Latvian Collecting
Converting Cyrillic characters to English
Converting Cyrillic characters to English often helps decipher Cyrillic
text on cancels, stamp designs, or labels. Р И Г А,
for example, converts to RIGA, the capital city of Latvia. The following
table is from Andrejs Petrevics' [†] "The Cyrillic Alphabet"
in The Latvian Collector, which is attributed to P.J. Campbell, Rossica
Journal, no. 85, 1973.
| Cyrillic |
English |
English pronounciation |
| А а |
A a |
farm |
| Б б |
B b |
bottle |
| В в |
V v |
value |
| Г г |
G g |
go |
| Д д |
D d |
dog |
| Е е |
Ye ye |
yet |
| Ж ж |
Zh zh |
azure |
| З з |
Z z |
zone |
| И и |
I i |
feet |
| Й й |
Y y |
by |
| К к |
K k |
kid |
| Л л |
L l |
law |
| М м |
M m |
money |
| Н н |
N n |
not |
| О о |
O o |
awe |
| П п |
P p |
pot |
| Р р |
R r |
thrice |
| С с |
S s |
soot |
| Т т |
T t |
tore |
| У у |
U u |
super |
| Ф ф |
F f |
four |
| Х х |
Kh kh |
loch |
| Ц ц |
Ts ts |
its |
| Ч ч |
Ch ch |
church |
| Ш ш |
Sh sh |
ship |
| Щ щ |
Shch shch |
fresh cheese |
| Ы ы |
Y y |
buoy |
| Э э |
E e |
met |
| Ю ю |
Yu yu |
use |
| Я я |
Ya ya |
yard |
| Ъ ъ |
hard sound sign for the preceding consonant |
| Ь ь |
soft sound sign to palatize the preceding consonant |
| Ё ё |
Yo yo |
yore |
| І і |
|
deleted in 1918 |
As Petrevics noted, many Czarist cancellations have the Russian province
name after the placename, such as
ЛЕМЗАЛЬ
ЛИФЛ = LEMSAL LIFL [in Latvian Limbaži]
БАЛЬДОНЪ
КУРЛ = BALDON KURL [in Latvian Kurzeme]
ВАРКЛЯНЫ
ВИТ = VARKLYANY VIT [in Latvian Latgale]
LIFL is for the province of LIVLAND [in Latvian Vidzeme];
KURL for KURLAND ; and VIT for VITEBSK .
Return to the index.
email bill@apsit.com
Created 2001-03-28; updated
Fri, 2010-02-05
.
Copyright ©2001 to 2010, Bill Apsit.