The role of writing in the development of the entire human society cannot be overestimated. Even before the appearance of letters familiar to us, ancient people left various inscriptions on stone and rocks. At first these were drawings, then they were replaced by hieroglyphs. Finally, a letter more convenient for transmitting and understanding information appeared using letters. Centuries and millennia later, these signs-symbols helped to restore the past of many peoples. A special role in this case was played by written monuments: various codes of laws and official documents, literary works and memoirs of prominent people.
Today, knowledge of that language is an indicator not only of a person's intellectual development, but also determines his attitude to the country in which he was born and lives.
How it all began
In fact, the basis for the creation of the alphabet was laid by the Phoenicians at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. They came up with consonants, which they used for a long time. Subsequently, their alphabet was borrowed and improved by the Greeks: vowels already appeared in it. This was around the 8th century BC. e. Further, the history of the alphabet of the Russian language can be reflected in the scheme: Greek letter - Latin alphabet - Slavic Cyrillic. The latter served as the basis for the creation of writing among a number of related peoples.
Formation of the Old Russian state
From the 1st century AD, the process of disintegration of the tribes that inhabited the territory of Eastern Europe and spoke the common Proto-Slavic language began. As a result, Kievan Rus was formed in the region of the middle Dnieper, which later became the center of a large state. It was inhabited by a part of the Eastern Slavs, who eventually developed their own special way of life and customs. The story of how the Russian alphabet appeared was further developed.
The growing and strengthening state established economic and cultural ties with other countries, primarily Western European ones. And for this, writing was needed, especially since the first Church Slavonic books began to be brought to Russia. At the same time, there is a weakening of paganism and the spread throughout Europe of a new religion - Christianity. It was here that an urgent need arose for the "invention" of the alphabet, thanks to which the new teaching could be conveyed to all Slavs. It was the Cyrillic alphabet, created by the "brothers of Thessalonica".
The important mission of Constantine and Methodius
In the 9th century, the sons of a noble Thessalonica Greek, on behalf of the Byzantine emperor, went to Moravia - at that time a powerful state located within the borders of modern Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Their task was to acquaint the Slavs who inhabited Eastern Europe with the teachings of Christ and the ideas of Orthodoxy, and also to hold services in the native language of the local population. The choice fell on two brothers not by chance: they had good organizational skills, showed special diligence in their studies. In addition, both were fluent in Greek and Konstantin (shortly before his death, after being tonsured a monk, he was given a new name - Cyril, with whom he went down in history) and Methodius became the people who came up with the alphabet of the Russian language. This was perhaps the most significant result of their mission in 863.
Cyrillic base
When creating the alphabet for the Slavs, the brothers used the Greek alphabet. The letters corresponding to the pronunciation in the languages of these two peoples, they left unchanged. To designate the sounds of Slavic speech that were absent from the Greeks, 19 new signs were invented. As a result, the new alphabet included 43 letters, many of which subsequently entered the alphabets of the peoples who once spoke a common language.
But the story of who invented the alphabet of the Russian language does not end there. During the 9th-10th centuries, two types of alphabet were common among the Slavs: Cyrillic (it was mentioned above) and Glagolitic. The second contained a smaller number of letters - 38 or 39, their style was more complicated. In addition, the first signs were used additionally to indicate numbers.
So did Cyril invent the alphabet?
For several centuries, researchers have found it difficult to give an unambiguous answer to this question. In the "Life of Cyril" it is noted that "with the help of his brother ... and students ... he compiled the Slavic alphabet ...". If this is true, then which of the two - Cyrillic or Glagolitic - is his creation? The matter is complicated by the fact that the manuscripts made by Cyril and Methodius have not been preserved, and in later ones (related to the 9th-10th centuries) none of these alphabets is mentioned.
To understand who invented the alphabet of the Russian language, scientists have done a lot of research. In particular, they compared one and the other with the alphabets that existed even before their appearance and analyzed the results in detail. They did not come to a consensus, but most agree that Cyril most likely invented the Glagolitic alphabet, and even before his trip to Moravia. This is supported by the fact that the number of letters in it was as close as possible to the phonetic composition of the Old Slavonic language (designed specifically for writing). In addition, in their style, the Glagolitic letters differed to a greater extent from Greek ones and bear little resemblance to modern writing.
