To the question Why are the letters in the alphabet arranged in this order?? given by the author Marisha the best answer is Many people have probably wondered why the letters in the alphabet are arranged the way they are. Surely this couldn't have been an accident? Or could it? Let's try to figure it out.
A very common misconception is the “fact” of the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet by Cyril and Methodius. This alphabet was indeed created in their honor, but not by them. The Old Church Slavonic alphabet (“Klimentovitsa”, “Cyrillic alphabet”) was created by Clement of Orchid based on the Glagolitic alphabet. The order of the letters of the Glagolitic alphabet at that time was taken from the Greek alphabet, which was also transferred to the Cyrillic alphabet:
Άλφα-βήτα-γάμμα-δέλτα → az-bouki-vѣde-verbs-good
The “Cyrillic alphabet” differed from the Glagolitic alphabet of Cyril and Methodius primarily in the type of symbols, which were brought from pictographic to a more unified Greek form.
If you dig a little deeper and figure out where exactly this order of letters came from in Greek (and many other languages of the same time, for example, in Hebrew: alpha-beta-gamma-delta → aleph-bet-gimel-dalet), you need to turn to stories.
About 1000 BC, when modern alphabets did not yet exist, the Phoenician script was widespread (the Hebrew alphabet is the closest to it at the moment). There, as in modern synthetic Hebrew, writing was done from right to left, ignoring vowel symbols. This alphabet was used to record a very large number of folk dialects on the Eurasian continent.
The first four letters in the Phoenician alphabet are: aleph-bet-gimel-dalet. Déjà vu?
The Phoenician letter subsequently gave birth to:
- Greek (alpha-beta-gamma-delta), from which the Latin alphabet (a-be-tse-de) and Cyrillic alphabet (az-bouky-vѣde-verbs-good) originated;
- Aramaic (alaf-bet-gamal-dalat), from which came Arabic (alif-ba-ta-sa-jim-ha-dal), Hebrew (alef-bet-gimel-dalet), a group of Indian languages using the Devangari alphabet , Georgian (an-ban-gan-don) and Armenian (aib-ben-gim-da);
- and several other writing systems that, alas, have not survived to our times.
One logical question remains: where did the letter “vedi” come from in our language (old Russian spelling “vedi”, ancient spelling “vedi”). Question for those who know Hebrew. What happens (ideally) if the letter “bet” is written without dagesh? Right. Letter "vet". In modern sources, it is customary not to highlight this letter separately, allocating one line for both of them (dagesh in the letter “bet” is written extremely rarely, so, in fact, the two characters are indistinguishable), but if it is taken into account, the Hebrew alphabet will look like "alef-bet-vet-gimel-dalet". Perhaps this is what prompted the creators of the Glagolitic alphabet (and, subsequently, the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet) to place the letter “v” in this particular position in the alphabet.
Answer from Konstantin[newbie]
nonsense
Answer from Andrey Korotkov[newbie]
Yes, no answer was given. So what if in Phoenician there was such an order: bull, house, camel, door... Is this easy to remember? Or is there something to it? He's gone. Moreover, the names of the letters are in no way related to the numbers, and the only order is the number series.
Answer from Homa Brut[guru]
And to make it more convenient to speak - “yoklmn” and “eprst”
Answer from Ise_doll_can_cry..[guru]
it's easier to remember
Answer from "Repairing nails, replacing canaries"[guru]
For what purpose are you interested?
Anastasia gave a very cool answer. I would also like to add that letters used to stand for entire words and concepts. Aleph symbolized the element of air and the connection with the Almighty, it is depicted as two commas - above and below and a line between them, like %, then bet - house, gimel - camel, dalet - door. Perhaps the letters showed a certain value chain or the quotation captivity of some story that has not reached us. There is a book “Sepher Yetzirah” (Book of Creation), the authorship of which is attributed to the forefather Abraham, it provides an analysis of the meaning and numerical value of the letters.
Why are the letters in the alphabet arranged in this order? June 23rd, 2016
I often come across the answer to this question on the Internet in the following form: “this is an inexplicable fact.” But I still found some explanations that I want to convey to you. Now tell me if you have heard the other version.
Everything is simple with the Russian alphabet. Slavic writing is only a little over a thousand years old, and its history is known. In the second half of the 9th century, the brothers Cyril and Methodius decided to bring Christianity to the Slavic world, and since Christianity is the religion of the book, Cyril came up with an alphabet for the Slavs, the Glagolitic alphabet.
