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Names of Kyiv

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The names of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, have varied over the years, colored both by the history of Kyiv as well as other nations' perception of the geopolitical climate.

Detail of Sebastian Münster's Map of Poland and Hungary, 1552, showing Kyiv labeled "Kyouia epatus" (Latin: Kyovia episcopatus, lit. 'Kyiv episcopate')

Modern names

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History of names

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Before standardization of the alphabet in the early 20th century, the name was also spelled Кыѣвъ, Киѣвъ, or Кіѣвъ with the now-obsolete letter yat. The Old Ukrainian spelling from the 14th and 15th centuries was nominally *Києвъ, but various attested spellings include кїєва (gen.), Кїєвь, and Киев (acc.), кїєво or кїєвом (ins.), києвє, Кіеве, Кїєвѣ, Києвѣ, or Киѣве (loc.).[6]

Old East Slavic chronicles, such as the Laurentian Codex and Novgorod Chronicle, used the spellings Києвъ, Къıєвъ, or Кїєвъ.[7] The traditional etymology, stemming from the Primary Chronicle, is that the name is a derivation of Kyi (Ukrainian: Кий, Russian: Кий (pre-1918 Кій)), the legendary eponymous founder of the city. According to Oleg Trubachyov's etymological dictionary from the Old East Slavic name *Kyjevŭ gordŭ (literally, "Kyi's castle", "Kyi's gord"), from Proto-Slavic *kyjevъ,[8] This etymology has been questioned, for instance by Mykhailo Hrushevsky who called it an "etymological myth", and meant that the names of the legendary founders are in turn based on place names. According to the Canadian Ukrainian linguist Jaroslav Rudnyckyj, the name can be connected to the Proto-Slavic root *kyjь, but should be interpreted as meaning 'stick, pole' as in its modern Ukrainian equivalent Кий. The name should in that case be interpreted as 'palisaded settlement'.[9]

Kyiv is the romanized official Ukrainian name for the city,[10][11] and it is used for legislative and official acts.[12] Kiev is the traditional English name for the city,[10][13][14] but because of its historical derivation from the Russian name, Kiev lost favor with many Western media outlets after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014.[15]

The city was known by various names in history. In the Norse sagas it was Kænugarðr or Kœnugarðr,[16] meaning "city of the Kyivans" (from Old East Slavic: кияне, romanized: kijane),[17] which survives in modern Icelandic Kænugarður. Perhaps the earliest original manuscript to name the city is the Kyivan letter, written c. 930 CE by representatives of the city's Jewish community, with the name written as קייוב׳, Qiyyōḇ.[18]

The historian Julius Brutzkus in his work The Khazar Origin of Ancient Kiev hypothesizes that both Sambat and Kyiv are of Khazar origin, meaning "hill fortress" and "lower settlement" respectively. Brutzkus claims that Sambat is not Kyiv, but rather Vyshhorod (High City), which is nearby.

In the Byzantine Greek of Constantine Porphyrogenitus's 10th-century De Administrando Imperio it was Κιοάβα, Kioava, Κίοβα, Kiova, and "also called Sambatas", Σαμβατάς.[19][20] In Arabic, it was كويابة, Kūyāba in Al-Istakhri's work of 951 AD,[19] and Zānbat according to ibn Rustah and other 10th-century authors.[21] In the medieval Latin of Thietmar of Merseburg's Chronicon it was mentioned for the year 1015 as Cuieva.[17] After it was rebuilt in the 15th century, Kyiv was called by the Turkic (Crimean Tatar) name Menkerman or Mankerman.[21]

As a prominent city with a long history, its English name evolved with the language. Early English sources rendered the city's name as Kiou, Kiow, Kiew, and—as in Latin—Kiovia. On one of the oldest English maps of the region, Russiae, Moscoviae et Tartariae, published by Ortelius (London, 1570), the name of the city is spelled Kiou. On the 1650 map by Guillaume de Beauplan, the name of the city is Kiiow, and the region was named Kÿowia. In the book Travels, by Joseph Marshall (London, 1772), the city is called Kiovia.[22]

In English, Kiev appeared in print as early as 1804 in John Cary's "New map of Europe, from the latest authorities", and in Mary Holderness's 1823 travelog New Russia: Journey from Riga to the Crimea by way of Kiev.[23] The Oxford English Dictionary included Kiev in a quotation published by 1883, and Kyiv in 2018.[24]

The Ukrainian version of the name, Kyiw, appears in the Volume 4 of the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland, published in 1883.[25]

A fragment of the New Universal Atlas by John Cary, London, 1808. The city was situated on the borderline between the former Polish (left) and Russian (right) zones of influence, with the name being presented as Kiev.