The Cyrillic alphabet, which became the basis for the Russian alphabet (az + beeches is the name of its first letters), could have been created by one of Konstantin's students - Kliment Okhritsky. He named it after his teacher.
The formation of the Russian alphabet
Regardless of who invented the Cyrillic alphabet, it was she who became the basis for the creation of the Russian alphabet and the modern alphabet.
In 988, Ancient Russia accepts Christianity, which significantly influenced the further fate of the language. Since that time, the formation of their own writing begins. Gradually, the Old Russian language, the alphabet of which is based on the Cyrillic alphabet, is being improved. It was a lengthy process that ended only after 1917. Then the last changes were made to the alphabet that we use today.
How Cyrillic changed
Before the Russian alphabet acquired the form it has today, the fundamental alphabet underwent a number of changes. The most significant were the reforms in 1708-10 under Peter I and in 1917-18 after the revolution.
Initially, the Cyrillic alphabet, which was very reminiscent of the Byzantine script, had several extra, doublet, letters, for example, i=i, o=ѡ - they were most likely used to convey Bulgarian sounds. There were also various superscripts that indicated stress, aspirated pronunciation.
Before the reign of Peter I, letters denoting numbers were drawn up in a special way - it was he who introduced the Arabic account.
In the first reform (this was due to the need to draw up business papers: 7 letters were removed from the alphabet: ξ (xi), S (green) and iotized vowels, I and Y were added (they replaced the existing ones), ε (reverse). This greatly simplified alphabet, and it began to be called "civilian". In 1783, N. Karamzin added the letter Y. Finally, after 1917, 4 more letters disappeared from the Russian alphabet, and b (er) and b (er) began to denote only the hardness and softness of consonants .
The name of the letters has also completely changed. Initially, each of them was a whole word, and the whole alphabet, according to many researchers, was filled with a special meaning. This showed the mind of those who invented the alphabet. The Russian language has preserved the memory of the first names of letters in proverbs and sayings. For example, “start from the basics” - that is, from the very beginning; "Fita yes Izhitsa - the whip is approaching the lazy." They are also found in phraseological units: “to look with a verb”.
Praise to the Great Saints
The creation of the Cyrillic alphabet was the greatest event for the entire Slavic world. The introduction of writing made it possible to pass on to the descendants the accumulated experience, to tell the glorious history of the formation and development of independent states. It is no coincidence that they say: "If you want to know the truth, start with the ABC."
Centuries pass, new discoveries appear. But those who came up with the alphabet of the Russian language are remembered and revered. The proof of this is the holiday, the Day which is celebrated annually on May 24 all over the world.
The alphabet of the Russian language has a long history. And although this is a well-known truth, few people know who and when invented it.
Where did the Russian alphabet come from
The history of the Russian alphabet plunges into deep antiquity, during the times of pagan Kievan Rus.
The command to create the Russian alphabet came from Emperor Michael III of Byzantium, who instructed the monk brothers to develop the letters of the Russian alphabet, later called Cyrillic. This happened in 863.
The Cyrillic alphabet went back to the Greek script, but since Cyril and Methodius came from Bulgaria, this land becomes the center for the spread of literacy and writing. Church Greek and Latin books began to be translated into Old Church Slavonic. After several centuries, it became exclusively the language of the church, but played an important role in the development of the modern Russian language. Many consonants and vowels have not survived to this day, since this Russian alphabet has undergone many changes. The main transformations affected the alphabet during the time of Peter the Great and during the October Revolution.
How many letters are in the alphabet?
However, it is interesting not only who invented the Russian alphabet, but also how many letters it contains. Most people, even in adulthood, doubt how many there are: 32 or 33. And what can we say about children! There is every reason for this. Let's dive into history.
There were 43 letters in the Old Slavonic alphabet (in the form in which it has come down to us in written sources). Subsequently, 4 more letters were added, and 14 were removed, since the sounds they denoted ceased to be pronounced or merged with similar ones. In the 19th century, the Russian historian and writer N. Karamzin introduced the letter "yo" into the alphabet.
