Road sign at the entrance an inscription Chornobyl
In compliance with international rules (UNCSGN & UNGEGN), the transliteration of names of settlements is made only from the country state language, where the object is located.
Chornobyl (Чорнобиль – Ukr.) – ancient Ukrainian town, first mentioned in chronicles in 1193.
Accordingly, the only correct transliteration from Ukrainian state language - Chornobyl.
Similar examples:
Cyrillic nameLatin name (from the original)
США USA (not CSHA!)
Китай China (not Kitai!)
Київ Kyiv (not Kiev!)
Why do most people write Chernobyl - using «e»?
It's very simple. The birth of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, as well as the accident happened on the 4th power unit during the Soviet era, when Ukraine had a second state language - Russian, imposed on Ukrainians when Bolsheviks came to power.
Ukraine attained its independence 5 years after the Chornobyl accident - in 1991 Ukrainian language became the only official in the country.
However, most of the international community continues to use rudimentary writing that is incorrect, misleading, as for now. And from the moment Chernobyl became Chornobyl has already passed 25 years...
The same applies to Pripyat (Прип’ять – Ukr.). Often used transliteration of Pripyat is incorrect as it is made from Russian rather than Ukrainian state language. The correct transliteration: Prypiat, - from the Ukrainian Прип’ять.
Please, pay attention: the only complete map of the Chernobyl exclusion zone with the correct state transliteration of all settlements (Ukrainian - from Ukrainian, Belarusian - from Belarusian) is available in section "military map of the Chernobyl zone".
It's printed map, size 113х80 см, scale 1:100 000 000 (one cm corresponds to one km), made on the base declassified Soviet military maps, has a detailed topography of the terrain, and reflects the current status of all zones that constitute the Chornobyl Zone.
The map is double-faced with separate Ukrainian and English (name transliteration by KMU2010 standard) map on each face. It is available in both wall-mount and portable folded version.
