| Preface |
This dictionary is intended for use primarily by speakers of English who need to understand Russian mathematical writing and/or to translate such writing. As far as possible, the 'definitions' are translations rather than explanations, and reflect current usage in mathematical writing. The vocabulary has been extensively enlarged and brought up to date, although it retains some obsolete terms that may be needed by users who have to consult older literature. Users may encounter material that has not been composed in the most approved or correct style. Therefore, some words that are frowned on by Soviet purists have been retained, or added, because they occur in writing by Soviet authors whose native language is not Russian, and whose knowledge of Russian is less than perfect.
The dictionary must not be inverted: that is, read backwards as an English-Russian dictionary. We have attempted to give idiomatic translations, but a Russian word is not necessarily a correct or exact equivalent of the English word that is used to translate it in a particular context. Just because краевая задача can be correctly translated as 'boundary value problem' does not mean that either, or any part, of the Russian words means 'value.'
Many users of the dictionary have asked for the addition of stress markings on Russian words, and these have now been supplied. [В этом файле ударения оставлены только в исключительных случаях, например, в фамилиях некоторых математиков. Я и сам обычно произношу 'Кронекер' и 'Якоби' не так, как надо. :) —
The grammar section has been rewritten by Alana I. Thorpe of the Brown University Slavic Department. We have added some notes on Russian mathematical notation. An appendix contains complete paradigms of a large number of selected words, to facilitate the identification of irregular inflected forms. The grammar is intended only for reference. Users who need instruction in Russian grammar should consult publications that are devoted to that topic. S. H. Gould's
We have assumed that users will know enough Russian to be able to recognize inflected forms of words. We have followed the common practice of listing nouns in the nominative singular, adjectives in the masculine nominative singular, and verbs in the imperfective infinitive, with the perfective (if there is one) in parentheses.
Theoretically, the Russian spelling of foreign names is supposed to represent the pronunciation used in the original language. Thus, Эйлер = Euler, Надь = Nagy, Гатo = Gateaux. Nevertheless, it is often difficult to determine the correct spelling of the original name, especially when it is French or Hungarian. We have included a selection of Russian versions of mathematicians' names.
Adjectives formed from proper names are not capitalized in Russian. If a word seems strange, it very well may be such an adjective.
Some entries may seem unnecessary, because they mean just what they look like. There are, however, enough Russian words that resemble English words, but mean something entirely different, that we preferred to include too many rather than too few.
We thank the hundreds of mathematicians, from many countries, who have made the revision of the Dictionary possible by contributing suggestions for corrections and additions.
The Society intends to update the Dictionary from time to time. Consequently, users are encouraged to submit additions and corrections to Russian-English Dictionary, c/o American Mathematical Society, P.O.Box 6248, Providence, RI 02940-6248.
R. P. Boas
