Talk:Bryansk

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[edit] Old Russian spelling

I am not an expert on Old Russian, but Дьбрянск has much more Google results than Дъбрянск.

Is anyone sure about the correct version? --Amir E. Aharoni 17:16, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Yup, I'm quite sure, as my toponymics dictionary only mentions the "ъ" variant. And don't forget that yer was a vowel in Old Russian. I have no idea why the "ь"-variant is so much more common in google; it is most certainly not confirmed by any sources I could lay my hands on.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 17:27, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Update: I checked my Chernykh's Etymological Dictionary of Russian and at the word дебри he says that both дъбрь and дьбрь were its old spellings; it goes on to say that this is also the root of - drumroll - Дьбрянск (only with ь). It is not Google - it is a dictionary printed on paper by Русский Язык.

So maybe they are just both correct. --Amir E. Aharoni 18:27, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, they very well might be (I am no expert on linguistics either). I am not sure how to best source all this information, though. Any ideas?—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 18:36, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Chernykh's dictionary, which i have, is very good for general etymology, although it doesn't claim to be a toponymic dictionary.

I say - we can list both spellings, and then i'll add my dictionary as a source, and you'll add yours.

Eight hundred years ago they didn't have committees and policies to tell the spelling rules - they spelled as they wanted :) --Amir E. Aharoni 19:00, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Lucky them, eh? :) Anyway, go ahead and add yours; I'll add mine then.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 19:12, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

I looked at the Hypatian Codex - interesting stuff. They've got a lot more spelling variations there - check out the link that i added and the critical comments at the bottom of the pages. For more sources, find Брянск in this list: http://www.lrc-lib.ru/rus_letopisi/Ipatius/geogrfrm.htm . --Amir E. Aharoni 20:01, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the links; very interesting indeed. I hope that whoever wants to expand this in future will now have all the resources s/he needs. Pleasure working with you :) Best,—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 20:20, 3 July 2007 (UTC)