Is "Kyiv" historically accurate?

[Prof Steven P Hill]

Dear colleagues:

Toponyms enter other languages at some point in history, and 
sometimes become fixed in that form. ("Paris" with final consonant?)  
We often manage to live with them. 

In the case of the great city on the major southwestern river, its name 
MIGHT have derived from its legendary founder, "Kyji" (2d syllable 
containing "front yer" vowel).  Regardless whether there ever existed 
someone named "Kyji,"  the original form of the city's toponym 
presumably was "Kyj-ev-, " followed in the nom. case sg. by "back 
yer"  (3 syllables in all).  

The Ukrainian vowel change, in the 2d syllable,  replacing -E- by -I-,  
must have occurred later.  Just as the Russian vowel change, in the 1st 
syllable, replacing -Y- by -I-,  occurred later (as the East Slavic dialects 
grew apart and became 3 separate languages).

That historical argument might favor our spelling the great city as 
"KYEV" (not "Kyiv" or "Kyiw").  Things can become complicated 
sometimes...

P.S.   Some folks, myself included, still perceive the name "Ukraine" 
(lacking definite article) as sounding ungrammatical in English, as
if spoken by a new expatriate from a land lacking the  definite and 
indefinite articles ("the," "a").  Reminds me of the Polish-American 
writer Jerzy Kosinski, who in his early writings in English often 
omitted those 2 articles, setting off alarms in the mind of his 
(uncredited) editors, who had quite a task to rewrite Kosinski in 
standard English. 

Best wishes to all,
Steven P Hill,
University of Illinois.
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