In order to find and use specific types of Russian records, researchers need to be able to identify and understand some key terms in the Russian language. The following index contains terms relating to geographic features and places transliterated from Russian (left column) and their English translations (right column). The terms included here are those that you are likely to find in Russian genealogical sources. If the term you are looking for is not on this list, please consult a Russian-English dictionary. Compiled by Jonathan J. Kalmakoff.
Index — Geographic Features – Places – Other Terms
Geographic Features
Balka |
(archaic) valley |
Bereg |
river bank |
Boloto |
marsh; swamp |
Brod |
ford |
Bukhta |
cove |
Bystrina |
rapids |
Chernozem |
black earth |
Dolina |
valley; plain |
Gora; Gorka |
mountain; large hill |
Gornaya Strana |
highland |
Gornaya Tsep’ |
mountain range |
Guba |
gulf; bay |
Kanal |
channel |
Kholm |
hill; hillock |
Khrebet |
mountain ridge |
Kosa |
spit; neck of land |
Kurgan |
mound; barrow |
Laguna |
lagoon |
Lednik |
glacier |
Les |
forest |
Lesok |
small wood; grove |
Levada |
(archaic) meadow; pasture |
Liman |
estuary; bay; gulf |
Lug |
meadow |
Melkovod’e |
shoal |
More |
sea |
Mys |
cape; headland; promontory |
Nagornaya Ravnina |
plateau |
Nezmennost’ |
lowland |
Nora |
hole; burrow |
Okean |
ocean |
Ostrov |
island |
Ozero |
lake |
Pastbishche |
pasture; pasturage |
Peshchera |
cave |
Poberezh’e |
beach; coast |
Pole |
field |
Poluostrov |
peninsula |
Pustynya |
desert |
Ravnina |
plain |
Reka |
river |
Rodnik |
spring |
Roshcha |
grove; wood |
Ruchei |
creek |
Sad |
orchard; garden |
Shpil’ |
mountain spire or peak |
Skala |
rock; cliff |
Step’ |
steppe; prairie |
Taiga |
sub-arctic forest |
Tundra |
tundra; treeless sub-arctic plain |
Ust’ |
estuary |
Utes |
cliff; crag |
Valun |
boulder |
Vodoem |
pond |
Vodopad |
waterfall |
Vygon |
common pasture |
Yar |
cliff; bluff; steep bank |
Zaliv |
bay; gulf |
Zemlya |
land |
Places
Aul |
rural village in the Caucasus |
Avtonomnaya Respublika |
autonomous republic; ethno-territorial division in the Soviet Union equivalent to the oblast |
Dereven’ka |
small hamlet |
Derevnya |
hamlet; small rural village without a church |
Derzhava |
state; empire; dominion |
Dvor |
homestead; yard; household |
Ferma |
farm; homestead |
Gavan’ |
harbour; port |
Gorod |
city; town |
Gorodok |
small city or town |
Granitsa |
boundary; frontier |
Gubernia |
province; primary administrative division in Imperial Russia, divided into several uezds; replaced by the oblast in the Soviet Union |
Imenie |
estate or large manorial farmstead in Imperial Russia |
Imperiya |
empire |
Khutor |
farmstead; rural settlement of one or several families at some distance from a nearby village |
Kishlak |
Turkish or Tatar village |
Kolkhoz |
collective farm in the Soviet Union |
Krai |
region; administrative division in the more remote areas of the Soviet Union equivalent to the oblast |
Krepost’ |
fortified settlement in Imperial Russia |
Mestechko |
small town in southern and western territory of Imperial Russia |
Mesto |
place |
Oblast |
territory; administrative division in the more remote areas of Imperial Russia equivalent to the gubernia but with less autonomy; in the Soviet Union, large administrative unit which replaced the gubernia |
Okrug |
district; in Imperial Russia, administrative subdivision of the Gubernia in the region of the Don Cossacks, equivalent to the uezd; in the Soviet Union, administrative subdivision of the oblast |
Okraina |
frontier territory; border |
Pochinok |
newly-founded village |
Port |
port; harbour |
Posad |
settlement; colony |
Poselenie |
suburban settlement in Imperial Russia |
Poselok |
suburban settlement or village attached to industrial enterprises; suburb |
Prikhod |
parish |
Pustosh |
(archaic) abandoned, uninhabited place |
Rayon |
district; administrative subdivision of the okrug in the Soviet Union; replaced the uezd |
Respublika |
union republic; primary administrative division in the Soviet Union, divided into oblasts, krai and avtonomnye respubliks; also known as Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) |
Selenie |
settlement; village (either a derevnya or selo) |
Selo |
village, especially a large rural village with a church |
Selsovet |
rural district; smallest administrative division in the Soviet Union; replaced the volost; also village council |
Sloboda |
village freed from taxes and levies for various reasons; suburb |
Stanitsa |
Cossack rural village |
Uchastok |
sub-district; administrative subdivision of the uezd in Imperial Russia |
Uezd |
district; administrative subdivision of the gubernia in Imperial Russia; replaced by the rayon in the Soviet Union |
Volost |
rural sub-district; smallest administrative division in Imperial Russia |
Yurt |
settlement or camp of the native tribes of Eastern Russia |
Zhilo |
(archaic) inhabited place |
Other Russian Terms
Bibliography
Dal, V.I. Tolkovyi Slovar Zhivogo Velikorusskago Iazyka. (Moscow, 1999).
Kroutikhin, Mikhail I. Correspondence to the author re: Russian genealogical terms. September, 2006.
Mueller, V.K. English-Russian Dictionary. 24th Ed. (Moscow, 1995).
Pushkarev, Sergei G. Dictionary of Russian Historical Terms from the Eleventh Century to 1917 (Yale, 1970).