Spelling Russian Names in Period English
By Paul Wickenden of Thanet
When registering names in the Society, increasing attention has been
paid in recent years to orthography and capturing the precise period spelling
of names. This is all fine and good for languages that use a Latin alphabet,
but what of those that use the Cyrillic? What is a period orthography for
such names?
Knowing the period spelling in Cyrillic letters is hardly sufficient
for two reasons. First of all, the SCA is not reenacting Medieval Russia,
it is reenacting Medieval Western Europe. As such, all Russian personae
in the SCA are presumed to be travelling away from home and thus would
have seen their names spelled by foreign scribes in Latin alphabets. Secondly,
all names in the SCA (mostly for the convenience of registration in our
ASCII-based databases) are registered in Latin letters, and therefore the
question of correct orthography becomes particularly prickly.
Most SCA-Russian names follow the transliteration system of either the
Library of Congress (like I do) or the Revised English System. However,
neither system is period. If you were a Russian trader visiting England
in the age of Elizabeth, how would your name actually be spelled?
The question is far from theoretical. England and Russia had a surprisingly
lively diplomatic and economic interaction during the sixteenth century
(as well as before). While the visits tended to be of Englishmen in Russia,
rather than vice versa, such trips the other direction did occur. So, what
sort of system of Russian-English transliteration existed in the sixteenth
century?
To discover the answer to this question, we have a remarkable source:
Giles Fletcher's account of his embassy to Russia, published in 1591, and
entitled, Of the Russe Commonwealth. In seeking an idea of how Elizabethans
would have treated Russian names in England, a period account of the Russians
(including their names) is a strong source. All the more so, because Flectcher's
account is available in a facsimile edition.
Fletcher's Transliteration "System"
As an Elizabethan, Fletcher did not use systematic spelling in English,
let alone a consistent system of transliteration of foreign words. But
by perusing through his book and his treatment of Russian words, some observations
can be made.
General Observations. His system was broadly phonetic
but was handicapped by Flectcher's lack of familiarity with the Russian
language or linguistics in general. His major effort was to write down
the proper nouns he encountered in such a way that the approximate sound
could be created for listeners back home. The more modern goal of trying
to create a system that could accurately transcribe phonemes was simply
not of concern to him.
As a rule, Fletcher was most successful at transcribing familiar consonants.
He has little trouble with B, D, G, L, M, N, P, R, T, or Z and tended to
transcribe their sounds perfectly. The letter K, however, proved troublesome
as he sometimes wrote it down as a K and sometimes he wrote it as a hard
C (and some odd times, he even chose a Ch). As a result, Russian words
like великий [velikii] were written down by Fletcher as "velica" and surnames
like Белский [Belskii] were written as "Belschey."
But, by far, what gave Flectcher the hardest time was the vowels. Russian
vowels, when stressed, tend to have a rather full sound that seems exaggerated
to English ears. The listener is unsure of whether they have heard one
vowel or some sort of diphthong. When a vowel is unstressed, on the other
hand, the sound it creates is so altered that English speakers are prone
to misidentify it altogether. A classic modern example is the surname of
the last leader of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev's name, pronounced by a
native speaker, is likely to sound like it should be written out as "Garbichov"
(the stress lies on the last syllable, where the "e" in fact has an
umlaut on it) in a truly phonetic transliteration. When faced with Russia's vowel
sounds, Fletcher became completely random, using whatever English vowel
he felt like (which sometimes meant deleting the vowel altogether).
He had even greater trouble with unfamiliar sounds. The letter Й [I
or J], for example, was alternately transcribed as I, Y, or simply ignored
-- a problem that persists in modern systems (like the Revised English
System) as well. The letters Ж [Zh] and Щ [Shch] were almost never transcribed
completely in a way that could accurately reflect their sound. Instead,
he might write them both as Sh.
Period Russian Phonetics. It is important to remember
that the Russian language in the sixteenth century was not pronounced quite
as it is today. While it impossible to know the full details of period
Russian phonetics, there are some aspects that we are keenly aware of.