For a long time, "E" and "Yo" were considered one letter, so it was customary to think that there were 32 letters in the alphabet.
Only after 1942 they were separated, and the alphabet became 33 letters.
The alphabet of the Russian language in its current form is divided into vowels and consonants.
We pronounce vowels freely: the sound passes through the vocal cords without obstacles.
Consonant sounds for their creation require obstacles on the way. In modern Russian, these letters and sounds are in the following ratio, while the number of sounds and letters will be different:
- - sounds: vowels - 6, consonants - 37;
- - letters: vowels - 10, consonants - 21.
If you do not go into details and say briefly, this is due to the fact that some vowels (e, e, u, i) can mean two sounds, and consonants have pairs of hardness-softness.
By spelling, uppercase and lowercase letters are distinguished:
Their writing is associated with the need to highlight proper and common nouns in the text (capitals are used for the latter, as well as for writing words in general).
Learning the order of letters
Even if your child knows what the letters are called, closer to school age, the problem arises that you need to memorize the letters in order in the alphabet. Most children confuse letters for a long time and cannot put them in the right order. Although helping a child is very simple. There are several ways to do this.
Photos and pictures for babies
Pictures and photos with letters can help you learn the alphabet. You can download them on our website, print, stick on thick cardboard and engage with your child.
What can be useful pictures and photos attached to the designations of letters?
Beautiful design, bright colors will surely attract the attention of kids. Children are interested in everything unusual, colorful - and learning goes faster and more exciting. The Russian alphabet and pictures will become best friends in the lessons for kids.
Russian alphabet in pictures for children. 
Table with cards of the Russian alphabet. Another option is a table of letters with numbers, numbers
It is also easy to download and print it on the site. A numbered list of letters for children can make it much easier for those who can count to learn the order of the alphabet. So the guys remember firmly how many letters are in the alphabet, and the accompanying photos and pictures that the table includes help build an associative array. So someone came up with a great idea - to learn the alphabet with pictures and photos.
Russian alphabet with letter numbering. Educational cartoons
No one will argue with the fact that all children love cartoons. But after all, this love can be put to good use and learn the alphabet with the help of specially created educational cartoons. They include excerpts from Soviet cartoons, bright designations of letters, pictures, songs. Musical accompaniment makes children hum and rhyme the alphabet, and this way it is remembered much faster.
— "Alphabet in cartoons"
You can watch this cartoon here:
This is a great video tutorial for kids. There is not only writing and reading letters, but also excerpts from cartoons, images of what words mean for a particular letter, etc. The kid will have no choice but to memorize the song and the order of the letters.
- "Learning letters: the alphabet in verse"
You can watch this cartoon here:
In addition to colorful cartoons, melodic musical accompaniment, the cartoon "Learning letters: the alphabet in verse" offers simple verses that are easy to remember and tell the kid which letter in the alphabet is next.
- "ABC for kids" studio Berg Sound
This is a great cartoon for those children who are already familiar with the alphabet and are trying to read. Here we learn the alphabet and the rules for writing words with the Computer and its assistant File. They tell the kids, using the example of words, how to read, and what place the letters occupy in the alphabet, as well as how many letters are in the Russian alphabet. This is a fascinating cartoon designed for 30-40 minutes, so you have to be patient. But for children, it will not be needed: the material is presented in a playful way, and the children do not get bored.
You can see the cartoon here
- "Learning letters with the cat Busya"
You can download the cartoon here
The main character is the cat Busya, who came out of the illustrated primer to show the children how the letters look and are read. The cartoon has not only colorful drawings, but also musical accompaniment. Cat Busya reads short poems dedicated to a single letter.
- "Learning the Russian alphabet"
It will be easy to watch this cartoon here
It is a viewing of an illustrated primer, and a male voice pleasantly and slowly reads small poems dedicated to letters.