After Ukraine's independence in 1991, the Ukrainian government introduced the national rules for transliteration of geographic names into the Latin alphabet for legislative and official acts in October 1995,[12] according to which the Ukrainian name Київ is romanized Kyiv. These rules are applied for place names and addresses, as well as personal names in passports, street signs, and so on.

In 2018, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry launched #CorrectUA, an online campaign to promote the use of official Ukrainian spellings by countries and organizations, in place of "outdated, Soviet-era" place-names.[26][27] Specifically, for the capital, the campaign KyivNotKiev was developed as part of the broader campaign.

The place name Kyiv is standardized in the authoritative database of Ukraine's toponyms maintained by Ukraine's mapping agency Derzhheokadastr. It has also been adopted by the United Nations GEGN Geographical Names Database,[28] the United States Board on Geographic Names,[29][30][31][32] the International Air Transport Association,[33] the European Union,[34] English-speaking foreign diplomatic missions[35] and governments,[36] several international organizations,[37] and the Encyclopædia Britannica. Some English-language news sources have adopted Kyiv in their style guides, including the AP,[38][39] CP,[40] Reuters,[41][42] and AFP[43] news services, media organizations in Ukraine,[44] and some media organizations in Canada,[40][45][46] the United Kingdom,[47][48][49] and the United States,[50][51][52] despite more resistance to the spelling change compared to others, like Beijing and Mumbai.[53]

Alternative romanizations used in English-language sources include Kyïv (according to the ALA–LC romanization used in bibliographic cataloguing), Kyjiv (scholarly transliteration used in linguistics), and Kyyiv (the 1965 BGN/PCGN transliteration standard).

The US media organization NPR adopted an on-air pronunciation of Kyiv closer to the Ukrainian, responding to the history and identity of the local population, in January 2022.[54][55]

