Research into Slavic writing records is quite scarce, but Russian writing has its own history, from which our modern alphabet “came.” Az, buki, vedi... this is the first scripture of Slavic letters called the Cyrillic alphabet. Where did these letters come from, how were they modernized and are they still used today? Let's figure it out together.
What is Cyrillic?
Cyrillic is the name given to the system of symbols that were used for writing by peoples living on the territory of the ancient Slavic states. If we explain in simple words what the Cyrillic alphabet is, then it is an ordinary alphabet consisting of ancient symbols. On Wikipedia, the term Cyrillic has a broader meaning and several definitions. So, Cyrillic is:
- Old Slavonic alphabet.
- Ancient alphabet.
- Church scripture font.
The “ancestor” of the Cyrillic alphabet is the Greek language (the statutory letter is unciale), and such an alphabet was created approximately in the 9th century in Bulgaria. The ancient Cyrillic alphabet consists of 45 letters. And the main purpose of its creation was to record Church Slavonic languages, which contributed to the acquaintance of pagan tribes with Eastern Christianity.
A little history about the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet
The term received its name in honor of the enlightener Cyril, who, together with Methodius, was one of the first to create the Slavic alphabet. He also translated Christian liturgical scriptures, which made a huge contribution to the church culture of that time.
After the adoption of Christianity, Rus' received the alphabet known to us as the Cyrillic alphabet, thanks to which Greek religious texts were translated. Nowadays, more than 70 countries use the Cyrillic alphabet as an aid to their languages. This mainly includes the languages of the ethnic Slavic group called the CIS countries.
Who uses the Cyrillic alphabet in the modern world?
The ancient Cyrillic alphabet has not reached us in its original form. Under the influence of Western trends and cultural changes, such letters as er, yat, yus, xi, izhitsa, etc. disappeared from this alphabet. The remaining letters were simplified both in writing and in pronunciation. As for the use of this ancient alphabet, peoples who speak non-Slavic languages, such as:
- Kyrgyz;
- Abkhazian;
- Kazakh;
- Mongolian;
- Ossetian;
- Tajik.
Most of the sacred Orthodox books and writings are written in Cyrillic languages. These are the Bible, Genesis, Gospel, Missals, Epistles.
Modern Cyrillic has only 33 letters and it is called the alphabet that is taught in school today. This type of writing system acquired in Soviet times (1918).
What remains of the Cyrillic alphabet in the alphabets of Slavic and non-Slavic languages?
Today, Cyrillic letters are actively used in the languages of the Slavic peoples. In the table, you can see which languages “left” the letters of the ancient alphabet.
Russian writing has its own history of formation and its own alphabet, which is very different from the same Latin that is used in most European countries. The Russian alphabet is Cyrillic, or rather its modern, modified version. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
So, what is Cyrillic? This is the alphabet that underlies some Slavic languages, such as Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian, Belarusian, Serbian, Macedonian. As you can see, the definition is quite simple.
The history of the Cyrillic alphabet begins in the 9th century, when the Byzantine Emperor Michael III ordered the creation of a new alphabet for the Slavs in order to convey religious texts to believers.
The honor of creating such an alphabet went to the so-called “Thessalonica brothers” - Cyril and Methodius.
But does this give us an answer to the question, what is the Cyrillic alphabet? Partly yes, but there are still some interesting facts. For example, the Cyrillic alphabet is an alphabet based on the Greek statutory letter. It is also worth noting that numbers were denoted using some letters of the Cyrillic alphabet. To do this, a special diacritic mark was placed above the combination of letters - the title.
As for the spread of the Cyrillic alphabet, it came to the Slavs only with For example, in Bulgaria the Cyrillic alphabet appeared only in 860, after it adopted Christianity. At the end of the 9th century, the Cyrillic alphabet penetrated into Serbia, and another hundred years later into the territory of Kievan Rus.
Along with the alphabet, church literature, translations of the Gospels, Bibles, and prayers began to spread.
In fact, from this it becomes clear what the Cyrillic alphabet is and where it came from. But has it reached us in its original form? Not at all. Like many things, writing has changed and improved along with our language and culture.
Modern Cyrillic has lost some of its symbols and letters during various reforms. So the following letters disappeared: titlo, iso, kamora, the letters er and er, yat, yus big and small, izhitsa, fita, psi and xi. The modern Cyrillic alphabet consists of 33 letters.
In addition, the alphabetic number has not been used for a long time; it has been completely replaced. The modern version of the Cyrillic alphabet is much more convenient and practical than the one that was a thousand years ago.
So, what is Cyrillic? Cyrillic is an alphabet created by the enlightenment monks Cyril and Methodius on the orders of Tsar Michael III. Having accepted the new faith, we received at our disposal not only new customs, a new deity and culture, but also an alphabet, a lot of translated church book literature, which for a long time remained the only type of literature that the educated layers of the population of Kievan Rus could enjoy.
Over the course of time and under the influence of various reforms, the alphabet changed, improved, and extra and unnecessary letters and symbols disappeared from it. The Cyrillic alphabet that we use today is the result of all the metamorphoses that have occurred over more than a thousand years of the existence of the Slavic alphabet.
