S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 53. (Budapest, 1992)

FOLIA ENTOMOLOGICA HUNGARICA ROVARTANI KÖZLEMÉNYEK LUI 1992 71-88 Recoin mandations for spelling Russian names and titles By I. M. Kerzhner and E. P. Nartshuk (Received: May 5, 1986) Recommendations for spelling Russian names and titles. - A revised transliteration of Cyrillic letters is suggested and it is completed with examples of surnames, geographical terms and with a list of current administrative subdivisions of the USSR Three Maps, are also presented. The need for uniform spelling of Russian personal and geographical names as well as titles of books and periodicals became evident during the preparation and edition of the first volumes of the catalogue of Diptera. The following recommendations have been prepared by Soviet members of the Editorial Board. The help of Mrs. Z. Frenkiel (London) and Dr. J. LaSalle (Riverside) is acknowledged. Extensive comments were also received from Dr. G. C. Steyskal (Washington); some of his corrections are accepted. Transliteration No generally accepted transliteration system exists today for Cyrillic letters, particularly for Russian. The system recommended below (Table 1) is identical to B. S. 2979: 1958 (1982) (British System), British Standards Institution, except (1) usage of "e" instead "ë" and "é" for Russian "ë" and "3", (2) usage of "y" instead "i" and "y" for Russian "H" and 'W, (3) usage of "ts", not "t-s" for "TC". For correct pronounciation and back transliteration the following indications will be helpful: "S" is pronounced differently from V but printed as "e" in most Russian publications; "3" is rare and used mostly in the beginning of foreign words (as ecology, entomology, expedition, etc); "ü." always follows a vowel and "t,r follows a consonant, except for a few geographic names of non-Russian origin (e.g. Yakutian), in which "H" begins a word before a vowel and "BI" begins a word before a consonant; the combination "TC" is infrequent in Russian. * Editor's Note: This paper was prepared for the Catalogue of Palearotic Diptera" (Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest) but it may interest scientists of other fields than dipterology as well, therefore, the authors and the Editorial Board decided to publish it here in the present form. The editor is quite aware that since the receipt of the paper, owing to the great political changes, similarly changes are currently accepted in map design and in the orthography of names. Nevertheless, for a better interpretation of early labels" the publication of this article is more than timely.