Alaska vs. Alyeska

Here is a question that has been bugging me for awhile now. What is the difference between "Alaska" and "Alyeska"? I mean from an AltHist perspective.

In most cases, "Alyeska" comes up as an English translation for the Russian "Alaska" (Аляска). But what do you all think?
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
What I think is that that transliteration is very, very wrong. Аляска isn't "Alyeska" it's "Alyaska."

I think it means that when Anglophones took over a Russian colony they changed the name to fit their own speech patterns better.

Is this what you're asking? I'm not entirely clear on the question.
 
What I think is that that transliteration is very, very wrong. Аляска isn't "Alyeska" it's "Alyaska."

I think it means that when Anglophones took over a Russian colony they changed the name to fit their own speech patterns better.

Is this what you're asking? I'm not entirely clear on the question.

:p

I was only asking what the differences were between different timelines. I see both "Alaska" and "Alyeska" being used on several timelines. But what are the differences between them?

For instance, is Alyeska the name used had the Russians continued to run the region. Similar to how the South American nation is called "Colombia" and not "Columbia."
 
IIRC, Alyeska and Alaska are actually transliterations of two different Aleut words, the first referring to just the Panhandle or so.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
I was only asking what the differences were between different timelines. I see both "Alaska" and "Alyeska" being used on several timelines. But what are the differences between them?

For instance, is Alyeska the name used had the Russians continued to run the region. Similar to how the South American nation is called "Colombia" and not "Columbia."
Well, whoever is transliterating it "Alyeska" is just 300 different kinds of wrong.

If the Russians kept running the place, then yes, it would technically be "Alyaska," but most people would just call it "Russian America." Anglophones may perhaps call it "Alaska" as they did both before and after the purchase in OTL.
 
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Hmm... I seem to be wrong. To quote Wikipedia,
Alyeska is an archaic spelling of the Aleut word Alaska meaning "mainland", "great country", or "great land".
but also
The name "Alaska" (Аляска) ... is derived from the Aleut alaxsxaq, meaning "the mainland" or more literally, "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed".[6] It is also known as Alyeska, the "great land", an Aleut word derived from the same root.

So either they are the same word, or they are two essentially similar words.
 
Sounds like "Alyeska" would be the name used in a TL where the natives had control of the region, "Alyaska" would be for continued Russian control (maybe the term would be extended from just the peninsula to the rest of the territory? Or maybe they might give it a new name apart from Russian America...maybe "Aleutia"?) and "Alaska" would be either the British or the Americans gaining control.
 
I've read on Wikipedia that "Alyeska" is an archaic form of the original Aleut word. This means that it was once used, but is now no longer used.

Here's a link where it shows a red flag of Alaska, and calling it the "People's Republic of Alyeska." Here's another that refers to it as the "Orthodox Republic of Alyeska." Here's what I have come up with

Alaska = Name used if the region is under Anglo-American control.
Alyeska = The English name used for the Russian controlled region.

This would be similar to how Americans say Texas, while Mexicans say Tejas. I think it's a language thing.
 
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