Incorrect spelling, explanation: when you check the spelling of the word, you may notice that there are two versions available: Odesa and Odessa. Nevertheless, the version with a double -s letter is outdated and it’s a Russian translation of the city name, which simply spread worldwide. A few years ago, however, the UN Group of Experts on Geographical Names decided that the Ukrainian version should be official, which is Odesa.
Correct spelling, explanation: Odesa is a word of Greek origin and it derives from Odyssey by Homer. Odesa is a female, eastern Europe name, but it’s mostly known as a city name in Ukraine. For many years the name was spelled as Odessa – with a double s letter – but recently the version with a single s letter has been accepted as the official one.
Definition of Odesa:
1. noun – a city name in Ukraine,
Odesa, which is one of the largest cities in Ukraine has a rich and interesting history.
Expressions with Odesa:
The expressions are famous spots in the city, such as: Odesa Opera and Ballet Theater, Odesa National Scientific Library;
Odesa Opera and ballet Theater for sure is a place worth visiting if you’re a lover of classical music.
Odesa National Scientific Library has a wide collection of books from all around the world.
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This is false ‘tho you have plenty of company in your error. “Odessa” is a latin alphabet transliteration for the name of the city on the black sea from the cyrillic alphabet. Yes, russians double the letter for the “s” sound, and ukrainians use a single letter, but the point of transliteration is to prompt the reader whose language uses a different alphabet to say (or think) the word as close as possible to way it is said by people speaking the original language, in this case, ukrainian, n.o.t. To try to mimic the look of its spelling while using a different alphabet. That would be useless to people trying to sound out the word from the other language. Both ukranians and russians pronounce the word with something similar to a short “e” in the second syllable. The rules for spelling in english are that when a syllable is accented, if there is a vowel that is followed by a single consonant, that vowel has a long vowel sound. As the second syllable in the name of that city i.s. Accented, if you follow the “e” with a single “s”, the english pronunciation would be something like oh-deez-a, instead of oh-dess-uh. The latter is as close as you can get in english to the way ukrainians say it.
Of course soon after the turn of this century we were all saying “two thousand and one” instead of “twenty oh one” which would have been consistent with the way we said the year in the first decade of all previous centuries, so it’s not the first time we have all erred together, so if you see someone has written the name of the city “odessa”, please do not assume that they are on the side of the russians. They may just be an english teacher who is well-educated in the rules of transliteration.
Ukranian propaganda