Crime and Punishment

Translators' Note

The names of the novel's main characters are given here with diminutives and variants. Russian names are composed of first name, patronymic (from the father's first name), and family name. Formal address requires the use of first name and patronymic; diminutives are commonly used among family and intimate friends; a shortened form of the patronymic (e.g., Romanych instead of Romanovich), used only in speech, also suggests a certain familiarity. Accented syllables are given in italics.

Raskolnikov, Rodion Romanovich, or Romanych (Rodya, Rodka)

---------, Pulcheria Alexandrovna

---------, Avdotya Romanovna (Dunya, Dunechka)

Marmeladov, Semyon Zakharovich, or Zakharych

---------, Katerina Ivanovna

---------, Sofya Semyonovna (Sonya, Sonechka)

---------, Polina Mikhailovna (Polya, Polenka, Polechka)

---------, Kolya (Kolka)

---------, Lenya (first called Lida, or Lidochka)

Svidrigailov, Arkady Ivanovich

---------, Marfa Petrovna

Razumikhin (or Vrazumikhin), Dmitri Prokofych

Porfiry Petrovich (no family name)

Luzhin, Pyotr Petrovich

Lebezyatnikov, Andrei Semyonovich, or Semyonych

Zamyotov, Alexander Grigorievich

Nastasya Petrovna (no family name; Nastenka, Nastasyushka)

Alyona Ivanovna (no family name)

Lizaveta Ivanovna (no family name)

Ilya Petrovich, nicknamed “Gunpowder” (no family name)

Lippewechsel, Amalia Ivanovna (also called Ludwigovna and Fyodorovna) Zossimov (no first name or patronymic) Nikolai Dementiev (no patronymic; Mikolai, Mikolka, Nikolashka)

The name Raskolnikov comes from raskolnik, a schismatic, from raskol, schism (the Raskolniki are members of the sect of Old Believers, who broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church in the seventeenth century); the root verb is raskolot, to split. Razumikhin comes from razum, reason, mind, intelligence. Lebezyatnikov comes from the verb lebezit, to fawn or flatter in an eager, fidgety, tail-wagging manner.

A note on the topography of Petersburg: the city, formally known as Saint Petersburg but normally referred to as Petersburg, was built on the orders of Tsar Peter the Great in the early eighteenth century. It is situated on the marshy delta where the river Neva flows westward into the Gulf of Finland, at a point where the Neva divides into three streams: the Neva, the Little Neva, and the Nevka. The main part of the city is on the south bank of the Neva, and is crisscrossed by canals designed to control flooding. The two smaller streams form the areas of the city known as Vasilievsky Island (between the Neva and the Little Neva), and the Petersburg side (between the Little Neva and the Nevka). Farther down the Neva is the well-to-do residential and amusement area called the Islands.

Often, though not consistently, Dostoevsky blanks out the names of specific streets and other topographical points. Scholars armed with maps have traced Raskolnikov's movements around the city and discovered the missing names, which some translators have then inserted into their versions of the novel. We have consistently followed Dostoevsky's inconsistency here, assuming it had an artistic purpose.