Kirill came up with original styles (albeit based on the Greek minuscule, which was widespread at that time), and retained the order in general terms. Maybe so that it is still convenient to use letters to denote numbers. Maybe because I didn’t know any other order. Maybe because the alphabetical order of the language of the Bible is sacred - it is said in the Bible: “I am alpha and omega,” that is, the beginning and the end.
The only thing was that it was necessary to give some place to the letters that denoted sounds that were absent in Greek: B, Zh, Ts, Ch, Sh, etc. And they were placed either next to the letters that denoted the most similar sounds (B - next to V, Zh - next to Z), or at the end of the alphabet. When the Cyrillic alphabet, which was more similar to Greek letters, began to be used instead of the Glagolitic alphabet, the alphabetical order was generally preserved, although some rare letters occupy different places in different lists, and some are present only in part of the lists.
The Greek alphabet took its order of letters from the Semitic script. There is a legend about the Phoenician Cadmus, who taught the Greeks writing. Like the Slavs, the Greeks needed additional letters, so at the end of the Greek alphabet we see phi (Φ), chi (Χ), psi (Ψ) and omega (Ω), which were absent from the Phoenicians. By the way, these letters are not in the early lists; the alphabet ends either with ipslon (Y) or even with tau (T).
Ultimately, the Latin alphabet also goes back to the same source, which is why the order of the letters in it differs so little from the Russian one we are used to. Perhaps the most noticeable thing is that in place of G in front of the letter D (D) we see C (read as “k”). But if you look at the Latin letter G, you can see that it is derived from C (and was produced quite late - that is why the name Guy was abbreviated for a long time by the letter C - have you ever heard of “Caius” by Julius Caesar?).
But where the order of letters in the Semitic script came from is not known exactly. The signs themselves most likely arose not without the influence of Egyptian writing, but the Semites came up with the order themselves. Moreover, even before the appearance of the Semitic letter itself: it was first found in the Ugaritic letter, and it was cuneiform.
If the Europeans simply copied the order of the letters (perhaps in order to preserve, at least basically, their numerical values for the letters), then the ancient Indians, who had a good linguistic tradition, having received the Semitic letter at their disposal, arranged the letters in accordance with pronunciation: first vowels, then consonants, and within these groups the order is also not random. But the Indians came up with separate numbers for themselves. Then, through the Arabs, these numbers reached Europe, and we know them under the name “Arab” - but that’s another story.
Here's another opinion: The fact is that the current alphabet system comes from the old Russian alphabet. And to remember it, the method of mental images was used. After all, it’s easier to remember meaningful text than to cram a set of characters. So this is the order that emerged and no other. Of course, it changed over time, some letters left, some were added, but the skeleton, so to speak, remained.
“Az buki vede. The verb is good. Live well, earth, and, like people, think about our peace. Rtsy’s word is firm - uk färt dick. Tsy, worm, shta ra yus yati.”
One translation of this text is:
“I know letters: writing is a property. Work hard, earthlings, as reasonable people should - comprehend the universe!
Carry the word with conviction: knowledge is a gift of God! Dare, delve deeply in order to comprehend the light of existence!”
or here's something else interesting:
In a 7 by 7 square
On the first line:
I know God, I say good things, that means I exist.
On the second line:
Life is abundant on Earth when the universal truth in the community is from God.
On the third line:
For all thinking people, only He (God) speaks peace.
On the fourth line:
The Word, approved from above, calls to confidently adhere to the foundations of the wisdom of goodness in order to complete the path, to come into harmony for a new beginning.
On the fifth line:
Protecting our land's borders and growth ensures God's protection and our unity.
On the sixth line:
The harmonious development and growth potential of my family and me, as part of it, depends on the Almighty source and the history of the family.
On the seventh line:
The meaning of life is the desire to improve the spirit and soul until they fully mature into a perfect personality in eternity.
1 column vertically:
My life is like a thought clothed in sound, striving for harmony, the smallest particle of mind in the universe.
2nd column:
God creates a strong boundary around people and guides them towards self-improvement.
3 column:
Knowledge of the Earth and reflection on it bring peace to the spirit of our race (people).
4th column:
Speaking the truth is our tradition, our protection, part of our soul. (What is strength brother? - In Truth!)
5th column:
The blessing of the Universe is that God the Creator confidently and firmly creates the growth of everything for the complete ripening of the seed.
6th column:
The essence of the existence of human society is peace, tranquility, balance, harmony, unity from the Supreme Source to the perfect soul.
