Germans from Russia Languages

Most materials used to research Germans from Russia is written in German or Russian. However you do not need to speak or read these languages to do research in the records. You will need to know some key words and phrases to understand the records. Language aids that will help you understand German are described in the “Language and Languages” section of the Germany portal.

A dictionary that will help you understand Russian is:

Smirnitsky, A. I. Русско-Английский словарь = Russian-English Dictionary (Russko-Angliĭskiĭ slovar). Izd. 7oe. Moskva: Izdatel’stvo “Sovetskaia Entsiklopediia”m 1965. (FHL book 491.7321 Sm48r; film 1045410 item 2).

Transliterating Russian Place Names
The Library has used two transliteration systems in the Family History Library Catalog to write Russian words using Roman letters. The following table is adapted from page ix of:

United States. Board on Geographic Names. Official Standard Names for U.S.S.R. Washington, D.C.: USGPO, 1970. (FHL book Ref 947 E5u 1970 v. 1).

Transliteration System Used in the Family History Library Catalog for Russian Cyrillic Place Names

Cyrillic	Roman А, а	a Б, б	b В, в	v Г, г	g Д, д	d Е, е	e, ye 1 Ё, ё	ë, yë 2 Ж, ж	zh З, з	z И, и	i Й, й	y 3 К, к	k Л, л	l М, м	m Н, н	n О, о	o П, п	p Р, р	r С, с	s Т, т	t У, у	u Ф, ф	f Х, х	kh Ц, ц	ts 4 Ч, ч	ch Ш, ш	sh Щ, щ	shch Ъ, ъ	’’ (hard sign) Ы, ы	y 3 Ь, ь	’ (soft sign) Э, э	e Ю, ю	yu Я, я	ya

1The Cyrillic letter e is transliterated as ye initially, after vowels, and after ъ and ь ; elsewhere as e.

2The letter ё is not considered a separate letter of the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, and the dieresis is often omitted. When printed in Cyrillic as ё, it is transliterated as yë or ye initially, after vowels, and after ъ and ь ; elsewhere as ë or e; that is, the use of the dieresis is optional.

3Both й and ы are transliterated as y, but these letters rarely occur initially and the likelihood of confusion is slight; the й usually occurs only as the second part of dipthongs, while the ы occurs before other vowels or between consonants.

4This system provides no means of distinguishing between the transliterations of the Cyrillic letter ц and the тс letter combination; however, the latter occurs infrequently.

Transliterating Russian Authors, Titles, and Imprints
The following table is adapted from pages 184-85 of:

ALA-LC Romanization Tables: Transliteration Schemes for Non-Roman Scripts. 1997 ed. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1997. (FHL book 411 AL11a 1997; computer number 810122).

Bold letters show variations from the place name transliteration system.

Transliteration System Used in the Family History Library Catalog for Russian Cyrillic Authors, Titles, and Imprints

Cyrillic Roman А, а a Б, б b В, в v Г, г g Д, д d Е, е e Ё, ё ë Ж, ж zh З, з z И, и i І, і 1 ī Й, й ĭ К, к k Л, л l М, м m Н, н n О, о o П, п p Р, р r С, с s Т, т t У, у u Ф, ф f Х, х kh Ц, ц ts Ч, ч ch Ш, ш sh Щ, щ shch Ъ, ъ 2 ’’ (hard sign) Ы, ы y Ь, ь 1 ’ (soft sign) Э, э ė Ю, ю iu Я, я ia Ѧ, ѧ 3 ę

1Do not confuse with similar part of the letter Ы, ы (transliterated Y, y).

2Letter is disregarded in transliteration when found at the end of a word.

3Church Slavic letter occasionally found in the modern Russian Cyrillic alphabet.