Submarine spelling

[Tiornu]

Until recently, I had always seen the spelling "Requinul" in English-language references. Now "Rechinul" is prevalent. Was there some change in Romanian orthography to explain this?

[Victor]

No, it was always spelled this way (i. e. Rechinul). "qui" is fonetically equivalent to "chi", but the use of q in the Romanian ortography is pretty rare.

[Tiornu]

Thanks for your answer. I guess the misspelling must remain a mystery. I tried looking it up in Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II, but Delfinul was the only sub mentioned. Probably just as well--Jane's didn't even spell "Roumania" correctly.

[inahurry]

[quote]Probably just as well--Jane's didn't even spell "Roumania" correctly.[/quote]

For some countries, decades ago, certain spelling's for our country's name established themselves as the most used, in France - Roumanie, in England - Rumania, for instance. Lately, though, for the english speaking countries 'Romania' tends to become the common spelling. Brits are more stubborn, as we all know, but they'll eventually use 'Romania' spelling too. 'Roumania' must be a compromise for the time being . Anyway, Romania is how it should be written. In Romanian language the first a is in fact an a with ^ accent but if one uses only the english alphabet then Romania is the closest both in writing and phonetically.