Fwd: [ModLib] Dostoyevsky spelling.

[Scot Kamins]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "JOSEPH HILL" <goodbooks at webtv.net>
> Date: August 15, 2008 4:23:03 PM PDT
> To: kamins at ModernLib.com
> Subject: Fw: Re: RE: [ModLib] Dostoyevsky spelling.
>
> Can you forward this to the ML mail list?
> Thanks
> SPECIALIZE IN MODERN LIBRARY
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> From: G. Zonoff
> Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 4:06 PM
> To: JOSEPH HILL
> Subject: Re: RE: [ModLib] Dostoyevsky spelling.
>
> Geez Joe, you gotta learn Russian.  There have been, and are, many  
> transliteration systems but I rely on the LOC  (Lirary of Congress)   
> tables.
> For the record, the name in Russian is Достоевский.
>
> LoC yields the following': Dostoevskii  The catch here is the last  
> letter in the name in Russian:there is no equivalent sound for the  
> letter in English.  What it actually does is modify the "i" into a  
> prolonged sound which might rhyme with "key" with the "y" prolonged.  
> The best ending however is simply "skee".   Everything up to those  
> last two letters has an English cognate:thus,  Dos. as in the  
> Spanish "dos", followed by  the "to"portion, pronounced like taw,  
> which rhymes with "jaw",  and yevskii is a pretty good guide to  
> pronunciation if you know what the two "i's" mean.
>
> There are other systems but none ever closely matches the correct  
> pronouciation.  Those other spellings are OK if you know the ending  
> of words in Russian.  the ending "...ij" i European, and "iy" I feel  
> is nonsensical.  "dos-to-yev-skee  is the simplest and best in my  
> opinion.  For some reason, "skee' is not listed as an English  
> equivalent pronounciation to the Russian - probably elite effeminate  
> snobs who think it is too  closely assocaited with the vulgar  "Skee  
> Ball".  I think the "y" does better for pronounciation than the "e"  
> although each is acceptable.  Andf the "y" at the end is ok and is a  
> change from other earlier transliterations.
>
> And yes, F-yaw-der is the Russian equivalen to Theodore and Mikhael  
> is Michael, the patronymic.  All Russians, including females, bear  
> the name of their father as the middle name,i.e. the patronymic.
>
> Joe, you gotta know the language!
>
> Cheers
>
> Z


Scot Kamins
----------------
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