For example, hard signs ( Ъ ["]) and soft signs ( Ь [']) lack sounds of
their own in modern Russian and have been largely eliminated from contemporary
orthography. In period, however, they were much more frequent and treated
as vowels, and they would have been distinctly audible as reduced open
sounds. To an untrained ear, however, they would not have been fully audible,
as Fletcher alternates between recording them with the letter E and ignoring
them. The most common place for him to notice their sound is at the end
of words and names (which is natural enough, as that is where they would
be most audible) but he occasionally records them in other locations in
a word or name. Thus, we find his "addition" of the letter E on several
names:
-
Yaruslave [Iaroslav]. [Fle 5]
-
Theodore Ivanowich [Feodor Ivanovich]. [Fle 17v]
-
Feoder Michailowich Troyconiove [Feodor Mikhailovich Troekurov]. [Fle 30]
In each case, the terminal hard sign (not transcribed at all in the modern
spelling) has been preserved in Flectcher's spelling.
Creative Orthography. The fact that Fletcher never really
came up with a system for the transliteration of Russian sounds
(but instead wrote it as he went) is underlined by his inconsistences.
He could take a name and spell it consecutively in a variety of different
ways. For example, consider the multiple ways that he chose to spell Ivan
Vasil'evich's name:
-
Ivan Vasilowich. [Fle 15]
-
Ivan Basileus. [Fle 15v]
-
Ioan Vasilowich. [Fle 16v]
Or his decision to preserve the terminal hard sign in Boris's name in one
case and ignore it in the other on the same page:
-
Borrise Federowich Godonoe. [Fle 35v]
-
Borris Federowich Godonoe. [Fle 35v]
But while these examples are fairly clearly Fletcher's own doing, one should
remember that Russians at this time were not any more consistent with spelling
than Fletcher was. Thus, one is left wondering if the following person
was really named Стефан [Stefan] or Степан [Stepan]:
-
Stephan Vasilowich Godonoe. [Fle 35v]
-
Stepan Vasilowich Godonoe. [Fle 40]
Both names were considered variants of each other and might have been used
interchangeably in period. So Fletcher may or may not have been accurately
transcribing.
Missing Sounds or Giving Up. At times, Fletcher might
miss letters or entire syllables in words and thus fail to record them.
Other times, it just seemed like Fletcher could not hear the sounds in
the first place. Consonant clusters appear to have given him the most problems
but there were plenty of other cases to indicate that accuracy was simply
a common problem for him:
-
Borris Federowich Godonoe [Boris Fedorovich Godunov]. [Fle 27]
-
Vasilie Vywich Golloohen [Vasilii Iur'evich Golitsyn]. [Fle 27]
-
Andrieu Ivanowich Suskoy [Andrei Ivanovich Shuiskii]. [Fle 27]
-
Metheloskey [Mstislavskii]. [Fle 27v]
-
Hubetskoy [Trubetskoi]. [Fle 27v]
-
Bodan Ivanowich Sabarove [Bogdan Ivanovich Saburov]. [Fle 30]
-
Demetrie Ivanowich Forestine [Dmitrii Ivanovich Khvorostinin]. [Fle 30]
When faced with longer names and words, Flectcher was prone to simply giving
up and thus large segments of the Russian might be lost in translation.
These might be replaced with other letters and sometimes Fletcher would
tack on a particularly "Russian"-looking ending:
-
Vorallinskoy [Vorotynskii]. [Fle 27v]
-
Odgoskey [Odoevskii]. [Fle 27v]
-
Guletchey [Golitsyn]. [Fle 27v]
-
Ivan Buterlyney [Ivan Buturlin]. [Fle 30]
-
Micheta Sydroveskoy [Mikita Sidorov]. [Fle 52]
-
Gabriell Iacovelesni [Gavrilko Iakovlev]. [Fle 52]
Sometimes, in order to make the original sound clear (and prevent it from
being swallowed up by sloppy English mumbled pronunciation), Fletcher would
actually add letters, as he did in this case:
-
Andreas Guraken Bulgatkove [Andrei Kurakin-Bulgakov]. [Fle 27]
By adding a T to the name, Fletcher could ensure that the K would be properly
pronounced. Alternatively, perhaps Fletcher actually heard the hard K in
Bulgakov as a TK.