References

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  1. ^ Preston, Rich [@RichPreston] (February 25, 2022). "And here's what the BBC Pronunciation Unit advises. We changed our pronunciation and spelling of Kiev to Kyiv in 2019" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ "Kyiv". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  3. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011). Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (eds.). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-15255-6.
  4. ^ a b Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
  5. ^ Online-Lexikon zur Kultur und Geschichte der Deutschen im östlichen Europa
  6. ^ Humetsʹka, L. L., ed. (1977). Slovnyk staroukraïnsʹkoï movy XIV–XV st [Dictionary of the Old Ukrainian language of the 14th and 15th c.]. Vol. 1. Kyiv: Naukova Dumka. p. 474.
  7. ^ Lavretian Chronicle Archived 18 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine and Novgorod Chronicles Archived 2 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine: "В лЂто 6743. Не хотя исперва оканныи, всепагубныи диаволъ роду человЂческому добра, въздвиже крамолу межи рускыми князи да быша человЂци не жили мирно: о том бо ся злыи радуется кровопролитью крестияньскому. Поиде князь Володимиръ Рюриковиць с кыяны и Данило Романович с галицаны на Михаила /л.158./ Всеволодица Чермного къ Чернигову, а Изяславъ побЂжа в Половци; и много воева около Чернигова и посадъ пожьже, а Михаилъ выступи ис Чернигова; и много пустошивъ около Чернигова, поиде опять; и Михаилъ створивъ прелесть на ДанилЂ и много би галицанъ и бещисла, Данила же едва уиде; а Володимиръ пришедши опять, сЂде въ КиевЂ. И не ту бысть того до сыти зла, нь прииде Изяславъ с погаными Половци в силЂ тяжьцЂ и Михаилъ с черниговци под Киевъ, и взяша Кыевъ; а Володимера и княгыню его изымаша Половци, поведоша в землю свою, и много зла сътвориша кияномъ; а Михаилъ сЂде в ГалицЂ, а Изяславъ в КиевЂ; и опять пустиша Володимира Половци на искупЂ и жену его, и на НЂмцЂх имаша искупъ князи. 'В лЂто 6744 [1236]. Поиде князь Ярославъ из Новаграда къ Киеву на столъ, понявши съ собою новгородцовъ болших муж: Судимира въ СлавнЂ, Якима Влунковица, Костя Вячеслалича, а новоторжець 100 муж; а в НовЂградЂ посади сына своего Александра; и, пришедши, сЂде в Кие†на столЂ; и державъ новгородцовъ и новоторжанъ одину недЂлю и, одаривъ, отпусти прочь; и приидоша вси здрави. Того же лЂта пришедше безбожныи Татарове, плениша всю землю Болгарьскую А и град их Великыи взяша, исЂкоша вся и жены и дЂти" and others. Archived 31 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Trubachev, O. N., ed. (1987). "*kyjevъ/*kyjevo". Ėtimologicheskiĭ slovarʹ slavi͡anskikh I͡Azykov: Praslavi͡anskiĭ leksicheskiĭ fond (in Russian). Vol. 13 (*kroměžirъ–*kyžiti). Moscow: Nauka. pp. 256–257.
  9. ^ Rudnyc'kyj, Jaroslav Bohdan (1962–1982). An etymological dictionary of the Ukrainian language. 2., rev. ed. Winnipeg: Ukrainian free acad. of sciences, pp. 660–663.
  10. ^ a b "Kiev". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2020. The entry is the same as the print edition of Collins Dictionary of English (13th ed.). Glasgow, UK: HarperCollins. 2018. It includes the note "Ukrainian name: Kyiv". For American English, the website also includes the definition from Webster's New World College Dictionary (4th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2010. In the 2018 fifth edition, WNWCD changed the main headword to Kyiv, with Kiev as a see-also entry with the label "Russ. name for Kyiv".
  11. ^ "Kiev". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020. Merriam–Webster's online dictionary entry has the headword "Kiev" with the label "variants: or Ukrainian Kyiv or Kyyiv." According to M–W's help on entries Archived 11 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine, the key word or signals an equal variant spelling: "these the two spellings occur with equal or nearly equal frequency and can be considered equal variants. Both are standard, and either one may be used according to personal inclination."
  12. ^ a b Ukrainian Commission for Legal Terminology. "Kiev?, Kyiv?! Which is right?". UA Zone. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  13. ^ "Kiev". Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020. The entry includes the usage note "Ukrainian name Kyiv", and the dictionary has a see-also entry for "Kyiv" cross-referencing this one. The entry text is republished from the print edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. 2010.
  14. ^ "Kiev". Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online. Pearson English Language Teaching. Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  15. ^ "Kyiv not Kiev: Why spelling matters in Ukraine's quest for an independent identity". The Atlantic Council. 21 October 2019. Archived from the original on 19 January 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  16. ^ Voĭtovych, L. V. (30 June 2015). "Hol'mgard: De pravyly Rus'ki kni͡azi Svi͡atoslav Ihorevych, Volodymyr Svi͡atosalvych ta I͡aroslav Volodymyrovych?" [Holmgard: where ruled the Rus Kniazes Sviatoslav Ihorevych, Volodymyr Sviatoslavych, and Yaroslav Volodymyrovych?]. Ukraïnsʹkyĭ istorychnyĭ zhurnal (3): 40, 51. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2020 – via East View On Demand.
  17. ^ a b Ohienko, Ivan (1982). Etymolohichno-semantychnyĭ slovnyk Ukraïnsʹkoï movy. Vol. 2. Winnipeg, MB: Society of Volyn. pp. 211–12.
  18. ^ Golb, Norman; Pritsak, Omeljan (1982). Khazarian Hebrew documents of the tenth century. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-1221-8. OCLC 7574224. Archived from the original on 11 June 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  19. ^ a b Rudnycʹkyj, Jaroslav B. (1982). "Kyiv" Київ. An Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language. Vol. 2. Ottawa, ON: Ukrainian Mohyla Mazepian Academy of Sciences, and Ukrainian Language Association. pp. 660–666.
  20. ^ Porphyrogenitus, Constantine (1967). De Administrando Imperio. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, and Trustees for Harvard University. pp. 56–59. LCCN 68-24220.
  21. ^ a b Brutzkus, J. (May 1944). "The Khazar Origin of Ancient Kiev". The Slavonic and East European Review. American Series. 3 (1): 108–124. doi:10.2307/3020228. JSTOR 3020228. Archived from the original on 10 June 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2020 – via JSTOR.
  22. ^ Marshall, Joseph (1971) [1772]. Travels through Germany, Russia, and Poland in the years 1769 and 1770. New York: Arno Press. ISBN 0-405-02763-X. LCCN 77135821. Originally published: London, J. Almon, 1773, LCCN 03-5435.
  23. ^ Holderness, Mary (1823). Journey from Riga to the Crimea, with some account of the manners and customs of the colonists of new Russia. London: Sherwood, Jones and co. p. 316. LCCN 04024846. OCLC 5073195.
