This website provides background information and articles about the eighteenth-century multilingual Russian dictionary that was first compiled in 1787 and 1789 by the Prussian scholar Peter Simon Pallas. This dictionary was elaborated and expanded by the Serbian scholar Teodor Janković-Mirijevski, director of the Pedagogical Academy, in 1790-1791 and published under the title Сравнительный словарь всѣхъ языковъ и нарѣчiй, по азбучному порядку расположенный, or Comparative dictionary of all languages and dialects in alphabetical order.
Scholars outside of Russia are unfamiliar with the dictionary, because it is written in Russian and Cyrillic. But even within Russia it is largely unknown, since most of the thousand copies of the second edition were immediately stored at the Imperial Cabinet. This ignorance is regrettable, since the dictionary contains a wealth of language data, even of languages that are now extinct or endangered. For some languages the data in the dictionary are the oldest or belong to the oldest known sources.
To make the second edition widely available, a team of researchers has digitized and annotated the data, resulting in The Digital Pallas, that can be found here. We expect comparative linguistics, lexicostatistic and colexification research to profit from The Digital Pallas. For technical information please consult the About and Help on the website. The database contains 61,790 words for 296 concepts in 310 different languages, spread all over the world. We are still adding annotations to the database.
Anyone who is interested in the project or needs more information, is invited to contact the co-ordinator Nicoline van der Sijs (post@nicolinevdsijs.nl).
Working method and choices made
The Comparative dictionary provides word, concept and language, in three columns, for instance: Абендь – Вечерь – ПоГермански. While digitizing the data, we added extra information such as a scientific transliteration of all words (see tab Transliteration below), and for some (not yet all) languages the modern equivalents of the words. To the Pallas concepts we have added the modern Russian and English translations, and to the Pallas languages we have added the modern Russian language name, the English language name, the language classification (ISO-639-3) and the language family that the language belongs to according to modern insights, following Glottolog.
Pallas by the numbers
A numerical survey (such as number of words per language, number of languages per language family and subfamily, number of words per concept) will become available on the Statistics tab at The Digital Pallas database.
Contributors
The following persons have contributed to the database of The Digital Pallas:
| Atie Pols Bruno Naarden Djoeke Leguijt Frank Trechsel Janine Jager Marien Jacobs Maristella Spur Martijn Knapen Maud van Es Melle Groen Michael Nestorowytsch Nicoline van der Sijs (co-ordinator) | Olga Rodzina Peter Bakker Rebeca Fernández Rodríguez Richard Kellermann Deibel Sasha Lubotsky Tamara Schermer Tjeerd de Graaf Tuur Schockaert Valentina Casini Vincent Wintermans Wim Honselaar Joost Winter (first version of map) |
Transliteration
In the Pallas’ dictionary all words of all languages have been written in (extended, eighteenth-century) Cyrillic script. We have automatically converted every Cyrillic character into one Latin character (with diacritics), in principle following the ISO 9 standard, with some necessary deviations and additions. See the table below.