Column 7:
The existing heavenly Source brings into our world both the beginning of everything and the growth of everything, and the experience of people in time.
Diagonal from top to bottom and left to right:
I think a lot and the basis of my creativity is always the Supreme Source.
sources
Exercise 75, p. 36
75. Read. Fill in the missing letters of the alphabet.
Aa Bb Vv Gy Dd Her Yo Fz Zz
Ii Yi Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr
Ss Tt Uu Ff Xx Tsk Chch Shsh Shch
ъ ь ь Uee Yuyu Yaya
- Check in the textbook (p. 81, exercise 121) to see if you have written the letters in the alphabet correctly. Read, naming each letter correctly.
Aa (a), Bb (be), Vv (ve), Gg (ge), Dd (de), Ee (e), Yoyo (yo), Zh (zhe), Zz (ze), Ii (i), Yy (and short), Kk (ka), Ll (el), Mm (e), Nn (en), Oo (o), Pp (pe), Rr (er), Ss (es), Tt (te) , Uu (u), Ff (ef), Xx (ha), Ts (tse), Chch (che), Shsh (sha), Shch (sha), ъ (hard sign), ы (ы), ь (soft sign), Ee (uh), Yuyu (yu), Yaya (ya).
Exercise 76, p. 36
76. Write down the lowercase letters in the alphabet into two groups: in the first - letters that denote vowel sounds, in the second - letters that denote consonant sounds.
a, e, e, i, o, u, s, e, yu, i.
b, c, d, d, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, f, x, c, h, w, sch.
Exercise 77, p. 37
77. Write down the names of the summer months in alphabetical order, and then the autumn months.
August, July, June.
November, October, September.
Exercise 78, p. 37
78. Read.
Ivanovo, Mikhalkov, Bianki, Prishvin.
Moscow, Kyiv, Volga, Kostroma.
Malvina, Pinocchio, Dunno, Pierrot.
- Determine which word in each group of words is the odd one out. Why is it redundant? Underline this word.
Ivanovo (the name of the city among the names of Russian writers).
Volga (the name of the river among the names of cities).
Dunno (a hero from another fairy tale among the heroes of “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio”)
- Write down any group of words (without extra words) in alphabetical order.
Kyiv, Kostroma, Moscow.
Exercise 79, p. 37
79. Read. What does this word mean? Write out all the letters from this word in alphabetical order.
Encyclopedia (a scientific reference guide on all or individual branches of knowledge, usually in the form of a dictionary).
d, e, i, k, l, n, o, p, c, e, i.
- Who can make the most words from the letters of a given word? Write down any of them.
Cycle, bug, lecture, cyclops, con, movie, business, zinc, clone, peak, stake, poison, yak, cop, floor, pony, peony, one, plaid, cap, wedge, clip, line.
Exercise 80, p. 38
80. Name the letters. Decipher each rebus and you will get the words that are the names of the mushrooms.
- Write down the names of the mushrooms in alphabetical order.
Milk mushroom, fly agaric, honey mushroom, boletus, saffron milk cap, russula.
Exercise 81, p. 38
81. Read. Fill in the missing letters in the words that are the names of the animals.
290. Cover the alphabet with a notebook and read it from memory. If you are at a loss, look at the textbook. Then list only the vowels. How do the letters ъ and ь differ from other letters?
Vowels: a, e, e, i, o, u, s, e, yu, i.
ъ and ь differ from other letters in that they do not represent sounds.
291. What letters indicate the consonant sounds in these words?
292. Determine what mistakes the student made in his answer. Write down the names of letters and sounds in corrected form.
1. The word leaf has 4 sounds: [l"] [i] [s] [t]
2. The word has a line of 7 letters: [es] [te] [er] [o] [che] [ka] [a].
293. Read an excerpt from Y. Kozlovsky’s poem. How many letters are there in the foreign language you are learning?
And the English language has 26 letters in the alphabet. The German language has 26 letters. Spanish has 27 letters.
294. Read correctly the words of the Russian Federation (Russian Federation), CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), "MK" - the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets", USA - the United States of America.
RF - [er ef]
CIS - [es en ge]
MK - [um ka]
USA - [se she a]
295. The guys organized a library in their class, which initially had 10 books. Arrange these books in alphabetical order (by author's last name). Which ones have you already read?
