BOOK REVIEW: Ukrainian dictionary of architectural terms (02/25/96)

BOOK REVIEW: Ukrainian dictionary of architectural terms

Korotkyi Slovnyk-Dovidnyk Arkhitektura by A. P. Marder (ed.), Kyiv: Budivelnyk Publishers, 1995.

by Titus Hewryk

Architects, engineers and students of Ukrainian architecture and planning will no doubt welcome the recent publication of a Ukrainian-language dictionary of architectural terms. This landmark publication is long overdue because for many decades architectural education and most of the literature in Ukraine was available in Russian only. Ukraine's architecture journal, Arkhitektura i Stroitelstvo, switched from Russian to Ukrainian only in January 1991.

The new dictionary was edited by Abram Marder, with the collaboration of over 30 specialists from the former Ukrainian Academy of Architecture (abolished in 1964 and transformed into a number of institutes including the State Scholarly-Research Institute of the Theory and History of Architecture and Planning). Among the contributors are such well-known architects and architectural historians as M. Kolomiyets, H. Lohvyn, Y. Nelhivsky, 0. Plamenytska, V. Vechersky, V. Yasiyevych. The handsomely produced 300 page volume contains over 1,300 entries and 350 illustrations.

This publication is the first attempt to redress the lacuna of Ukrainian-language architectural dictionaries by providing a basic architectural reference work in the Ukrainian language to practicing architects of Ukraine.

In the introduction the editors succinctly state that the new publication aims to help the reader familiar with Russian architectural terminology learn the Ukrainian professional lexicon: "Readers familiar with Russian terminology will find in this dictionary Ukrainian equivalents. This publication will became useful for those that want to master Ukrainian architectural terminology..."

While the editors acknowledge that some of the new material might be controversial because of the dearth of Ukrainian-language architectural works in the past, they hope that the dictionary will assist in the further development of a distinctly Ukrainian terminology, and solicit readers' comments and suggestions.

In view of the large-scale demolition of Ukrainian architectural landmarks in the Soviet era and the present revival of interest in Ukraine's architectural heritage, the authors paid particular attention to historic architectural terms. Specific architectural landmarks or architects are not listed here.

The dictionary's organization reflects the current state of the architectural profession in Ukraine: all entries are listed alphabetically in Russian, according to the Russian alphabet and only subsequently are translated into their Ukrainian equivalents. Where appropriate, the etymological origins of the term are identified (Latin, Greek, German or English). A short definition of each term is then presented in Ukrainian. An index of Ukrainian language terms is also provided at the end of the volume.

Reference dictionaries are not easy undertakings and usually require years of preparation by scores of specialists. For example, the thick 553-page Dictionary of Architecture and Construction edited by Cyril M. Harris (Mc Graw-Hill Book Co., New York) was in the works for 10 years and had over 50 contributing editors. Another popular volume, the 554 page A Dictionary of Architecture by Nicholas Pevsner, John Fleming and Hugh Honor, first published in 1966 in England and then in 1976 fully revised and updated in the United States, has some 2,400 entries and over 1,000 illustrations.

Review of the available Ukrainian-language architectural literature published in the past decades in Soviet Ukraine clearly demonstrates the need for an architectural dictionary. Such "dictionaries" appeared in the past in Soviet publications only as short (two to three pages long) glossaries in several works on history of Ukrainian architecture published in the Ukrainian language.

The new dictionary is indeed a first of its kind in Ukraine. Readers will be particularly grateful to find basic terminology on various window types (p. 194), roof shapes (p. 146), roof structural elements (p. 145), stair arrangements (p. 150), types of bridges (p.175) or masonry bond patterns (p. 124).

The reviewed dictionary partially or fully "rehabilitates" a number of well known Ukrainian terms that in the past were considered archaic, and which subsequently disappeared from the few Soviet texts published in the Ukrainian language. A comparison of two publications, Narysy Istorii Arkhitektury URSR (Outline of the History of Architecture of the Ukrainian SSR) published in 1957 and the reviewed dictionary published in 1995, provides examples of this rehabilitation process: oltar (1957) - vivtar (1995), or altar; ploshcha (1957) - maidan, ploshcha (1995) or square; parus (1957) - vitrylo, parus, pandatyva (1995) or pendentive; kapela (1957) - kaplytsia (1995), or chapel; nef (1957) - nava (1995), or nave; kladka (1957) - muruvannia (1995) or masonry.

Unfortunately there are also some disappointments and regressions. For example: hrebin' (1957) and konyok (1995), or roof ridge. It was disappointing to find that bashta (p. 48) and vezha (p. 58), are treated in the Soviet manner. Vezha is defined as an archaic version of bashta (Russian bashnya). The author might want to consult Borys Antonenko-Davydovych's work (Yak My Hovorymo, Kyiv: Radyanskyi Pysmennyk, 1970, pp. 36-37), where bashta (military or defensive tower) is clearly differentiated from vezha (tower). In some cases the reviewed dictionary has somewhat inadequate definition (sobor on p. 269) or ineffective illustration (fronton on p. 227). There are also obvious mistakes. For example, the so-called Horodetsky Building (p. 297) on Bankova Street in Kyiv was designed as an apartment building rather than a single-family dwelling (p. 201).

The appearance of this pioneering dictionary in economically shattered Ukraine is particularly commendable. The material can be expanded and improved in subsequent enlarged editions. In the meantime the terms defined in this volume will provide the basic tools of communication in the related professions of architecture, engineering and planning.

What is missing in the new publication are terms related to recent innovations in building materials and the construction components made possible by these innovations (for example: gypsum board, wall and ceiling systems). That these terms were not included may partly be explained by the backwardness of Soviet building techniques.

A new edition of the dictionary should also include the spectrum of specialties which have undergone considerable development within past decades: refrigeration, heating, water-supply, waste disposal, fire protection, electrical, vertical transportation, and lighting systems.

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