Thus, learning the alphabet should be interesting for children, then they will quickly and easily master the material. Learning in a fun and non-intrusive way
“Where does the Motherland begin,” as is sung in an old and soulful song? And it starts small: with love for the native language, with the alphabet. Since childhood, we have all become accustomed to a certain type of letters in the alphabet of the Russian language. And as a rule, we rarely think: when and under what conditions did it arise. Nevertheless, the presence and emergence of writing is an important and fundamental milestone in the historical maturation of every nation in the world, contributing to the development of its national culture and self-consciousness. Sometimes, in the depths of centuries, the specific names of the creators of the writing of a particular people are lost. But in the Slavic context, this did not happen. And those who invented the Russian alphabet are still known. Let's find out more about these people.
The very word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters: alpha and beta. It is known that the ancient Greeks put a lot of effort into the development and spread of writing in many European countries. Who first invented the alphabet in world history? There are scholarly debates about this. The main hypothesis is the Sumerian "alphabet", which appears about five thousand years ago. Egyptian is also considered one of the most ancient (of the known). Writing develops from drawings to signs, turning into graphic systems. And the signs began to display sounds.
The development of writing in the history of mankind is difficult to overestimate. The language of the people, its writing reflects life, way of life and knowledge, historical and mythological characters. Thus, by reading ancient inscriptions, modern scientists can recreate what our ancestors lived.
History of the Russian alphabet
It has, one might say, a unique origin. Its history is about a thousand years old, it keeps many secrets.
Cyril and Methodius
The creation of the alphabet is firmly associated with these names in the question of who invented the Russian alphabet. Let's go back to the ninth century. In those days (830-906) Great Moravia (a region of the Czech Republic) was one of the major European states. And Byzantium was the center of Christianity. The Moravian prince Rostislav in 863 turned to Michael III, the Byzantine emperor at that time, with a request to hold services in the Slavic language in order to strengthen the influence of Byzantine Christianity in the region. In those days, it is worth noting, the cult was sent only in those languages that were displayed on the Jesus cross: Hebrew, Latin and Greek.
The Byzantine ruler, in response to the proposal of Rostislav, sends a Moravian mission to him, consisting of two monk brothers, sons of a noble Greek who lived in Saluny (Thessaloniki). Michael (Methodius) and Constantine (Cyril) and are considered the official creators of the Slavic alphabet for church service. It is in honor of the church name of Cyril and was called "Cyrillic". Konstantin himself was younger than Michael, but even his brother recognized his intelligence and superiority in knowledge. Cyril knew many languages and owned oratory, participated in religious verbal disputes, was a wonderful organizer. This, according to many scientists, allowed him (together with his brother and other assistants) to connect and summarize the data, creating the alphabet. But the history of the Russian alphabet began long before the Moravian mission. And that's why.
Who invented the Russian alphabet (alphabet)
The fact is that historians have unearthed an interesting fact: even before their departure, the brothers had already created the Slavic alphabet, well adapted to convey the speech of the Slavs. It was called Glagolitic (it was recreated on the basis of Greek writing with elements of Coptic and Hebrew characters).
Glagolitic or Cyrillic?
Today, scientists from different countries, for the most part, recognize the fact that the Glagolitic alphabet, created by Cyril back in 863 in Byzantium, was the first. He introduced her in a fairly short time. And another, different from the previous one, the Cyrillic alphabet was invented in Bulgaria, a little later. And there are still disputes about the authorship of this, undoubtedly, a cornerstone invention for the pan-Slavic history. After a brief history of the Russian alphabet (Cyrillic) is as follows: in the tenth century it penetrates into Russia from Bulgaria, and its written fixation is fully formalized only in the XIV century. In a more modern form - from the end of the XVI century.
Letters are the basis of any language in the world, because we use their combination when we think, speak or write. The ABC of the Russian language is interesting not only as a “building material”, but also as a history of its formation. In this regard, the question arises: who created the alphabet of the Russian language? Most people, without hesitation, will say that the main authors of the Russian alphabet are Cyril and Methodius. However, only a few people know that they not only created the letters of the alphabet, but began to use signs in writing, and also translated a huge number of church books.
How did the Russian alphabet appear?