296. Determine what mistakes the student made in his answer.
1. The word “mouth” has 3 letters: [er], [o], [te].
2. The word “fur coat” has 5 letters: [sha], [u], [be], [ka], [a].
297. What miracle is Ya. Kozlovsky talking about? Answer this question in writing.
Ya. Kozlovsky speaks about the alphabet of the Russian language, which contains thirty-three letters. There are only thirty-three letters, and how many words can be formed from them. Isn't this a miracle?
298. Imagine that in your class there are 10 students whose last names begin with the letter “K”: Kachkin, Kalanchov, Karachintsev, Kunyaev, Kutepov, Kvastsov, Karpinsky, Koshkin, Kotenochkin, Kulagin. Make an alphabetical list of these students. What do you do in cases where the first letters or first and second letters of surnames are the same? What part of speech are the written words?
Kalanchov, Karachintsev, Karpinsky, Kachkin, Kvastsov, Kotenochkin, Koshkin, Kulagin, Kunyaev, Kutepov.
When the first letters or first and second letters in surnames match, then you look at the next letter in alphabetical order. The written words are nouns.
299. What letters will you write in the spaces? Consult a spelling dictionary. Who will find the right word faster? It depends on knowing the alphabet.
Option, veranda, conduct a bulletin, veteran, subsequently, race, pennant, victorina, recite.
300. Read and retell the text. Write down either the part of the text that talks about the origin of the name “alphabet” or the part of the text that talks about the origin of the name “alphabet”. Name the letters in the words "alphabet" and "Azyuka".
1. Read letters of the Russian alphabet.
2. Name it write the letters of the Russian alphabet correctly and answer the questions.
- How many letters are there in the Russian alphabet?
- What are the letters for?
- Which two letters do not represent sounds?
3. Read. Write down the proposal.
- Why do you think it is necessary to be able to read well?
X O R O sho
Page for the curious
About the origin of words
Words ABC And alphabet mean the same thing.
Word alphabet came to us from the Greek language. It is derived from the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: “alpha” (α) and “vita” (β).
The word alphabet came to us from the Old Church Slavonic language. It is formed from the names of the first two letters of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet: “az” () and “buki” ().
4. Read. What letters are missing here? Which letters “mixed up” their places?
- Write all the letters of the Russian alphabet in alphabetical order.
5. Look at the pictures.
- Name each letter correctly. Guess why they descend on different parachutes.
- Write down the letters of any group, placing them in alphabetical order.
6. Read expressively.
At the lesson
What letters do you know? - asked the teacher.
- B-e-e-e! answered Lamb.
- E-and-and! - said Donkey.
- Ha-ga-ga! - answered Goose.
- W-w-w! - said the Beetle.
Only Rybka didn’t say anything. She didn't know a single letter.
(M. Bitny)
- Who pronounced the letters incorrectly? Name these letters correctly.
- Write the names of the two “students” in alphabetical order.
7. Read.
Alphabet - alphabet, meadow - lawn, student - student, work - worker, Olya - Olga, good - good.
- Which word in each pair of words will you write first in alphabetical order? Why?
- Write down two pairs of words, arranging the words of each pair in alphabetical order.
- Compose a sentence using one of the words orally.
uch e nick uch e prostrate
8. Guess word! The first letter comes after the letter “te”, the second - after the letter “tse”, the third - after the letter “ze”, the fourth - after the letter “es”, the fifth - before the letter “e”, the sixth - after the letter “ka”, the seventh - after the letter "s".
- Make up a similar riddle and tell it to your friends.
teaches e l
9. Read in the explanatory dictionary the meaning of words ABC And scarlet, guest And rook. Which of these words has multiple meanings?
- Why the word ABC given in the dictionary before the word scarlet, and the word rook- after the word guest?
- Make a conclusion: how are the words arranged in the dictionary?
10. Read. Write any three words in alphabetical order, inserting the missing letters.
V..rona, v..r..bey, teach..l, h..rosho, hand..kiy, ..tongue, student..nik, s..baka, s..roka, weight.. oh, p..to, l..sitsa, k..r..ndash.
- Check the spelling of these words in the textbook's spelling dictionary. Indicate the emphasis in them.
11. Decipher words. To do this, arrange the letters in alphabetical order.
- Write down the words you made up. Explain the meaning of each word.
12. Read.
- Why do you think the author did not write down the highlighted words in alphabetical order? What does each of these words mean?
- Write the highlighted words in alphabetical order.
Astra, alphabet, quince
They start with "a".
And they end with "a"
Astra, alphabet, quince.
(N. Kostarev)