Transliteration table used to convert the words into Latin characters:
| Cyrillic character | transliteration | ISO 9 |
| а | a | a |
| а́ | á | á |
| а̀ | à | – |
| ӑ | ă | ă |
| б | b | b |
| в | v | v |
| в’ | v’ | – |
| г | g | g |
| ӷ́ | g̀’ | |
| ѓ | ǵ | ǵ |
| ӷ | g̀ | – |
| д | d | d |
| д’ | d’ | – |
| е | e | e |
| е́ | é | – |
| ѐ | è | – |
| ӗ | ĕ | ĕ |
| е̂ | ê | – |
| е̋ | ö | – |
| ж | ž | ž |
| з | z | z |
| и | i | i |
| и́ | í | í |
| ѝ | ì | |
| ӥ | î | î |
| i | ɨ | ì (deviating from ISO) |
| í | ɨ́ | – |
| ĭ | ɨ̆ | – |
| î | ɨ̂ | – |
| ї | ï | ï |
| й | j | j |
| к | k | k |
| к’ | k’ | – |
| л | l | l |
| м | m | m |
| н | n | n |
| н’ | n’ | – |
| о | o | o |
| о́ | ó | ó |
| о̀ | ò | – |
| о̆ | ŏ | – |
| о̂ | ô | |
| п | p | p |
| п’ | p’ | |
| р | r | r |
| р’ | r’ | – |
| с | s | s |
| с’ | s’ | |
| т | t | t |
| т’ | t’ | – |
| у | u | u |
| у́ | ú | ú |
| у̀ | ù | – |
| ў | ŭ | ŭ |
| ф | f | f |
| х | h | h |
| х’ | h’ | – |
| ц | c | c |
| ч | č | č |
| ш | š | š |
| щ | ŝ | ŝ |
| ъ | ʺ | ʺ |
| ы | y | y |
| ы́ | ý | – |
| ы̀ | ỳ | – |
| ь | ʹ | ʹ |
| ѣ | ě | ě |
| ѣ́ | ě́ | – |
| э | ɛ | è (deviating from ISO) |
| э́ | ɛ́ | – |
| э̀ | ɛ̀ | – |
| ӭ | ɛ̈ | – |
| ю | û | û |
| ю́ | û́ | |
| ю̀ | û̀ | |
| я | ɑ | â (deviating from ISO) |
| я́ | ɑ́ | – |
| я̀ | ɑ̀ | – |
| я̆ | ɑ̆ | – |
| ѳ | f̀ | f̀ |
Relevant publications
Adelung, Friedrich. 1815. Catherinens der Grossen Verdienste um die vergleichende Sprachenkunde. St. Petersburg: Friedrich Drechsler.
Adelung, Friedrich. 1820. Übersicht aller bekannten Sprachen und ihrer Dialekte. St. Petersburg: Nic. Gretsch.
Adelung, Johann C. 1806-1817. Mithridates oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde, mit dem Vater Unser als Sprachprobe in beynahe fünfhundert Sprachen und Mundarten. 4 vols. Berlin: Vossische Buchhandlung.
Archaimbault, Sylvie. 2010. “Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811), un naturaliste parmi les mots.” Histoire Épistémologie Langage 32.1: 69-91.
Arndt, Christian G. von. 1818. Über den Ursprung und die verschiedenartige Verwandtschaft der Europäischen Sprachen. Frankfurt am Main: Heinrich Ludwig Brönner.
Atknine, Victor. 1997. “The Evenki Language from the Yenisei to Sakhalin.” Senri Ethnological Studies 44: 109-121.
Bakker, Peter, Kristoffer F. Bøegh, and Yonatan Goldshtein. 2021. “The languages of Edelberg’s Nuristan and environs.” In Toward the horizon: Lennart Edelberg and the Danish Hindukush research, ed. by Ulrik H. Johnsen, Schuyler Jones, and Taj K. Kalash, 69-87. Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Balbi, Adriano. 1826a. Atlas ethnographique du Globe, ou classification des peuples anciens et modernes d’après leurs langues. Paris: Rey & Gravier.
Balbi, Adriano. 1826b. Introduction à l’Atlas ethnographique du Globe. Paris: Rey & Gravier.
Bugaeva, Anna, and Tomomi Satō. 2021. “A Kuril Ainu Glossary by Captain V.M. Golovin (1811).” International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics 3: 171-216.
Comtet, Roger. 2010. “Le russe comme métalangage : transcription et translittération en alphabet cyrillique dans dans le Linguarum totius orbis vocabularia comparativa.” Histoire Épistémologie Langage 32.1: 93-114.
Comtet, Roger. 2013. “Le dictionnaire plurilingue de Pallas (1787-1789) au carrefour des idées linguistiques de son temps.” Cahiers Du Centre De Linguistique Et Des Sciences Du Langage 37: 7-34.
Cook, James, and James King. 1784. A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. London: W. and A. Strahan.
Culver, Christopher. 2016. “On Some Hitherto Unidentified Mari Items in the ‘Vocabularia comparativa’ of P. S. Pallas.” Linguistica Uralica 52.3: 195-203.