Cyrillic is a concept that has several definitions, mainly related to the writing of the Slavic people. Let's take a closer look at each of the meanings of the term Cyrillic alphabet.
What does the term "Cyrillic" mean?
First of all, the Cyrillic alphabet is the writing system of all Slavic languages - Russian, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, etc. However, the unification of all national Cyrillic alphabet is not entirely correct; we should talk about the varieties of Cyrillic alphabet in relation to each Slavic language.
What Cyrillic is as a writing system has been known since ancient times. The founders of the Cyrillic letter (around 863 AD) are rightfully considered to be Christian preachers from the Greek city of Thessaloniki - the brothers Cyril and Methodius.
Cyrillic is also considered the Old Church Slavonic alphabet. Along with the Glagolitic alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet is one of the ancient alphabets of the Old Church Slavonic language. The traditional Cyrillic alphabet consists of 43 elements, of which 24 are entirely the Greek alphabet, and the remaining 19 are originally Slavic. Until the beginning of the 18th century, namely before the reform of Peter I, all Cyrillic text was written in capital letters, there were no lowercase letters. Cyrillic letters are also used to write Greek numbers.
Cyrillic is also called the traditional statutory or semi-statutory font in which church books are printed.
Files stored on a computer have a certain encoding. One of which is the so-called “Cyrillic alphabet”. There are various programs that help convert a file's encoding format from one to another. You can read more about the Cyrillic alphabet in the password in the article
) Slavic alphabets. Named after the Slavic enlightener of the mid-9th century. Cyril (before accepting monasticism - Constantine), who in 863 created the first Slavic alphabet and, with the help of his brother Methodius, translated Christian liturgical books from Greek into Slavic. The oldest monuments of K. probably arose simultaneously with the oldest monuments of the Glagolitic alphabet. The oldest Cyrillic monuments: ancient Bulgarian - the inscription of Mostich (10th century), the inscription of Tsar Samuil (993), the inscription of Ivan Vladislav (1016); manuscripts from the 11th century. - Book of Savvina, Suprasl manuscript, Eninsky Apostle, as well as more numerous East Slavic ones, among which the dated ones are especially important - the Ostromir Gospel (1056-57), Collections of Svyatoslav (1073 and 1076), Service Menaions (1095, 1096 and 1097), monuments of everyday life correspondence - Birch bark letters.
There are a number of hypotheses about the origin of K. Most scientists, citing the Moravian-Pannonian and Ohrid Glagolitic traditions associated with the activities of Cyril and Methodius (See Cyril and Methodius), the great archaism of many Glagolitic monuments and the Novgorod monument of the 11th century, in which the Glagolitic letter is called K., believe that Cyril created the Glagolitic alphabet, and K. was compiled in Eastern Bulgaria at the end of the 9th century. (in Preslav) to bring Slavic writing closer to the solemn Byzantine one. In ancient K. there are 24 letters of the Greek uncial charter and specially created letters that are absent in the Greek alphabet and necessary to convey the corresponding Slavic sounds (the Charter from the 14th century was replaced by Poluustav, which formed the basis of the first Russian printed fonts. From the end of the 14th century. Cursive is used in everyday and business correspondence , and in book titles - ornamental Elm. In 1708-10, Peter I introduced a “civil” font that was close to the modern one instead of the half-rut. The alphabets of not only the southern and eastern Slavs, but also the majority of the peoples of the USSR and the Mongolian alphabet (via the Russian alphabet) were built on the basis of K.
Lit.: Georgiev E., Slavic writing before Cyril and Methodius, Sofia, 1952; Likhachev D, S., The emergence of Russian literature, M.-L., 1952; Cherepnin L.V., Russian paleography, M., 1956; Istrin V. A., 1100 years of the Slavic alphabet, M., 1963.
V. A. Istrin.
Cyrillic.
Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .
Synonyms:See what "Cyrillic" is in other dictionaries:
Type: consonantal vocal writing Languages: Old Church Slavonic ... Wikipedia
Cyrillic letter Ӫ Cyrillic ... Wikipedia
Cyrillic letter Ӎ Cyrillic ... Wikipedia
A iotized Cyrillic A B C ... Wikipedia
Cyrillic- Cyrillic. CYRILLIC, one of two (see Glagolitic) Slavic alphabets. Named after the Slavic enlightener Cyril (see Cyril and Methodius). Created on the basis of the Greek (Byzantine) solemn uncial letter at the end of the 9th beginning... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
Cyrillic letter Ҷ Cyrillic ... Wikipedia
Big Yus Cyrillic ... Wikipedia
Cyrillic letter Є Cyrillic ... Wikipedia
Cyrillic letter Ђ Cyrillic ... Wikipedia
Cyrillic letter Ҫ Cyrillic ... Wikipedia
Cyrillic letter Y Cyrillic A ... Wikipedia
Books
- Cyrillic Methodological materials for teachers. , Potapova E.B.. Methodological materials for teachers for the workbook-coloring book “Cyrillic”...