From the 9th to the 10th century, Great Moravia was one of the largest states. At the end of 862, her prince Rostislav wrote a letter to the emperor of Byzantium Michael with a plea for permission to conduct services in the Slavic language. At that time, the inhabitants of Moravia had a common language, but there was no written language. Greek writing or Latin was used. Emperor Michael granted the request of the prince and sent a mission to Moravia in the person of two learned brothers. Cyril and Methodius were well educated and belonged to a noble family. It was they who became the founders of Slavic culture and writing. However, one should not think that up to this point people remained illiterate. They used letters from the Book of Veles. Who came up with the letters or characters in it is still not known.
An interesting fact is that the brothers created the letters of the alphabet even before they came to Moravia. It took them about three years to create the Russian alphabet and arrange the letters into the alphabet. The brothers managed to translate the Bible and liturgical books from Greek, henceforth the liturgy in the church was conducted in a language understandable to the local population. Some letters in the alphabet had a great resemblance to Greek and Latin signs. In 863, an alphabet was created, consisting of 49 letters, but later it was abolished to 33 letters. The originality of the created alphabet is that each letter conveys one sound.
I wonder why the letters in the alphabet of the Russian language have a certain sequence? The creators of the Russian alphabet considered letters from the point of view of ordering numbers. Each letter defines a digit, so the letters-numbers are arranged in the ascending direction.
Who invented the Russian alphabet?
In 1917-1918. the first reform was carried out aimed at improving the spelling of the Slavic language. The Ministry of Public Education decided to correct the books. The alphabet or the Russian alphabet regularly underwent changes, so the Russian alphabet appeared, which we use now.
The history of the Russian language is fraught with numerous discoveries and secrets:
- The alphabet of the Russian language has the letter "Ё". It was introduced by the Academy of Sciences in 1783 by Princess Vorontsova-Dashkova, who headed it at that time. She asked the academics why two letters convey the first syllable in the word "iolka". Not having received an answer that satisfied her, the princess created an order to use the letter "Yo" in the letter.
- The one who invented the Russian alphabet left no explanation for the dumb letter "er". It was used until 1918 after hard consonants. The country's treasury spent more than 400 thousand rubles on writing "er", so the letter was very expensive.
- Another difficult letter in the Russian alphabet is "i" or "i". The reforming philologists could not decide which sign to keep, so significant was the evidence for the importance of their use. This letter in the Russian alphabet was read the same way. The difference between "and" or "i" in the semantic load of the word. For example, "peace" in the sense of "universe" and "peace" in the sense of the absence of war. After decades of disputes, the creators of the alphabet left the letter "and".
- The letter "e" in the Russian alphabet was previously called "e reverse". M.V. Lomonosov did not recognize it for a long time, as he considered it borrowed from other languages. But she successfully took root among other letters in the Russian alphabet.
The Russian alphabet is full of interesting facts, almost every letter has its own history. But the creation of the alphabet was reflected only in scientific and educational activities. The innovators had to teach the new letters to the people and, above all, the clergy. Dogma was closely intertwined with the clergy and politics. Unable to withstand the endless persecution, Cyril dies, and a few years later, Methodius. The gratitude of the descendants cost the brothers dearly.
The alphabet has not changed for a long time. In the last century, according to the old Russian alphabet, children were taught at school, so we can say that the modern names of the letters came into general use only during the reign of Soviet power. The order of letters in the Russian alphabet has remained the same since the day of its creation, as signs were used to form numbers (although we have been using Arabic numerals for a long time).
The Old Slavonic alphabet, created in the ninth century, became the basis for the formation of writing among many peoples. Cyril and Methodius made a colossal contribution to the history of the development of the Slavic languages. Already in the ninth century, it was understood that not every nationality had the honor to use its own alphabet. We still use the legacy of the brothers to this day.
The largest number of letters in the Guinness Book of Records is the Khmer alphabet. It has 72 letters. This language is spoken in Cambodia.
However, the largest number of letters contains the Ubykh alphabet - 91 letters. The Ubykh language (the language of one of the Caucasian peoples) is considered one of the champions in terms of sound diversity: according to experts, there are up to 80 consonant phonemes in it.
Under the Soviet regime, serious changes were made to the alphabets of all peoples living on the territory of the USSR: in the Russian language, in the direction of reducing the number of letters, and in other languages, mainly in the direction of increasing them. After perestroika, the number of letters in the alphabets of many peoples living on the territory of the former Soviet republics decreased.