Ellis, George. 1788. Memoir of a Map of the Countries Comprehended between the Black Sea and the Caspian, with an account of the Caucasian Nations and Vocabularies of their Languages. London: J. Edwards.
Fernández Rodríguez, Rebeca. 2023. “Language, Science and Globalization in the Eighteenth Century.” Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte 46.1: 38-53.
Fischer, Johann E. 1995. Vocabularium Sibiricum (1747). Der etymologisch-vergleichende Anteil. Bearbeitet und herausgegeben von János Gulya. Frankfurt an Main: Peter Lang.
Fuente, José A.A. de la. 2021. “Kuril Ainu Zoonyms and Phytonyms in Pallas’s Zoographia and Flora Rossica.” International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics 3: 7-49.
Güldenstädt, Johann A. 1787-1791. Reisen durch Russland und im Caucasischen Gebürge. Auf Befehl der Russisch-Kayserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften herausgegeben von P.S.Pallas. 2 vols. St. Petersburg: Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Hervás, Lorenzo. 1786. Aritmetica delle nazioni e divisione del tempo fra l’orientali. Cesena: Gregorio Biasini.
Hoekstra, Jarich. 2013. “Nordfriesisch in Sankt Petersburg. Die friesischen Wörter bei Peter Simon Pallas (1787, 1789) und die friesische Übersetzung des Bacmeisterschen Aufsatzes (1786).” Nordfriesisches Jahrbuch 48: 7-20.
[Janković-Mirijevski, Teodor]. 1790-1791. Сравнительный словарь всѣхъ языковъ и нарѣчiй, по азбучному порядкурасположенный [Comparative dictionary of all languages and dialects, in alphabetical order]. 4 vols.
Juszkiewicz, Urszula. 1975. “Porównawczy słownik Katarzyny II na tle rozwoju rosyjskiego języka literackiego XVII wieku.” Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska. Sectio F, Nauki Humanistyczne 30: 157-168.
Keipert, Helmut. 2013. “Die Pallas-Redaktionder Petersburger Vocabularia comparativa und ihre Bedeutung für die Entwicklung der slavischen Sprachwissenschaft.” Historiographia Linguistica 40 1/2: 121-149.
Keipert, Helmut. 2014. “Die kirchenslavische Zeile in den Petersburger Vocabularia comparativa (1787-1789).” Вивлiоѳика: E-Journal of Eighteenth-Century Russian Studies 2: 60-81.
Klaproth, Julius. 1823. Asia Polyglotta. Paris: Eberhart.
Klaproth, Julius. 1826. Tableaux historiques de l’Asie: depuis la monarchie de Cyrus jusqu’à nos jours, accompagnés de recherches historiques et ethnographiques sur cette partie du monde. Paris: Schubart.
Klaproth, Julius. 1831. Asia Polyglotta. Zweite Auflage. Paris: Von Heideloff & Campe.
Knapen, Martijn G.T.M. 2021. The oldest layer of Amuric-Tungusic lexical contacts. MA thesis, University of Helsinki.
Lefloch, Myriam. 2002. “Master of Many Tongues”. The Russian Academy Dictionary (1789-1794) as a Socio-Historical Document. PhD diss., University of Southern California.
Metcalf, George J. 2013. “Johann Christoph Adelung (1732–1806) discovers the languages of Asia.” In On Language Diversity and Relationship from Bibliander to Adelung, ed. by Toon van Hal and Raf van Rooy, 153-168. Amsterdam: John Benjamnins.
Milet-Mureau, Marie L.A. 1797. Voyage de La Pérouse autour du monde. Paris: l’imprimerie de la république.
Normanskaja, Julia V. 2020. “Dictionaries of Perm Mansi ‘Native speakers of Siberia’, collected by P. S. Pallas in the 18th century.” Ural-Altaic Studies 3 (38): 33-70.
Normanskaja, Julia V. 2022. “Textbook of the Vasyugan Khanty language, created by St. Makariy (Nevsky) in 1887, as a source of information about the Proto Khanty system of vowel phonemes.” EasyChair preprint no. 8830.