  24. ^ "I, n.1". OED Online. Oxford University Press. September 2019. Archived from the original on 17 September 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2019. 2017 Thai News Service (Nexis) 21 Apr. Kyiv filed a lawsuit against Russia at the ICJ for intervening militarily.
  25. ^ "Slownik geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego i innych krajow slowianskich". Druk "Wieku" Nowy Świat. 1883. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
  26. ^ "The Economist starts using Kyiv instead of Kiev". Ukrinform. 30 October 2019. Archived from the original on 18 January 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  27. ^ "CorrectUA". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 24 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  28. ^ "Geographical Names Database". United Nations Statistics Division. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  29. ^ "U.S. government adopts 'Kyiv' spelling". The Ukrainian Weekly. 22 October 2006. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  30. ^ "U.S. Begins to Spell Kiev as Kyiv". About.com Geography, Friday 20 October 2006
  31. ^ "U.S. government changes spelling of capital to Kyiv instead of Kiev". KyivPost. October 20, 2006. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  32. ^ "#KyivNotKiev: U.S. To Change International Database Spelling of Ukraine's Capital". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. 13 June 2019. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  33. ^ "#KyivnotKiev: IATA changes spelling of Ukrainian capital". www.unian.info. 21 October 2019. Archived from the original on 24 October 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  34. ^ "Interinstitutional style guide – Annex A5 – List of countries, territories and currencies". European Union Publications Office. 30 October 2018. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  35. ^ Embassies of Australia Archived 8 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Great Britain, Canada Archived 21 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, United States  Archived 8 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  36. ^ Public-facing government websites of major English-speaking states use Kyiv, including in the United Kingdom Archived 7 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine, United States Archived 11 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Canada Archived 28 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Australia Archived 2 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine, New Zealand Archived 2 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Ireland Archived 3 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine, and Malta Archived 3 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine.
  37. ^ The list includes NATO, OSCE, World Bank
  38. ^ Stylebook, A. P. (14 August 2019). "AP has changed its style for the capital of Ukraine to Kyiv, in line with the Ukrainian government's preferred transliteration to English and increasing usage. Include a reference in stories to the former spelling of Kiev. The food dish remains chicken Kiev". @APStylebook. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  39. ^ Daniszewski, John (14 August 2019). "An update on AP style on Kyiv". The Definitive Source (blog.ap.org). Archived from the original on 3 October 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  40. ^ a b Waldie, Paul (5 February 2014). "What's in a name? Plenty if you're from Ukraine". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  41. ^ Lund, Tommy (12 June 2020). "From June 15 the capital of Ukraine will be written as Kyiv at @Reuters". Twitter. Archived from the original on 12 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  42. ^ "The Reuters Styleguide: K". Handbook of Journalism. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  43. ^ Malpas, Anna [@malpasanna] (3 January 2022). "AFP update – Style change in English only coming into force today. We write Kyiv for the capital of Ukraine, not Kiev. However, we continue to refer to 'chicken Kiev' for the dish" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  44. ^ Kyiv Post, the leading English language publication in Ukraine.
  45. ^ Shewchuk, Blair (26 November 2004). "Kiev or a Kyiv? Turin or Torino?". CBC News. Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  46. ^ Morrow, Adrian (10 October 2019). "The Globe is changing its style on the capital of Ukraine from the Russian-derived 'Kiev' to 'Kyiv', the transliteration the Ukrainian government uses. (A style note informs us we will continue to spell 'chicken Kiev' the old way)". @adrianmorrow on Twitter. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  47. ^ The Economist Style Guide. London: Profile Books. 2005. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-86197-916-2.
  48. ^ "Guardian and Observer style guide: K". The Guardian. 6 November 2015. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  49. ^ "K". BBC Academy. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  50. ^ Power, Bill (3 October 2019). "Vol. 32, No. 9: Kyiv". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 25 October 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  51. ^ Taylor, Adam [@mradamtaylor] (16 October 2019). "Inbox: 'The Washington Post is changing its style on the capital of Ukraine, which we will now render as Kyiv, rather than Kiev, effective immediately... The spelling Kiev may still appear in historical contexts, the dish chicken Kiev and when quoting written material...'" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 16 October 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019 – via Twitter.
  52. ^ Kramer, Andrew E. [@AndrewKramerNYT] (18 November 2019). "The New York Times has switched to Kyiv, instead of Kiev, as the spelling for the Ukrainian capital. The change discontinues a Russian transliteration of the city's name, though one that had been in wide use in English for many decades" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 18 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019 – via Twitter.
  53. ^ "How DO you pronounce Kyiv?". The University of Kansas. 26 November 2019. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  54. ^ Socolovsky, Jerome (25 January 2022). "Kyiv or Kiev? Why people disagree about how to pronounce the Ukrainian capital's name". NPR. Archived from the original on 25 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  55. ^ Victor, Daniel; Zraick, Karen (25 January 2022). "How Do You Say Kyiv? It Can Be Hard for English Speakers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
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