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> Originally it used to be Alma Ata which then became Almatı. Depends on what you mean by "originally" ;) The modern city was founded in 1854 when the Russian
by Miiko 5y ago
> Originally it used to be Alma Ata which then became Almatı.
Depends on what you mean by "originally" ;)
The modern city was founded in 1854 when the Russians established the military fortification of Zailiyskoye (renamed Verny in 1855) on the site of the ancient settlement of Almaty, which had been destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century.
In Soviet time (1921) the city was indeed renamed to "Alma-Ata", but only in Russian, in Kazakh the name became "Almaty". In 1993, the government renamed the city from the Russian "Alma-Ata" to the Kazakh name "Almaty".
In any case, it is kind of incorrect to translate "Alma-Ata" from Kazakh, because this name was never used in that language.
- wnscooke 5y agoBut even saying “the Kazak name ‘Almaty’” is still not correct because it gives the impression that the final sound is like an English -y, like happy. For those who know Cyrillic it is still inaccurate because the Cyrillic -y sounds like an English -oo. The only way to really show “the Kazak name” is to use Cyrillic, or their LtR script: Алматы, or الماتى. That final sound is more like an English -uh.
- Miiko 5y agoActually, "Almaty" is the correct Kazakh spelling of the name - if using the latest 2021 revision of new alphabet, to be officially used starting 2023, replacing current Cyrillic one (in which the spelling is "Алматы", by the way). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_alphabets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_alphabets