Dictionary of Finno-Ugric place names

Entries in the dictionary, contrary to its name, which has historically developed, are not toponyms themselves, but pieces from which they are compiled, like a child designer. For example, in Karelia there is an island called "Kulyaniemisuari." In literal translation, this means: "An island with a village on a cape." The toponym "Kulyaniemisuari" will not be present in this dictionary, but its constituent parts - "island," "village" and "cape" - will be. Such descriptive practice in the manufacture of toponyms is as characteristic of the languages ​ ​ and localities under consideration as it is not characteristic of the pair {Russian language, Moscow region}, and it is this feature that causes the appearance of a real dictionary.

Further, again, contrary to the name of the dictionary, the compiler does not consider the entire vast group of Finno-Ugric (Ugric-Finnish) languages, but only the Baltic-Finnish subgroup of the Finno-Volga group of the Finno-Perm sub-branch of the Finno-Ugric languages ​ ​ and some languages ​ of the Sami subgroup (located in the classification in the same way). The unwillingness to give the dictionary a name that cannot be remembered, reprimanded, or, especially, fit on one line of your screen, led the compiler to choose the name of the current one - simple, but, strictly speaking, incorrect. The compiler knows that this name is incorrect, he may not be reminded of this. In the long term, it is planned to cover some other languages ​ ​ of the Finno-Volga group, in particular Mountain-Mari.

The dictionary is compiled into a table consisting of three logical parts. On the left side are Karelian, Finnish, Veps, Estonian, as well as Sami words involved in the formation of toponyms known to the compiler. The letters of the Sami alphabet, not displayed in standard encodings, are replaced by more standard characters according to the principle: "he who really needs will understand." In the middle part, all those letter combinations into which the original words can turn are combined in the process of rethinking and overwriting by the Russian-speaking population and Russian-speaking cartographers. It is these letters that should be searched in the "body" of toponyms written in Cyrillic. Finally, the right part explains the meaning of the letters from the middle part.

Thus, it is recommended to start viewing the table with the middle part (the second wide column on the right), looking, if necessary, on the sides. If you are looking for a specific letter combination, enter it in the search form that appears after pressing [Ctrl] + [F].

The cells on the left side of the table can be empty for two reasons: The main one is that the compiler does not know the correct spelling of a word. First of all, this applies to the words of the Sami language, for which writing was invented only 25 years ago (in 1982). The second reason - according to the compiler, the missed word does not participate in the formation of toponyms, and if it does, the compiler, unfortunately, does not know about it.

In the rightmost column of the table, the equal signs "=" are periodically found. To the left of them are Pomeranian and other dialect words, to the right are their "translation" into "modern Russian."

The compiler warns the most serious of the Russian words he knows - the goal of creating a real dictionary is not scientific and not even pseudoscientific, but purely utilitarian. I also make a reservation that thinkers who use this dictionary to prove the superiority of a particular people (language) over another do this in their own, special coordinate system that does not coincide with the coordinate system in which the compiler functions.

Dictionaries

• Dictionary of Sami-Russian

Notes