Lingua Anglica. When Fletcher was able to recognize a
Russian word or name as a cognate, he frequently simply chose to use the
English (or sometimes Greek) equivalent. There are many natural reasons
to do this. First of all, minimizing the large number of unfamiliar proper
nouns in his work made it more accessible to his Elizabethan English readers.
Secondly, it helped to impart a greater familiarity and smooth out the
oddness that seemed to predominate his account. Finally, it solved a large
number of questions about proper spelling. As a rule, then, Anglicization
was the preferred route:
-
Александр [Aleksandr] became Alexander [Fle 62]
-
Андрей [Andrei] became Andrieu [Fle 27] or Andriew [Fle 30]
-
Анна [Anna] became Anne [Fle 79v]
-
Николай [Nikolai] became Nicholas. [Fle 5v]
-
Григорий [Grigorii] became Gregorie [Fle 35v]
-
Симеон [Simeon] became Simon [Fle 48]
-
Гавриил [Gavriil] became Gabriell [Fle 52]
And, in at least one case, Fletcher chose to translate an entire name (including
the patronymic) and transformed Иван Данильевич [Ivan Danil'evich] into
"Evan or Iohn, sonne to Daniel" [Fle 12v].
Given Russia's Byzantine roots and the close proximity of its names
to Greek, Fletcher recognized another familiar method to transform Russian
names into familar forms -- by using Anglicized Greek renderings. Thus,
Василий [Vasilii] could be transformed into Basileus [Fle 62]; and Феодор
[Feodor] could become Theodore [Fle 42v].
Conclusions
So, how does one write a Russian name in 16th century England? The short
answer: with great creativity. Bearing in mind what we have learned above
(and following Fletcher's lead) consider his practices. Where possible,
Russian names should be transformed into something more familiar. If one
recognizes that Nikolai is Nicholas, then use the latter. Rather than introduce
the strange Russian guest as "Ivan Ivanovich" to your friends, call him
"John, sonne to John." If nothing else, it will make for a less distracting
dinner conversation.
Where that fails, be flexible, and transcribe only as much of the name
as is necessarily to indicate its uniqueness. Remove letters and sounds
that distract and add others which help to accentuate the sound and make
it clearer to the listener. Preserving the hard and soft signs is a nice
touch, but even Fletcher did not do so consistently.
Bibliography
Giles Fletcher, Of the Russe Commonwealth (Facsimile Edition). Cambridge
MA: Harvard University Press, 1966.
Appendix A: Fletcher's "System"
While Fletcher did not have a real system, here is an attempt to organize
his more common transliteration scheme. For comparison purposes, I have
included the modern Library of Congress system. The "<>" symbol indicates
that the letter was often not transcribed and simply eliminated instead.
Cyrillic Letter
|
Library of Congress
|
Fletcher's Orthography
|
А
|
A
|
A, O
|
Б
|
B
|
B
|
В
|
V
|
V, W, <>
|
Г
|
G
|
G
|
Д
|
D
|
D
|
Е
|
E
|
E, I
|
Ж
|
Zh
|
Sh
|
З
|
Z
|
Z
|
И
|
I
|
I, E, Y
|
Й
|
I
|
I, Y, <>
|
К
|
K
|
K, C, Ch
|
Л
|
L
|
L
|
М
|
M
|
M
|
Н
|
N
|
N
|
О
|
O
|
O, Ou, A
|
П
|
P
|
P
|
Р
|
R
|
R
|
С
|
S
|
S, Z
|
Т
|
T
|
T
|
У
|
U
|
Ou, E, O
|
Ф
|
F
|
F, Ph, Th
|
Х
|
Kh
|
F, Ch, Tch
|
Ц
|
Ts
|
Cz, Tz
|
Ч
|
Ch
|
Ch
|
Ш
|
Sh
|
Sh
|
Щ
|
Shch
|
Sh, Sch
|
Ъ
|
"
|
E, <>
|
Ы
|
Y
|
Y
|
Ь
|
'
|
E, <>
|
Ю
|
Iu
|
Yu, U
|
Я
|
Ia
|
Ya, Ia, E
|
Appendix B: Names Found In Of the Russe Commonwealth
The names listed below are all found in Fletcher's account and have been
cross-referenced and structured in the same manner as names in my Dictionary
of Period Russian Names (3rd Edition) for ease of comparison ("[Fle
51v]" would indicate that the name is found on the
verso of page
51). All names, of course, are dated to 1591, so the dates have been removed
from the entries.