Modern Russian has 33 letters. According to official sources, before the reform of Cyril and Methodius, there were 43 letters in the Russian language, and according to unofficial sources - 49.
The first 5 letters were thrown out by Cyril and Methodius, because there were no corresponding sounds in the Greek language, and Greek names were given for four. Yaroslav the Wise removed one more letter, leaving 43. Peter I reduced it to 38. Nicholas II to 35. As part of the Lunacharsky reform, the letters “yat”, “fita” and “and decimal” were excluded from the alphabet (E, F should be used instead , And ), and also the solid sign (Ъ) at the end of words and parts of compound words would be excluded, but preserved as a separating sign (rise, adjutant).
In addition, Lunacharsky removed the images from the Initial Letter, leaving only phonemes, i.e. language has become unfigurative = ugly. So instead of the Primer, the Alphabet appeared.
Until 1942, it was officially believed that there were 32 letters in the Russian alphabet, since E and Yo were considered as variants of the same letter.
The Ukrainian alphabet includes 33 letters: in comparison with Russian, Ёё, Ъъ, Yы, Ее are not used, but Ґґ, Єє, Іі and Її are present.
The Belarusian alphabet has 32 letters today. Compared with Russian alphabet i, u, ъ are not used, but the letters i and ў are added, and the digraphs j and dz are sometimes considered to have the status of letters.
The Yakut language uses an alphabet based on Cyrillic, which contains the entire Russian alphabet, plus five additional letters and two combinations. 4 diphthongs are also used.
The Kazakh and Bashkir Cyrillic alphabet contains 42 letters.
The current Chechen alphabet contains 49 letters (compiled on a graphic basis Russian alphabet in 1938). In 1992, the Chechen leadership decided to introduce an alphabet based on the Latin script of 41 letters. This alphabet was used to a limited extent in parallel with Cyrillic between 1992 and 2000.
The Armenian alphabet contains 38 letters, but after the reform in 1940, the ligature "
և "undeservedly received the status of a letter that does not have a capital letter - thus the number of letters became, as it were," thirty-eight and a half."The Tatar alphabet after the translation in 1939 of the Tatar script from romanized alphabet on the alphabet based on Russian graphics contained 38 letters, and after 1999 the alphabet based on the Latin script of 34 letters is widely used.
The Kirghiz Cyrillic alphabet, adopted in 1940, contains 36 letters.
The modern Mongolian alphabet contains 35 letters and differs from Russian in two additional letters: Ө and Y.
In 1940, the Uzbek alphabet, like the alphabets of other peoples of the USSR, was translated into Cyrillic and contained 35 letters. In the 90s of the last century, the Uzbek authorities decided to translate the Uzbek language into the Latin alphabet and the alphabet became 28 letters.
The modern Georgian alphabet consists of 33 letters.
There are 31 letters in the Macedonian and Moldavian Cyrillic alphabet. The Finnish alphabet also consists of 31 letters.
The Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet includes 30 letters - compared to Russian, it lacks the letters Y, E and Yo.
The Tibetan alphabet consists of 30 syllable letters, which are considered consonants. Each of them, composing the initial letter of the syllable and not having another vowel sign, is accompanied by the sound “a” during pronunciation.
The Swedish and Norwegian alphabets have 29 letters.
The Arabic alphabet contains 28 letters. The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters.
There are 26 letters in the Latin, English, German and French alphabets.
The Italian alphabet "officially" consists of the 21st letter, but actually has 26 letters.
The Greek alphabet has 24 letters, while the standard Portuguese alphabet has 23 letters.
There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, there is no difference between uppercase and lowercase letters.
The smallest number of letters in the alphabet of the Rotokas tribe from the island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. There are only eleven of them (a, b, e, g, i, k, o, p, t, u) - of which 6 are consonants.
Considering how many letters there are in the language of one of the Papuan tribes, it is interesting that in all alphabets the number of letters gradually changes, usually downwards.
A change in the number of letters in the alphabet in all countries of the world, as a rule, occurs with the advent of a new government so that the younger generation is cut off from the language, literature, culture and traditions of their ancestors, and after a while speaks a completely different language.
