Cyrillization of French

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Russian uses phonetic transcription for the Cyrillization of its many loanwords from French. Some use is made of Cyrillic's iotation features to represent French's front rounded vowels and etymologically-softened consonants.

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Consonants

In the table below, the symbol ʲ represents either a "softened" consonant or the approximant /j/. When applicable, a softened consonant can be indicated in transcription either by a following iotated vowel or by ь .

Russian transcription of French consonants
FrenchRussian
transcription
ExamplesComments
phoneme(s) grapheme(s)
[b]b б bateau-lavoir – бато-лавуар
[ʃ]ch ш Charles – Шарль
[d]d д Bordeaux – Бордо
[f]f, ph ф Foucault – Фуко
[ɡ]g, gu г Guillaume – Гийом
[ɲ]gn ньBoulogne – Булонь
hHumanité – Юманите
г Hugo – Гюго
Le Havre – Гавр
often in the case of h aspiré
[ʒ]j, g(e) ж Jean – Жан
[k] c, qu, k к Camus – Камю
[l]l льGilbert – Жильберbefore a consonant or at the end of a word
л Louvre – Луврbefore vowels
[lj]li льMontpellier – Монпелье
[m]m м monde – монд
[n]n н Rhône – Рона
[ŋ]ngнг
[p]p п Pierre – Пьер
[ʁ]r р Renoir – Ренуар
[s]s, ç, c с Rousseau – Руссо
[sj]ti сьLibération – Либерасьон
[t]t т pointe – пуэнт
[v]v в Verlaine – Верлен
[w]w в Gwénaël – Гвенаэльsometimes transliterated with у in loanwords from English
[ks]

[kz]
[gz]

xкс

кз
гз

Xavier – Ксавье

Saint-Exupéry – Сент-Экзюпери

according to the pronunciation of the x
[j]y, i, il(l) й yeuse – йёз
Bayard – Байяр
Guillaume – Гийом
after a vowel or word-initially
ь Lavoisier – Лавуазьеafter a consonant
il(l)льMarseille – Марсельfrozen form
[z]z, s з Vierzon – Вьерзон

Doubled French consonants remain doubled in their Russian transcription: Rousseau – Руссо. Silent consonants (common in French) are generally not transcribed, except where they exist in the surface form due to liaison .

Vowels

Russian transcription of French vowels
FrenchRussian
transcription
ExamplesComments
phoneme(s) grapheme(s)
[a], [ɑ]a, â а Charles – Шарль
[e], [ɛ]é, è, ê, ai, e е René – Рене
э Edmond – Эдмон
Citroën – Ситроэн
at the beginning of a word, following a vowel, or rarely for [ɛ] at the end of a word
[ø], [œ]eu, œ, œu ё Villedieu – Вильдьё ё is generally simplified to е in Russian
э Eugène – Эжен
Maheu – Маэ
at the beginning of a word, or after a vowel
[ə], —eCharles – Шарль e muet
е De Gaulle – Де Голльonly in cases where [ə] is usually pronounced, e.g., le , de , que , rebelle , etc.
[i]i, y и Village – Виляж
[o], [ɔ]o, au, ô o Rhône – Рона
[wa]oiуаTroyes – Труа
[u], [w]ou у Louvre – Лувр
[y], [ ɥ ]u ю L'Humanité – Юманите
[ɑ̃]an, am, en, emан, амAmbroise – Амбруаз
Occidental – Оксиданталь
nasal vowels are written as the corresponding oral vowel followed by /n/ (or /m/ before /m,b,p/)
[ɛ̃]in, en, ainен, ем, эн, эмSaintes – Сент
Ain – Эн
[ɔ̃]on, omон, омComte – Конт
[œ̃]unен, ем, эн, эмVerdun – Верден
[wɛ̃]oinуэнpointe – пуэнт

Finally, the softened consonants modify the following vowels:

Palatalization
hard Russian vowelsofteningExamplesComments
After a vowel or йAfter a consonant or ь
ʲаяcognac – коньяк
Bayard – Байяр
ʲе ; ʲёие, йе ; йёье ; ьёtrieurтриер
Cahiers du cinéma Кайе дю синема
RichelieuРишелье
ээ never follows a softened consonant
ʲийиьиTilly – Тийи
ʲойоьоChillon – Шильон
ʲую
ʲюйюью
ʲbefore a consonant or at the end of a word, softening is written with ь

Neither й nor ь are doubled.

Bibliography