Oldendorp, Christian G.A. 2000. Historie der caribischen Inseln Sanct Thomas, Sact Crux und Sanct Jan, insbesondere der dasigen Neger und der Mission der evangelischen Brüder unter denselben. Erster Teil. Berlin: Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung.
Osterkamp, Sven. 2010. “A Brief History of Western Knowledge about the Korean Language and Script—from the Beginnings to Pallas (1786/87–89).” Studia Orientalia Slovaca 9.1: 7-43.
Pallas, Peter S. 1779. Sammlungen historischer Nachrichten über die Mongolischen Völkerschaften in einem ausführlichen Auszuge. 2 vols. Frankfurt/Leipzig: Johann Georg Fleischer.
[Pallas, Peter S.]. 1787-1789. Linguarum Totius Orbis Vocabularia Comparativa Augustissimae Cura Collecta / Сравнительные словари всѣхъ языковъ и нарѣчiй собранные десницею всевысочайшей особы [Comparative glossaries of all languages and dialects in the world collected thanks to the care of a royal person]. 2 vols.
Powell, Jay. 1991. Our World–Our ways. T’aat’aaqsapa Cultural Dictionary. Port Alberni: Nuuchahnulth Tribal Council.
Psalmanaazaar, George. 1704. An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa, an Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan. London: Dan. Brown.
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Rochefort, Charles. de. 1662. Natuurlyke en Zedelyke Historie van d’Eylanden de Voor-Eylanden van Amerika. Verrijkt met vele schoone Platen, die uytbeelden d’aller-aanmerkelijkste seldsaamheden die’er in beschreven zijn. Met eenen Caraïbaanschen Woorden-schat. Vertaalt in Nederduytsch door H. Dullaart. Rotterdam: Arnout Leers.
Rodríguez, Rebeca F. 2015. “A Contrastive Study of 18th-Century Word-Lists. Translations into some fifty American and Philippine languages.” Historiographia Linguistica 42 2/3: 315-333.
Rüdiger, Johann C.C. 1782. Grundriss einer Geschichte der menschlichen Sprache nach allen bishe bekannten Mund- und Schriftarten mit Proben und Bücherkenntniss. Leipzig: Kummer.
Rzymski, Christoph et al. 2020. “The Database of Croos-Linguistic Colexifications, reproducible analysis of cross-linguistic polysemies.” Scientific data 7: 13.
Sato, Tomomi, and Anna Bugaeva. 2019. “The Study of Old Documents of Hokkaido and Kuril Ainu: Promise and Challenges.” Northern Language Studies 9: 67-93.
Schischkoff, Alexander. 1838. Vergleihendes Wörterbuch in zweihundert Sprachen. St. Petersburg: Kaiserlichen russischen Akademie.
Solleveld, Floris. 2020. “Klaproth, Balbi, and the Language Atlas.” In History of Linguistics 2017: Selected papers from the 14th International Conference on the History of the Language Sciences, ed. by Émilie Aussant and Jean-Michel Fortis, 81-100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Strahlenberg, Philipp J. von. 1730. Das Nord- und Ostliche Theil von Europa und Asia. Stockholm: in Verlegung des Autoris.
Tamás, Janurik. 2014. P.S. Pallas: Linguarum totius orbis vocabularia comparativa déli-szamojéd szóanyaga. Elektronikus kézirat. Székesfehérvár: Budenz Alkotóház.
Tamás, Janurik. 2017. P.S. Pallas: Linguarum totius orbis vocabularia comparativa korabeli magyar szóanyaga. Elektronikus kézirat. Székesfehérvár: Budenz Alkotóház.
Vermeulen, Han F. 2011. Linguistik und Völkerkunde – der Beitrag der historisch-vergleichenden Linguistik von G.W. Leibniz zur Entstehung der Völkerkunde im 18. Jahrhundert. Halle/Saale: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte.
Wendland, Folkwart. 1992. Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811). Materialien einer Biographie. Teil II: Personalbibliographie. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter.