| Early Cyrillic alphabet Словѣньска азъбоукꙑ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Time period | Fromc. 893 inBulgaria[1] |
| Direction | Varies |
| Languages | Old Church Slavonic,Church Slavonic, old versions of manySlavic languages |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Egyptian hieroglyphs[2]
|
Child systems | Cyrillic script |
Sister systems | Latin alphabet Coptic alphabet Armenian alphabet |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Cyrs(221), Cyrillic (Old Church Slavonic variant) |
| Unicode | |
| |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
| South Slavic languages and dialects | ||||||
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Western South Slavic
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Transitional dialects
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TheEarly Cyrillic alphabet, also calledclassical Cyrillic orpaleo-Cyrillic, is analphabeticwriting system that was developed in Medieval Bulgaria in thePreslav Literary School during the late 9th century. It is used to write theChurch Slavonic language, and was historically used for its ancestor,Old Church Slavonic. It was also used for other languages, but between the 18th and 20th centuries was mostly replaced by the modernCyrillic script, which is used for someSlavic languages (such asRussian), and forEast European andAsian languages that have experienced a great amount of Russian cultural influence.
The earliest form of manuscript Cyrillic, known asustav, was based onGreek uncial script, augmented byligatures and by letters from theGlagolitic alphabet for phonemes not found in Greek.[3]
TheGlagolitic script was created by theByzantinemonkSaint Cyril, possibly with the aid of his brotherSaint Methodius, around 863.[3] Most scholars agree that Cyrillic, on the other hand, was created by Cyril's students at thePreslav Literary School in the 890s as a more suitable script for church books, based onuncial Greek but retaining some Glagolitic letters for sounds not present in Greek.[4][5][6][7] At the time, thePreslav Literary School was the most important early literary and cultural center of theFirst Bulgarian Empire and of allSlavs:[6]
The earliest Cyrillic texts are found in northeastern Bulgaria, in the vicinity of Preslav—the Krepcha inscription, dating back to 921,[8] and a ceramic vase from Preslav, dating back to 931.[6] Moreover, unlike the other literary centre in theFirst Bulgarian Empire, theOhrid Literary School, which continued to use the Glagolitic script well into the 12th century, the School at Preslav was using Cyrillic in the early 900s.[9] The systematization of Cyrillic may have been undertaken at theCouncil of Preslav in 893, when the Old Church Slavonic orGlagolitic Cyrillic liturgy was adopted by theFirst Bulgarian Empire.[1]
Unlike the Churchmen in Ohrid, Preslav scholars were much more dependent upon Greek models and quickly abandoned theGlagolitic scripts in favor of an adaptation of the Greek uncial to the needs of Slavic, which is now known as the Cyrillic alphabet.
American scholarHorace Lunt has alternatively suggested that Cyrillics emerged in the border regions of Greek proselytization to the Slavs before it was codified and adapted by some systematizer among the Slavs. The oldest Cyrillic manuscripts look very similar to 9th and 10th century Greek uncial manuscripts,[3] and the majority of uncial Cyrillic letters were identical to their Greek uncial counterparts.[1]
The early Cyrillic alphabet was very well suited for the writing of Old Church Slavic, generally following a principle of "one letter for one significant sound", with some arbitrary or phonotactically-based exceptions.[3] Particularly, this principle is violated by certain vowel letters, which represent[j] plus the vowel if they are not preceded by a consonant.[3] It is also violated by a significant failure to distinguish between /ji/ and /jĭ/ orthographically.[3] There was no distinction of capital and lowercase letters, though manuscript letters were rendered larger for emphasis, or in various decorative initial and nameplate forms.[4] Letters served asnumerals as well as phonetic signs; the values of the numerals were directly borrowed fromtheir Greek-letter analogues.[3] Letters without Greek equivalents mostly had no numeral values, whereas one letter,koppa, had only a numeric value with no phonetic value.[3]
Since its creation, the Cyrillic script has adapted to changes in spoken language and developed regional variations to suit the features of national languages. It has been the subject of academic reforms and political decrees. Variations of the Cyrillic script are used to write languages throughoutEastern Europe andAsia.
The form of the Russian alphabet underwent a change when TsarPeter the Great introduced thecivil script (Russian:гражданский шрифт,romanized: graždanskiy šrift, orгражданка,graždanka), in contrast to the prevailing church typeface, (Russian:церковнославя́нский шрифт,romanized: cerkovnoslavjanskiy šrift) in 1708. (The two forms are sometimes distinguished aspaleo-Cyrillic andneo-Cyrillic.) Some letters and breathing marks which were used only for historical reasons were dropped. Medieval letterforms used in typesetting were harmonized with Latin typesetting practices, exchanging medieval forms for Baroque ones, and skipping the western European Renaissance developments. The reform subsequently influencedCyrillic orthographies for most other languages. Today, the early orthography and typesetting standards remain in use only inSlavonic. A comprehensive repertoire of early Cyrillic characters has been included in theUnicode standard since version 5.1, published April 4, 2008. These characters and their distinctive letterforms are represented in specialized computer fonts forSlavistics.
| Image | Unicode | Name (Cyrillic) | Name (translit.) | Translit. international system[3][12] | Translit. ALA-LC[13] | IPA | Numeric value | Origin | Meaning of name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | А а | аꙁъ | azо̆ | a | a | [ɑː] | 1 | Greekalpha Α | I (First-person personal pronoun) | |
 | Б б | бѹкꙑ | buky | b | b | [b] | Greekbeta in Thera form | letters | ||
 | В в | вѣдѣ | vědě | v | v | [v] | 2 | GreekBeta Β | know | |
 | Г г | глаголи | glagoli | g | g | [ɡ][3] | 3 | GreekGamma Γ | talk | When marked with a palatalization mark, this letter is pronounced[ɟ]; this occurs only rarely, and only in borrowings.[3] |
 | Д д | добро | dobro | d | d | [d̪] | 4 | GreekDelta Δ | good | |
 | Є є,Е е | єсть | est’ | e | e | [ɛ̠] | 5 | GreekEpsilon Ε | is - exists | The formє was one of its variants. |
 | Ж ж | живѣтє | živěte | ž | zh | [ʒ] | GlagoliticZhivete Ⰶ | live | ||
 | Ꙃ ꙃ,Ѕ ѕ | ꙃѣло | dzělo | d︠z︡ | ż | [d̪︠z̪︡] | 6 | GreekStigma Ϛ | very | The formꙃ had the phonetic value[dz] and no numeral value, whereas the formѕ was used only as a numeral and had no phonetic value.[3] Since the 12th century,ѕ came to be used instead ofꙃ.[14][15] In many manuscriptsз is used instead, suggestinglenition had taken place.[3] |
 | Ꙁ ꙁ,З з | ꙁемл҄ꙗ | zemlja | z | z | [z̪]~[z] | 7 | GreekZeta Ζ | earth | The first form developed into the second,ꙁ only occurred in lowercase form.[16] |
 | И и | иже | iže | i | и=i, й=ĭ | [i]~[j] | 8 | GreekEta Η | Its original form was identical to the Greek letterEta until mostly the 13th century, which saw its straight line starting to turn into a diagonal one, this might have later influenced the letterн to change too. | |
 | Ї ї,І і | и | i | ī | 10 | GreekIota Ι | and | Both forms always existed, however, in older textsї was generally preferred, around the 18th century, though,і became more prominent. | ||
 | К к | како | kako | k | k | [k] | 20 | GreekKappa Κ | as | When marked with a palatalization mark, this letter is pronounced[c]; this occurs only rarely, and only in borrowings.[3] |
 | Л л | людїѥ | ljudjije | l | l | [ɫ̪]; sometimes[ʎ][3] | 30 | GreekLambda Λ | people | When marked with a palatalization mark or followed by a palatalizing vowel (ю,ѭ, orꙗ, and sometimesѣ), this letter is pronounced[ʎ]; some manuscripts do not mark palatalization, in which case it must be inferred from context.[3] |
 | М м | мꙑслитє | myslite | m | m | [m] | 40 | GreekMu Μ | think | |
 | Н н | нашь | našĕ | n | n | [n̪]; sometimes[ɲ][3] | 50 | GreekNu Ν | ours | When marked with a palatalization mark or followed by a palatalizing vowel (ю,ѭ, orꙗ, and sometimesѣ), this letter is pronounced[ɲ]; some manuscripts do not mark palatalization, in which case it must be inferred from context.[3] Its original form was identical to the Greek letterNu until mostly the 13th century, which saw its diagonal line starting to turn into a straight one, possibly by the influence of the letterи. |
 | О о | онъ | onо̆ | o | o | [ɔ] | 70 | GreekOmicron Ο | he/it | |
 | П п | покои | pokoj | p | p | [p] | 80 | GreekPi Π | peace/rest[17] | |
 | Ҁ ҁ | коппа | koppa | — | — | — | 90 | GreekKoppa Ϙ | May be sometimes omitted from the alphabet. Never had a phonetic value and was only used as a numeral for 90 until about 1300 when it was replaced byч, some might put this letter at the end of the alphabet. | |
 | Р р | рьци | rĕci | r | r | [r]; sometimes[rʲ][3] | 100 | GreekRho Ρ | say | When marked with a palatalization mark or followed by a palatalizing vowel (ю orѭ), this letter is pronounced[rʲ]; some manuscripts do not mark palatalization, in which case it must be inferred from context.[3] This palatalization was lost rather early in South Slavic speech.[3] |
 | С с | слово | slovo | s | s | [s̪] | 200 | Greeklunate Sigma Ϲ | word/speech | |
 | Т т | тврьдо | tvrĕdo | t | t | [t̪] | 300 | GreekTau Τ | hard/surely | |
 | Ѹ ѹ,Ꙋ ꙋ | ѹкъ | ukо̆ | u | ѹ=u, ꙋ=ū | [u] | 400 | GreekOmicron-Upsilon ΟΥ / Ꙋ | learning | The first form developed into the second, a verticalligature. A less common alternative form was a digraph withizhitsa: Оѵ оѵ. |
 | Ф ф | фрьтъ | frĕtо̆ | f | f | [f] or possibly[p][3] | 500 | GreekPhi Φ | This letter was not needed for Slavic but used to transcribe Greek Φ and Latin ph and f.[3] It was probably, but not certainly, pronounced as[f] rather than[p]; however, in some cases it has been found as a transcription of Greekπ.[3] | |
 | Х х | хѣръ | xěrо̆ | ch/x | kh | [x] | 600 | GreekChi Χ | When marked with a palatalization mark, this letter is pronounced[ç]; this occurs only rarely, and only in borrowings.[3] | |
 | Ѡ ѡ | ѡтъ orомега[18] | ōtо̆ | ō | ō | [ɔ] | 800 | GreekOmega ω | from | This letter was rarely used, mostly appearing in the interjection "oh", in the preposition ‹otŭ›, in Greek transcription, and as a decorative capital.[3] |
 | Ѿ ѿ | ѡтъ (ѿъ) | ōt | ō͡t | [ɔt̪] | Ѡ + Т ligature. | May be sometimes omitted from the alphabet. Originated as a ligature betweenѡ andт, however, it later gained its own spot in the alphabet and was preferred as a numeral for 800.[19] | |||
 | Ц ц | ци | ci | c | t͡s | [t̪͡s̪] | 900 | GlagoliticTsi Ⱌ | See also:Ꙡ ꙡ. | |
 | Ч ч | чьрвь | čĕrvĕ | č | ch | [t͡ʃ] | 90 | GlagoliticCherv Ⱍ | worm | This letter replacedkoppa as the numeral for 90 after about 1300.[3] |
 | Ш ш | ша | ša | š | sh | [ʃ] | GlagoliticSha Ⱎ | |||
 | Щ щ | ща | šta | št | sht | [ʃt̪] | GlagoliticShta Ⱋ | This letter varied in pronunciation from region to region; it may have originally represented the reflexes of[tʲ].[3] It was sometimes replaced by the digraph шт.[3] Pronounced[ʃtʃ] inOld East Slavic. Later analyzed as a Ш-Т ligature by folk etymology, but neither the Cyrillic nor the Glagolitic glyph originated as such a ligature.[3] | ||
 | Ъ ъ | ѥръ | jerо̆ | ŏ/ŭ | ″ | [ʊ]~[ʊ̆] | GlagoliticYer Ⱏ[1] | After č, š, ž, c, dz, št, and žd, this letter was pronounced identically toь instead of its normal pronunciation.[3] | ||
 | ЪЇъї[20] | ѥрꙑ | jery | y | ы=ȳ, ꙑ=y, | [ɨ]~[ɯ] | Ъ + Ї ligature. | This ligature had many possible forms, all of them being variations of Ъ/Ь with Ї/І/И. | ||
 | Ь ь | ѥрь | jerĕ | ĕ/ĭ | ' | [ɪ]~[ɪ̆] | GlagoliticYerj Ⱐ[1] | |||
 | Ѣ ѣ | ѣть | ětĕ | ě | ě | [æ][3] | Glagoliticyat Ⱑ[1] | In western South Slavic dialects ofOld Church Slavonic, this letter had a more closed pronunciation, perhaps[ɛ] or[e].[3] This letter was written only after a consonant; in all other positions,ꙗ was used instead.[3] An exceptional document isPages of Undolski, whereѣ is used instead ofꙗ. | ||
 | Ꙗ ꙗ | ꙗ | ja | ja | i͡a | [jɑː]~[jæː] | І-А ligature | This letter was probably not present in the original Cyrillic alphabet.[1] | ||
 | Ѥ ѥ | ѥ | je | je | i͡e | [jɛ] | І-Є ligature | This letter was probably not present in the original Cyrillic alphabet.[1] | ||
 | Ю ю | ю | ju | ju | i͡u | [ju] | І-ОУ ligature, dropping У | There was no[jo] sound in early Slavic, so І-ОУ did not need to be distinguished from І-О. After č, š, ž, c, dz, št, and žd, this letter was pronounced[u], without iotation. The first form of this letter might have been a mirrored version of the current one (ꙕ),[21] the latter was found in some early Slavonic manuscripts and portrays the Greek combinationomicron-iota (οι). | ||
 | Ѫ ѫ,Ꙛ ꙛ | ѫсъ | ǫsо̆ | ǫ | ǫ | [ɔ̃] | GlagoliticOns Ⱘ | Called юсъ большой (bigyus) in Russian. | ||
 | Ѭ ѭ | ѭсъ | jǫsо̆ | jǫ | i͡ǫ | [jɔ̃] | І-Ѫ ligature | After č, š, ž, c, dz, št, and žd, this letter was pronounced[ɔ̃], without iotation. Calledюсъ большой йотированный (iotated bigyus) in Russian. | ||
 | Ѧ ѧ,Ꙙ ꙙ | ѧнъ | ęnŏ | ę | ę | [ɛ̃] | 900 | GlagoliticEns Ⱔ | Pronounced[jɛ̃] when not preceded by a consonant.[3] Called юсъ малый (littleyus) inRussian. | |
 | Ѩ ѩ,Ꙝ ꙝ | ѩсъ | jęsо̆ | ję | i͡ę | [jɛ̃] | І-Ѧ ligature | This letter does not exist in the oldest (South Slavic) Cyrillic manuscripts, but only in East Slavic ones.[3] It was probably not present in the original Cyrillic alphabet.[1] Called юсъ малый йотированный (iotated littleyus) in Russian. | ||
 | Ѯ ѯ | ѯи | ksi | ks | k͡s | [ks̪] | 60 | GreekXi Ξ | xi (letter name) | These two letters were not needed for Slavic but were used to transcribe Greek and as numerals. |
 | Ѱ ѱ | ѱи | psi | ps | p͡s | [ps̪] | 700 | GreekPsi Ψ | psi (letter name) | |
 | Ѳ ѳ | ѳита | fita | t/f/th/ph | ḟ | [t̪] or[f], possibly might have been[θ] | 9 | GreekTheta Θ | theta (letter name) | This letter was not needed for Slavic but was used to transcribe Greek and as a numeral. It seems to have been generally pronounced[t], as the oldest texts sometimes replace instances of it withт.[3] NormalOld Church Slavonic pronunciation probably did not have a phone[θ].[3] |
 | Ѵ ѵ | ѷжица | üžica | y/ü | ѷ=ẏ, ѵ=v̇ | [i],[v], possibly also[y] | 400 | GreekUpsilon Υ | small yoke/Izhe | This letter was used to transcribe Greekupsilon and as a numeral. It also formed part of the digraph оѵ. |
In addition to the basic letters, there were a number of scribal variations, combining ligatures, and regionalisms used (for example, the additional letterꙉ, which was used officially by the Serbians[22]), all of which varied over time.
Versions of this initial alphabet where the lettersҁ andѿ are omitted are also valid, sinceҁ did not have a phonetic value nor an official placement in the alphabet with some putting it betweenп andр to correspond with the placement of the Greek letterϙ and other putting it right at the end, andѿ came later as ligature ofѡ andт.
Sometimes the Greek letters that were used in Cyrillic mainly for their numeric value are transcribed with the corresponding Greek letters for accuracy:ѳ =θ,ѯ =ξ,ѵ =υ,ҁ =ϙ,ѱ =ψ, andѡ =ω.[12]
Each letter hada numeric value also, inherited from the correspondingGreek letter. Atitlo over a sequence of letters indicated their use as a number; usually this was accompanied by a dot on either side of the letter.[3] In numerals, theones place was to the left of the tens place, the reverse of the order used in modern Arabic numerals.[3] Thousands are formed using a special symbol,҂ (U+0482), which was attached to the lower left corner of the numeral.[3] Many fonts display this symbol incorrectly as being in line with the letters instead of subscripted below and to the left of them.
Titlos were also used to form abbreviations, especially ofnomina sacra; this was done by writing the first and last letter of the abbreviated word along with the word's grammatical endings, then placing a titlo above it.[3] Later manuscripts made increasing use of a different style of abbreviation, in which some of the left-out letters were superscripted above the abbreviation and covered with apokrytie diacritic.[3]
Severaldiacritics, adopted fromPolytonic Greek orthography, were also used, but were seemingly redundant[3] (these may not appear correctly in all web browsers; they are supposed to be directly above the letter, not off to its upper right):
Punctuation systems in early Cyrillic manuscripts were primitive: there was no space between words and no upper and lower case, and punctuation marks were used inconsistently in all manuscripts.[3]
Some of these marks are also used inGlagolitic script.
Used only in modern texts
Media related toEarly Cyrillic at Wikimedia Commons
The Psalter and the Book of Prophets were adapted or „modernized" with special regard to their use in Bulgarian churches, and it was in this school that glagolitic writing was replaced by the so-called Cyrillic writing, which was more akin to the Greek uncial, simplified matters considerably and is still used by the Orthodox Slavs.
Types ofhandwritten Europeanscripts | ||
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| Ancient and medieval |  | |
| Modern | ||
| Teaching scripts | ||
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