certain symbols or letters to better match what is likely to be found in media.  For example, the soft sign in Зеленський could be rendered as an apostrophe (viz. Zelens'kyy) but this is rarely seen.  Another example is the y-glide in soft vowels is sometimes ommitted, e.g. Kyiv (Київ) could be Kyjiv or Kyiiv, but this too is rarely seen.
 
Another possible source of confusion is g/h.  Ukrainian, along with some other slavic languages like Czech, Slovak, and Belarusian, change the common slavic g to h.  In written Ukrainian, the spelling of common slavic is preserved (as г).  Ukrainian also has a g sound, for which they developed a unique letter ґ (found only in Ukrainian and outlawed by the soviets from 1933 to 1990), but it is rather uncommon.  This article uses h to indicate pronunciation (and commonality with Czech, Slovak, Belarusian, etc), but you will sometimes come across written g, e.g. Чернігів could be rendered as Chernihiv or Chernigiv but is always pronounced as the former and never the latter.


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
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|-
|-
| Odesa || Одеса || Odessa || Одесса
| Odesa || Одеса || Odessa || Одесса
|-
| Mykolaiv || Миколаїв || Nikolaev || Николаев
|-
| Chernihiv || Чернігів || Chernigov || Чернигов
|-
|-
| Chornobyl || Чорнобиль || Chernobyl || Чернобыль
| Chornobyl || Чорнобиль || Chernobyl || Чернобыль
|-
| Ternopil || Тернопіль || Ternopol || Тернополь
|-
|-
| Donbas || Донбас || Donbass || Донбасс
| Donbas || Донбас || Donbass || Донбасс

Revision as of 17:51, 14 January 2023


As you are likely already aware, it is best practice to spell Ukrainian place names using transliterations based on the Ukrainian language rather than the Russian language, e.g. it's Kyiv not Kiev. Ukraine is a large country (233,062 square miles = 603,628 square kilometers), so there are too many place names to list them all. But here we'll try to have the most common and/or most newsworthy ones.

Because there isn't a perfect one-to-one correspondence between the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, you will occasionally encounter swaps of i/y/j - for example, President Zelenskyy's name (Ukrainian Зеленський) could plausibly be transliterated as Zelenskyy, Zelenskyi, Zeleneskyj. In this article we generally adhere to the following convention: Ukrainian і = Russian и = Latin i; Ukrainian и = Russian ы = Latin y; Ukrainian й = Russian й = Latin i. The scientific transliteration of й as j is quite rare in the media; it is most often rendered as i, e.g. Кривий Ріг is usually spelled Kryvyi Rih, but sometimes rendered as y, as in Zelenskyy's name.

Additionally, where appropriate, we will omit certain symbols or letters to better match what is likely to be found in media. For example, the soft sign in Зеленський could be rendered as an apostrophe (viz. Zelens'kyy) but this is rarely seen. Another example is the y-glide in soft vowels is sometimes ommitted, e.g. Kyiv (Київ) could be Kyjiv or Kyiiv, but this too is rarely seen.

Another possible source of confusion is g/h. Ukrainian, along with some other slavic languages like Czech, Slovak, and Belarusian, change the common slavic g to h. In written Ukrainian, the spelling of common slavic is preserved (as г). Ukrainian also has a g sound, for which they developed a unique letter ґ (found only in Ukrainian and outlawed by the soviets from 1933 to 1990), but it is rather uncommon. This article uses h to indicate pronunciation (and commonality with Czech, Slovak, Belarusian, etc), but you will sometimes come across written g, e.g. Чернігів could be rendered as Chernihiv or Chernigiv but is always pronounced as the former and never the latter.

Place names, in no particular order
Correct spelling Ukrainian Cyrillic Wrong spelling Russian Cyrillic
Kyiv Київ Kiev Киев
Kharkiv Харків Kharkov Харьков
Odesa Одеса Odessa Одесса
Mykolaiv Миколаїв Nikolaev Николаев
Chernihiv Чернігів Chernigov Чернигов
Chornobyl Чорнобиль Chernobyl Чернобыль
Ternopil Тернопіль Ternopol Тернополь
Donbas Донбас Donbass Донбасс
Zaporizhzhia Запоріжжя Zaporozhye Запорожье
Luhansk Луганськ Lugansk Луганск
Kryvyi Rih Кривий Ріг Krivoy Rog Кривой Рог
Svatove Сватове Svatovo Сватово
Dnipro River Дніпро річка Dnieper River Днепр река
Antonivskyi Bridge Антонівский міст Antonovskiy Bridge Антоновский мост

Crimea is Ukraine! Крим - це Україна!

Place names, in no particular order
English Ukrainian Latin Ukrainian Cyrillic Crimean Tatar
Crimea Krym Крим Qırım
Yalta Yalta Ялта Yalta
Sevastopol Sevastopol Севастополь Aqyar
Simferopol Simferopol Сімферополь Aqmescit
Yevpatoria Yevpatoriia Євпаторія Kezlev
Theodosia Feodosiia Феодосія Kefe
Kerch Kerch Керч Keriç

Additional information

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