Note 33 — INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION.

The name of Veroue Ostroue, here given to the island of Vaigats, does not occur elsewhere. It is manifestly Russian; though it is difficult to say what is its correct form, and consequently what its signification. As to the designation by which that island is generally known, Witsen states, though without further explanation, that it was acquired from one Iwan or Ian Waigats;33 in commenting on which statement, Lütke says that the name should properly be written Waigatsch, the Russian termination tsch having been changed by the Dutch into tz, in the same way as in Pitzora for Petschora, etc.34 The correctness of this criticism is, however, questionable. For, long before the Dutch visited or knew anything of these parts, we find Englishmen,—who certainly had no difficulty in pronouncing the sound ch (tsch), which is common to our language, and who in fact always wrote Pechora (Petschora), and not, like the Dutch, Pitzora,—invariably writing not Vaigach (Vaigatsch), but Vaigats or Vaygatz. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that Vaigats is the original pronunciation of the name, and that the Russian form is merely a corruption.