Russka

NAMES AND PRONUNCIATION

There is no agreed system for writing Russian words in English. In each case I have therefore chosen what I believe to be the most familiar, or that most currently used.

In cases where place names change, I have again used my own judgement. For nineteenth century Vilna, in Lithuania, I have used today’s more familiar Vilnius. Present day Istanbul remains Constantinople throughout the narrative.

The placing of the stress on Russian words is notoriously confusing. Readers may care to know that the correct stressing for the main families in the story is as follows:

Bobróv

Románov

Ivánov

Suvórin

Karpénko

Popóv

Abrámovich

Pinégin

There is one other peculiarity of Russian transliteration: sometimes the letter written e is pronounced o as if of, or yo as in your. Certain important words and names that appear in the book are therefore pronounced as follows:

chernozem – chernozyóm

Potemkin – Potyómkin

Pugachev – Pugachóv

Rublev – Rublyóv