Russian Dictionaries
Russian dictionaries are shelved in the Reference stacks (4th floor, Wilson Wing) or Main Stacks in PG (Reynolds 5). Besides basic dictionaries, specialty dictionaries cover topics like:
- Idioms
- Etymology
- Other Slavic languages
A few special-topic dictionaries are shelved in other places, for instance, scientific terms in the Science section. To browse the entire collection, search the catalog for
Of special interest:
- Словарь русского языка в 17-и томах /Slovar' sovremennogo russkogo literaturnogo iazyka. PG2625 A533 17 vols.
- Soviet prison camp speech: a survivor's glossary PG2691 G3
- Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, part of Indo-European Etymological Dictionaries Online
Databases for Finding Articles and Books
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new windowCovers journal articles in the fields of literature and folklore more comprehensively than any other source. Also includes references to individual book chapters, which is an important way of publishing in this field. You might want to limit your search to English and Russian. Go to the Advanced Search screen, and hold down the Ctrl (or Cmd) key while you select those two options.
- Gale Literature This link opens in a new windowHas some literature criticism, but its best feature is the overviews of works.
- Film and Television Literature Index This link opens in a new windowAbstracts and indexes journals on topics such as film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews. Coverage: 1973-
ZSR Homepage Search & Primo
Good place to start when your topic is cross-disciplinary. Try using Russian-language keywords to retrieve Russian-language results.
Transliteration and Citations
These two sources can help you search for Russian-language sources in our databases, especially MLA and the Library Catalog.
- The transliteration of modern Russian for English-language publications PG2154 S5
- Library of Congress Russian romanization table (PDF)
For citation tips, see the MLA style manual and guide to scholarly publishing PN147 .G444 2008. This is not the same thing as the MLA Handbook. (The latter does not include Russian-specific tips.) Specific tips within the style manual include capitalization and proper names.
Search Tips
Watch out for variant spellings (or variant transliterations) of names of works, characters, etc.
Example: In MLA, an article about War and Peace may use the title Voĭna i mir, even if the article is in English.
Use a * to cut off a word at its stem, e.g. Tolsto* will retrieve Tolstoy, Tolstoi.
In the library catalog, personal names have an official transliteration determined by the Library of Congress. Once you find one article about your person, you can use the author and/or subject links to find all the others.
Tolstoy is Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910
If you can't use a star to search for spelling variants, use OR
"Smert' Ivana Il'icha" OR "Death of Ivan Ilich"
Type the word AND (or use the second row) if you want to enter more than one word that is not an exact phrase.
Example: To find books about Tolstoy's views on religion, in the library catalog Advanced Search screen, you can enter "Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910" on the first row and religio* on the second.