Afanasii (m) --
-
Vars: Alphonasse Dementio. [Fle 51v]
Aleksandr (m) --
- Vars: Alexander. [Fle 62]
-
Pat Vars: Theodore Alexandrowich. [Fle 111]
Andrei (m) --
-
Vars: Andreas Guraken Bulgatkove. [Fle 27]; Andrieu
Ivanowich Suskoy. [Fle 27]; Andriew Gregoriwich Curakine.
[Fle 30]
Anikei (m) --
Anna (f) --
Avraam (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Zapon Abramove. [Fle 30]
Bel (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Ivan Demetrowich
Belschey. [Fle 66v]
Bezobraz (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Estoma Bisabroza Pastelnischay. [Fle 111]
Bogdan (m) --
-
Vars: Bodan Ivanowich Sabarove. [Fle 30]
Boris (m) --
-
Vars: Borris Federowich Godonoe. [Fle 35v]; Borrise
Federowich Godonoe. [Fle 35v]
Bulgak (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Bulgaloy. [Fle 27v]; Andreas Guraken Bulgatkove.
[Fle 27]
Bush (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Dorofey Bushew. [Fle 36]
Buturlia (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Ivan Buterlyney. [Fle 30]
Cheremisin (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Demenshoy Ivanowich
Cheremissen. [Fle 35v]
Cherkas (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Cherechaskoy. [Fle 56v]
Daniil (m) --
-
Vars: Evan or Iohn, sonne to
Daniel. [Fle 12v]
Dementii (m) --
-
Vars: Demenshoy Ivanowich Cheremissen. [Fle 35v]
-
Pat Vars: Alphonasse Dementio. [Fle 51v]
Dmitrii (m) --
-
Vars: Demetrie Ivanowich Forestine. [Fle 30]
-
Pat Vars: Feoder Demetrievich Shestinove. [Fle 30]; Ivan
Demetrowich
Belschey. [Fle 66v]
Dorofei (m) --
-
Vars: Dorofey Bushew. [Fle 36]
Druzhina (m) --
-
Vars: Drezheen Penteleove. [Fle 35v]
Elevferii (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Romain Vasilowich
Alferiove. [Fle 35v]
Elezar' (m) --
-
Vars: Eleazar Wellusgin. [Fle 35v]
Feodor (m) --
-
Vars: Feoder Demetrievich Shestinove. [Fle 30]; Theodore
Ivanowich. [Fle 42v]
-
Pat Vars: Borrise Federowich Godonoe. [Fle 35v]
Gavriil (m) --
-
Vars: Gabriell Iacovelesni. [Fle 52]
Glin (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Ivan Michailowich
Glinskoy. [Fle 56v]
Godun (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Borris Federowich
Godnoe. [Fle 21-21v]; Borris
Federowich
Godonoe. [Fle 27]
Golitsa (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Vasilie Vywich
Golloohen. [Fle 27];
Guletchey.
