Shcha (Cyrillic)
From Free net encyclopedia
Current revision
Template:Cyrillic alphabet navbox Shcha or Shta (Щ, щ) is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, representing the consonant Template:IPA or Template:IPA in Russian, Template:IPA or Template:IPA in Ukrainian, and the consonant Template:IPA in Bulgarian. Originally, this letter was a ligature of sha and te (Ш + Т = Щ), with the descender in the middle of the sha, and is descended from the Glagolitic letter Shta: Image:GlagolitsaShta.gif
This letter is the most troublesome for romanization. In linguistics, its Russian pronunciation is transliterated as šč (with háčeks). In English, it is typically transcribed shch, but in German it requires seven letters: schtsch. This gave rise to a popular joke about Catherine the Great, a Russian tsarina of German origin, that she managed to make eight spelling mistakes in the two-letter word Щи (Shchi, a traditional Russian soup).