Questions tagged [toponyms]

The tag has no usage guidance.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
15 votes
2 answers
662 views

Etymology/Origin of "Грузия"

In many languages, the name of the country Georgia is derived from the name of St.George. In Georgian, Georgia is called საქართველო(Sakartvelo), so obviously Грузия has nothing to do with it either. ...
Armen Tsirunyan's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
4k views

Почему Париж пишется через "ж"?

Я бы ожидал либо Парис либо Пари (согласно французскому произношению).
Nika's user avatar
  • 443
9 votes
4 answers
284 views

Аre there any masculine toponyms in Russian ending on -a?

Москва, Калуга, Пенза, Кострома All these toponyms end on -a and, as far as I know, they are all feminine. However, I know that in Russian some nouns ending on -a can be masculine: ябеда, неряха, ...
brilliant's user avatar
  • 5,752
7 votes
5 answers
2k views

"Красная" Площадь

It seems to be relatively common knowledge that the name "Красная Площадь," while translated in English as "Red Square," does not actually mean "Red Square" in Russian, but rather "Beautiful Square." ...
SAH's user avatar
  • 384
7 votes
4 answers
729 views

When did Красная Площадь begin to shift from Beautiful to Red?

I suppose this one will be tough, or actually impossible, to crack by looking at Russian in isolation — there is no way to know what writers at what point had which meaning in mind, short of ...
RegDwight's user avatar
  • 1,259
5 votes
3 answers
246 views

Etymology of "Володино"

Numerous villages are called "Володино", does it mean something?
Karhunen's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
194 views

"В" или "на" Украину? Интересуют официальные источники

На фоне всё большего количества адептов предлога "в" в данном вопросе, становится интересно: а что говорят по этому поводу официальные источники? Есть ли официальные источники, утверждающие, что ...
R.I.P.30.12.21Baskakov_Dmitriy's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
297 views

Connotation of the spelling "Расея"

Are there any guidelines on using Расея over Россия? Is the former archaic or comical? Grandiloquent, ridiculous? Something else? Was it perhaps the actual official name of the country at some point ...
RegDwight's user avatar
  • 1,259
4 votes
1 answer
216 views

Was "Novgorod" in 1815 one city or the other?

This question is not about grammar or syntax, but about historical toponymy. In 1815 an employee of the Russian-American Company was taken prisoner in Spanish California. An interpreter from a ...
Aaron Brick's user avatar
  • 1,396
4 votes
1 answer
161 views

How to say "житель Крымска" and not to confuse it with "житель Крыма"?

Here's a title I've found in today's news: "Крымские чиновники получили от 3 до 6 лет колонии". The thing is that actually the officials mentioned in crime chronicles are from russian city of Krymsk, ...
shabunc's user avatar
  • 37.9k
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Wuhan: masculine, feminine, or either?

The question is about the use of the Chinese city name Wuhan, specifically, whether it should be declined as masculine or feminine: Ухан - в Ухане - из Ухана OR Ухань - в Ухани - из Ухани The ...
Roger V.'s user avatar
  • 359
3 votes
3 answers
233 views

Etymology of toponymic ending -ово

I've seen a few places in Russia with the ending -ово. For example Иваново, Кемерово, and Домодедово. Does anyone know the origin of this ending? For example, is it related to the adjectival ending -...
Kачкодзьоб's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
90 views

soviet maps toponym or descriptor [closed]

i am currently working with soviet maps of Saudi Arabia dated to the 1980s, supposedly based on aerial imagery from the late 1970s. These are general topographic maps, no specific theme or even ...
a.urbanite's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
150 views

Mainland Russia as seen from Kamchatka circa 1800

Kamchatka is a peninsula, but overland access is so difficult that it also resembles an island. The road and rail networks of Siberia are a long sea or air voyage away. Around the year 1800, how ...
Aaron Brick's user avatar
  • 1,396
2 votes
2 answers
329 views

Does the toponym Дно decline in Russian?

Я сейчас нахожусь в Дно or Я сейчас нахожусь в Дне ? I am especially curious about how the natives of the city go about this matter.
brilliant's user avatar
  • 5,752
1 vote
2 answers
214 views

Why is there an "н" in "Железногoрск"?

I was surprised to find another city with the -gorsk ending: Железногoрск (Zheleznogorsk), formerly known as Krasnoyarsk-26. It sounded familiar, and I immediately looked up Iron (the metal), which ...
DrZ214's user avatar
  • 551