[Fle 27v]
Golova (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Peeter Gollavni. [Fle 27]
Grigorii (m) --
-
Vars: Gregorie Vasilowich Godonoe. [Fle 35v]; Gregory
Vasilowich Godonoe. [Fle 37v]
-
Pat Vars: Andriew Gregoriwich Curakine. [Fle 30]
Iakov (m) --
-
Vars: Iacove. [Fle 48]
-
Pat Vars: Gabriell Iacovelesni. [Fle 52]
Iaroslav (m) --
-
Vars: Iaruslave. [Fle 14];
Yaruslave. [Fle
5]
Ignatii (m) --
-
Vars: Ignatie Petrowich Tatislove. [Fle 35v]
Ioann (m) --
-
Vars: Evan or
Iohn, sonne to Daniel. [Fle 12v];
Ivan
Petrowich Suskoy. [Fle 27]
-
Pat Vars: Andrieu Ivanowich Suskoy. [Fle 27]
Istoma (m) --
-
Vars: Estoma Bisabroza Pastelnischay. [Fle 111]
Iurii (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Vasilie Vywich Golloohen. [Fle 27]
Khvorostina (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Feoder Ivanowich
Forestine. [Fle 30]
Kleshna (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Andriew Petrowich
Cleshenina. [Fle 35v]; Andreas
Petrowich
Clesinine. [Fle 111]
Kuraka (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Andriew Gregoriwich
Curakine. [Fle 30]; Andreas
Guraken
Bulgatkove. [Fle 27]
Mikhail (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Ivan Michailowich Glinskoy. [Fle 30]
Mstislav (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Metheloskey. [Fle 27v]; Feoder Ioanowich Methisloskey.
[Fle 30]
Nikita (m) --
-
Vars: Micheta Sydroveskoy. [Fle 52]
Nikolai (m) --
-
Vars: Nicholas. [Fle 5v];
Nicolas. [Fle 3v]
Odoi (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Odgoskey. [Fle 27v]
Pantelei (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Drezheen
Penteleove. [Fle 35v]
Petr (m) --
-
Vars: Peeter Gollavni. [Fle 27]
-
Pat Vars: Ivan Petrowich Suskoy. [Fle 27]
Pivo (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Romain Michailowich
Peva. [Fle 35v]
Postel'nichii (byn) --
-
Vars: Estoma Bisabroza
Pastelnischay. [Fle 111]
Roman (m) --
-
Vars: Romain Vasilowich Alferiove. [Fle 35v]
-
Pat Vars: Micheta Romanowich Trowbetskoy. [Fle 30]
Sabur (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Bodan Ivanowich
Sabarove. [Fle 30]
Sapun (m) --
-
Vars: Zapon Abramove. [Fle 35v]
Shchelkalov (byn) --
-
Vars: Basilie Shalcalove. [Fle 30]
Sheremet (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Feoder
Sheremitove. [Fle 35v]
Shestun (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Feoder Demetrievich
Shestinove. [Fle 30]
Shui (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Andrieu Ivanowich
Suskoy. [Fle 27]
Sidor (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Micheta
Sydroveskoy. [Fle 52]
Simon (m) --
-
Vars: Simeon. [Fle 43];
Simon. [Fle 48]
Skopa (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Vasilie Ivanowich Suskoy
Scopin. [Fle 30]
Stepan (m) --
-
Vars: Stepan Vasilowich Godonoe. [Fle 40]; Stephan
Vasilowich Godonoe. [Fle 35v]
Tatishche (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Ignatie Petrowich
Tatislove. [Fle 35v]
Tat' (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Taytove. [Fle 27v]
Timofei (m) --
-
Vars: Timophey Romanowich Trowbetskoy. [Fle 30]
Troekur (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Feoder Michailowich
Troyconiove. [Fle 30]
Trubets (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Hubetskoy. [Fle 27v]; Micheta Romanowich Trowbetskoy.
[Fle 30]
Vasilii (m) --
-
Vars: Basileus. [Fle 62];
Basilie Shalcalove.
[Fle 30];
Vasilie Vywich Golloohen. [Fle 27]
-
Pat Vars: Ivan Basileus. [Fle 15v]; Gregory Vasilowich
Godonoe. [Fle 37v]
Vladimir (m) --
-
Vars: Vlademir. [Fle 14];
Vlodomirus. [Fle
79v]
Vorota (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Vorallinskoy. [Fle 27v]
Vyluzga (m) --
-
Pat Vars: Eleazar Wellusgin. [Fle 35v]