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Ozero

English translation: Lake

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Russian term or phrase:Ozero
English translation:Lake
Entered by: Mariel Varjão Azoubel

04:17 Jul 4, 2013
Russian to English translations [Non-PRO]
Geography / Maps localization
Russian term or phrase: Ozero
Hi All,

I'd just like to start off saying that I don't really work with Russian/English and have virtually no working knowledge of Russian language or the Cyrillic alphabet.

I just happen to be translating a set of toponyms from English into Brazilian Portuguese and I have run across several terms which seem to repeat, but I have not been able to find any reference whatsoever as to geographical entities (more precisely a lake-like or body-of-water-like geographical entity, which is what I'm currently working on) with these names.

By repetition and elimination, I have been able to group them into sets of similarity, either by (a) repetition of an apparent suffix; or (b) being preceded by a certain abbreviation. Another issue I have found is (c) inconsistent spelling/name components; which makes me unsure of how to leave it in Portuguese; and (d) name without any reference whatsoever, anywhere.

(a)
Val'k'yavr
Shuaris'yarvi
Payyarvi
Kazlyayarvi
Tanelinverkkoyarvi
Talvijärvi (Also found as "Talviyarvi", but I think this one's in Finland)
Kamenskoe
Nivastroevskoe

(b)
Mal. Keyga
Mal. Monastyrskoe
Mal. Zakhar'evskoe
Mal. Nizh. EzevskoeOsipovoe
Nizh. Kapustnoe
Bol. Sergozero
Bol. Kardozero
Bol. Il'men'
Bol. Shardozero
Bol. Pivkozero

(c)
Davydovskoe / Davydovskoye
Kochkarnoe / Kochkarnoye
Dubovoe / Dubovoye
Kochkarnoe / Kochkarnoye
Kamenskoe / Kamenskoye
reka Nemtsev / ozero Nemtsev

(d)
Isyakkuly
Kechvan'ty
Poryl'to
Shilos
Madagaty
Mois(Vargan)
Medniy TO
Khvostatoe-TO
Vorgadorynty
Yulenkhedo

So, my question is: are these things merely random similarities or do they have any semantic value? Do they indicate generics like the body of water type or not? Are they translatable? Are there any reliable sources I can use to verify the official spelling of these names or what kind of body of water they are?


Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Mariel Varjão Azoubel
Brazil
Local time: 22:54
Not an answer
Explanation:
For some reason the "Post Discussion Entry" button isn't working for me today...

Most of your toponyms look to me like U.S. Board of Geographic Names (BGN) transliterations of toponyms from a Russian map. The Cyrillic "soft sign" -- or "ь" is normally omitted when place names are used in newspapers, etc. The BGN system retains it for precision, however. For example Val'k-Yavr (not Val'k'yavr) is a transliteration of Вальк-Явр, with the "ь" transliterated as an apostrophe for precision. More info on the BGN can be found here:

http://geonames.usgs.gov/

You can find the BGN transliteration systems for Russian and other languages here:

http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/romanization.html

Without seeing the original, however, there's no way of being sure, and some of the toponyms don't follow the BGN system. For example the BGN system stipulates that a Cyrillic "e" should be transliterated as "ye" when it follows a vowel. That rule isn't always observed in your list.

(Incidentally, I apologize for the spurious "\'s" -- they're appearing all by themselves. I blame Windows 8.)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 hrs (2013-07-04 14:42:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

(Funny. The "\'s" disappeared when I posted my comment.)
Selected response from:

James McVay
United States
Local time: 21:54
Grading comment
Thank you James, that really helped clear things up! I have been noticing several spelling inconsistencies when backing this client's toponyms up against other sources available, especially in transliterations that happen to include "-yavir", "iyavir" or "'yavr", as well as the transliteration of "e" (although this one has consistently not followed the BGN guidelines and's always shown up as "oe" instead of "oye".
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +4lake (in Russian)
LilianNekipelov
4Not an answer
James McVay


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +4
lake (in Russian)


Explanation:
Well this one means lake. The others, you would really have to ask the people from the right language pairs. Jarvi is Finnish for sure.

LilianNekipelov
United States
Local time: 21:54
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in PolishPolish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  GaryG
25 mins
agree  cyhul
32 mins
agree  MariyaN (X)
5 hrs
agree  alex suhoy
1 day 3 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Not an answer


Explanation:
For some reason the "Post Discussion Entry" button isn't working for me today...

Most of your toponyms look to me like U.S. Board of Geographic Names (BGN) transliterations of toponyms from a Russian map. The Cyrillic "soft sign" -- or "ь" is normally omitted when place names are used in newspapers, etc. The BGN system retains it for precision, however. For example Val'k-Yavr (not Val'k'yavr) is a transliteration of Вальк-Явр, with the "ь" transliterated as an apostrophe for precision. More info on the BGN can be found here:

http://geonames.usgs.gov/

You can find the BGN transliteration systems for Russian and other languages here:

http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/romanization.html

Without seeing the original, however, there's no way of being sure, and some of the toponyms don't follow the BGN system. For example the BGN system stipulates that a Cyrillic "e" should be transliterated as "ye" when it follows a vowel. That rule isn't always observed in your list.

(Incidentally, I apologize for the spurious "\'s" -- they're appearing all by themselves. I blame Windows 8.)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 hrs (2013-07-04 14:42:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

(Funny. The "\'s" disappeared when I posted my comment.)

James McVay
United States
Local time: 21:54
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Grading comment
Thank you James, that really helped clear things up! I have been noticing several spelling inconsistencies when backing this client's toponyms up against other sources available, especially in transliterations that happen to include "-yavir", "iyavir" or "'yavr", as well as the transliteration of "e" (although this one has consistently not followed the BGN guidelines and's always shown up as "oe" instead of "oye".
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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