Kiev, Kiev, Kiev or Kyiv? In recent days, some Spanish media have changed the way they transcribe, in Spanish or Catalan, the name of the Ukrainian capital. Other toponyms, such as that of the western Ukrainian city that is channeling much of the refugee flow, appear in various guises. Lviv, Lvov or Lviv? Which one is correct -if there is only one- and What are the arguments to change it –or not to do it-?
Tradition or transliteration
To situate ourselves: basically there is Two possible practices when integrating exonyms (toponyms, or place names, of countries with other languages). The first, stick to traditional ways (in some cases with medieval roots) that has adopted its own language for the place names of other countries, often very different from the original due to the influence of other intermediary languages, of Latin, of divergent evolutions… In both Spanish and Catalan it is the default option in the names of countries and capitals, plus all those places prominent enough or nearby enough to have been mentioned often over time to the point of having consolidated a certain form. It would be the case of Moscow/Moscow (not Moscow), or Russia/Russia (not Rossiya). OR London (London), Milan/Milà (Milano)… The second possibility is respect the name in its original spelling in Latin characters, regardless of its pronunciation, or transliterate it according to certain rules, which approximate the real pronunciation, when the original is written in an alphabet other than Latin. That would be the most common option in minor toponyms, in which there is no coined tradition use in other languages.
Changes and exceptions
But, as the director of the onomastics office of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Enric Ribes, tells us, in this field “There is nothing simple & rdquor ;. On the one hand, the United Nations, through the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, attempts to promote a single international nomenclature for world toponyms, the UN Glossary of Toponymic Terminology, in which it occurs priority to the form used in the country in question (the endotoponym). A catalog of names that has had more influence in the Anglo-Saxon world that in the Romance languages and that has extended, for example, the use of Kyiv. A generalized trend but to which the Castilian norm resists.
On the other hand, in the processes of decolonization, independence or access to the official status of their own languages that did not have this category recognized, some countries have opted for modify old names and replace them with others that better reflect their identity, or the local form that has become official. “To a certain extent, Ukraine is also a case of cultural Decolonization, after a time when Russian was the hegemonic language and Ukrainian a subordinate language & rdquor ;, points out the translator of the Russian and the Ukrainian Miquel Cabal, who understands that “Ukraine wants to teach the world in a certain way by derussifying its names, and we should be sensitive to it & rdquor ;.
In similar cases, For example, what does the Royal Academy do in its ‘Spelling’, or what orientations does the Urgent Spanish Foundation (Fundéu), advised by the RAE? Well, it depends, because here, in addition to tradition and this political opinion, others enter, those of the dissemination and use and intelligibility by speakers. For example, the RAE assumed the change of the very established Ceylon for Sri-Lanka, or the very historical Angora for Ankara. But keep form Bombay versus Mumbai. Other historical denominations they fall into disuse, to the point of being already incomprehensible. In some cases the RAE assumes it (Maastricht instead of the ancient Mastrique) and in others it maintains the no less ancient Lviv instead of the Russian Lvov or the Ukrainian Lviv. So tradition is not the only element: the determination of official place names after political or cultural changes or the actual use among speakers can modify this criterion.
What does the rule say about the Ukrainian capital?
In the case of Kyiv, the ‘Spelling’ of 2010 of the RAE maintains only the form traditionally used in Castilian, Kiev, formed from the Russian denomination of the city, in Cyrillic alphabet Киев (which, if transliterated true to its Russian pronunciation, should be transliterated as Kiev, with flat stress instead of sharp, an increasingly common option in literary translations). On the other hand, the Fundéu is less restrictive: in a guide to the use of place names by the media during the invasion of ukraine just consider that Kiev is “better than Kiev and Kyiv”. This last one is officially approved romanization in Ukraine and assumed by the UN of the Ukrainian original Київ, only official form in that country in 1995, after the independence of Ukraine (which by the way, in much of Ukraine at least would be pronounced more like Kiiu (in phonetic transcription, [ˈkɪjiu̯] .
In the case of Catalan, on the other hand, the new ‘World Nomenclàtor’ approved in May 2021 by the Philological Section of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (and not yet published but available on your website), states that the approved form by the academy with regulatory authority over Catalan is Kiev. However, andhe Catalan does not assume the official formula in Ukraine, Kyiv, but it adapts it to the spelling of Catalan, giving it, according to Enric Ribes, the condition of form with use consolidated by practice in recent years (with the sports broadcasts of Puyal as a precedent).
What criteria to follow in the media?
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There are reasons, of course, to consider that the form approved as official in Ukraine, rectifying decades of Russification, makes it advisable to modify the traditional form even if it is the normative one. Especially if the more widespread royal use has cornered the traditional way. This is what this newspaper has already done by using the form Lviv instead of Lviv or Lvov (or when deciding to use in Spanish the toponyms of Catalonia in Catalan, such as Girona, although the RAE establishes that it should only be done in official texts). “If the Ukrainians want, we have to move & rdquor ;, maintains the professor of Russian Literature and translator Ricardo San Vicente. In the case of Kiev, however, two objections are raised (the current spelling insists on the use of Kiev and this is still the predominant form used in Spanish) and one doubt: if the RAE regularizes this toponym approaching the official in the Ukraine I might opt for Kiiv (no accent mark) instead of the internationally recognized form, Kyiv.
In this situation, the option of this newspaper is, without ignoring the evolution of the actual use by the speakers, to abide by the norm established by the respective linguistic authority. In this case, use the place name Kiev in Spanish following what is marked in the ‘Spelling’ of the RAE and the general trend in the language, in which the resistance to abandon historical forms is preponderant (in German, for example, Cologne, Mainz or Trier instead of Köln, Mainz or Trier). And in Catalan, Kíiv, assuming the criterion of the ‘World Nomenclàtor’ of the IEC’ against Kiev or Kyiv, which has prevailed, Ribes points out, “not establishing place names through intervening languages & rdquor ;.