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It doesn't match with the pronunciation of the letter in Russian at all. A transliteration closer to the spelling would be rather "shj", "sh' " or something similar.

Besides, I've seen it transliterated like this in French ("chtch") and German ("schtsch") as well.

Why is that so? Is it etymological?

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2 Answers 2

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Let me quote my own answer to a related question, Difference in pronunciation between “щ” and “шь”?:

As for щ, it is a long alveopalatal consonant, IPA symbol for it is /ɕː/ (you can listen to the sound there, and there is also the sound for the Russian word 'счастье' [ˈɕːæsʲtʲjə] in which 'сч' is pronounced as 'щ'). Roughly speaking, in Standard Russian it is pronounced like the English 'shsh' in the phrase 'the dish she likes'. Some people pronounce щ as 'шч', but this pronunciation is considered obsolete.

The fact is, that although now the standard pronunciation of щ is /ɕː/, it used to be pronounced as /ɕtɕ/ and is still pronounced so by many people, that is why it is traditionally transliterated as shch in English. Note, that when the Cyrillic script emerged in the 9th century, щ stood for the consonantal cluster [ɕtʲ], and later in Russian [ɕtʲ] > [ɕtɕ] > [ɕː]. Thus, the tranliteration of this letter as shch reflects the previous stage of its pronunciation which is dying out now.

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  • Спасибо. Значит, транслитерация базируется на традиционном произношение. А в каких местах произносится традиционным образом ? Спрашиваю, потому за год жизни в Сибири ни разу не слышал этого произношения. Причем в других местах СНГ, где был, тоже не слышал...
    – almerillat
    Commented Apr 5, 2017 at 20:21
  • @almerillat - Я про Россию точно не знаю, возможно в Питере. И скорее всего в Одессе и вообще по Украине, под влиянием украинского языка, в котором щ произносится как [ʂtʂ].
    – Yellow Sky
    Commented Apr 5, 2017 at 21:02
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    @almerillat В Ульяновской области "щи" произносят как "счи" А между гласными "щ" произносят как "шш" с отвердением последующей и до ы. Блестяшшый. В Питере щ произносят как щ.
    – alamar
    Commented Apr 5, 2017 at 23:31
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The щч pronunciation of щ is noted as the Old St. Petersburg pronunciation - which is not the same thing as saying that you will hear it on the streets of SPB today. The Wiki article on the difference between SPB and Moscow Russian says: буква «щ» в речи старых коренных петербуржцев произносится как «щч»: [щч]ерба́тый, [щч]у́ка, о[щч]у[щч]е́ние.

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2
  • One example would be Aleksandr Kerensky, head of the Provisional Government in 1917, who lived until 1970. There are some speeches and interviews with him on YouTube where he uses the old pronunciation. For example in this 1949 speech at youtube.com/watch?v=IEcjRfer1oI&t=44s at 0:47, where he pronounces возвращаться, and many other times (although a few seconds later at 0:56 he does seem to say еще with a more modern pronunciation).
    – ghostarbeiter
    Commented Sep 22 at 4:20
  • Kerensky probably uses the pre-revolutionary upper class pronunciation, but was not from St Petersburg himself - he (like Lenin - who his father taught, I think) was from Simbirsk (=Ulyanovsk) in the Volga Region.
    – pompey1969
    Commented Sep 22 at 12:48

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