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.
What does the term "Cyrillic" mean?
First of all, Cyrillic is the writing system of all Slavic languages - Russian, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, etc. However, the union of all national Cyrillic alphabets is not entirely correct, we should talk about the varieties of Cyrillic in relation to each Slavic language.
What is Cyrillic as a writing system has been known since ancient times. The founders of Cyrillic writing (about 863 AD) are rightfully considered Christian preachers from Greek city Thessaloniki - brothers Cyril and Methodius.
Cyrillic is also considered Old Slavonic alphabet. Along with the Glagolitic alphabet, Cyrillic is one of the ancient alphabets. Old Church Slavonic. The traditional Cyrillic alphabet consists of 43 elements, of which 24 are entirely the Greek alphabet, and the remaining 19 are native Slavic. Before early XVIII century, namely, before the reform of Peter I, the entire Cyrillic text was written capital letters, there were no lowercase. Cyrillic letters are also used to write Greek numbers.
Cyrillic is also called the traditional statutory or semi-statutory script in which church books are printed.
Files stored on a computer have a specific encoding. One of which is the so-called "Cyrillic". Exist various programs, which help to translate the file encoding format from one to another. You can read more about the Cyrillic alphabet in the password in the article.
Cyrillic and Glagolitic are ancient Slavic alphabets. The Cyrillic alphabet got its name from the name of its creator, St. Cyril Equal to the Apostles. What is a verb? Where did she come from? And how is it different from Cyrillic?
What is older?
Until recently, it was believed that the Cyrillic alphabet is older and this is the same alphabet that was created by the brothers Cyril and Methodius. The Glagolitic was considered a later system that arose as a secret script. However, at present, a point of view has been established in science that the Glagolitic alphabet is older than the Cyrillic alphabet. The oldest accurately dated Glagolitic inscription dates back to 893 and is located in the church of the Bulgarian king Simeon in Preslav. There are other ancient texts dating back to the 10th century that were written in the Glagolitic alphabet. The antiquity of Glagolitic inscriptions is indicated by palimpsests - manuscripts written on a used sheet of parchment, from which more than ancient text. There are many palimpsests where the inscription in Glagolitic was scraped off, and Cyrillic was written on top, and never vice versa. In addition, the Glagolitic texts are written in a more archaic language than the Cyrillic ones.
Theories of the origin of the Glagolitic alphabet
It is well known that the saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril Glagolitic was created. There is even reason to believe that in ancient Russian the Glagolitic was called "Cyrillic". There are several theories about the origin of the Glagolitic characters. It is believed that these letters were created by Cyril on the basis of some ancient "Slavic runes". Despite the fact that there is not a single serious evidence in favor of this theory, it has its followers.
It is also believed that the appearance of the Glagolitic letters coincides with Khutsuri, an ancient Georgian church letter. If this is so, then there is nothing strange in this - it is known that Cyril was well acquainted with oriental writings.
Before 19th century In Croatia, there was a theory that the author of the Glagolitic alphabet was not Cyril, but Saint Jerome, a church writer, the creator of the canonical Latin text of the Bible, who lived in the 5th century AD. Perhaps the theory was brought to life by the fact that the Slavic population of Croatia sought, with the help of the authority of a revered saint, to protect their alphabet and their language from the forced latinization imposed by the Roman Catholic Church, which, at the Council of the Bishops of Dalmatia and Croatia in 1056, called the Glagolitic alphabet "Gothic writings invented by a certain heretic Methodius." In Croatia, the Glagolitic alphabet is still used in church books to this day.
What are the similarities and differences
Based on Glagolitic and Greek alphabet Cyril's disciple Kliment Ohridsky, who worked in Bulgaria, created the alphabet, which we today call the Cyrillic alphabet. There is no difference between the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets either in the number of letters - in the original version there are 41 of them in both alphabets - or in their names - all the same "az", "beeches", "lead" ...
The only difference is in the lettering. There are two forms of Glagolitic inscription: the older one is round - known as Bulgarian, and the later one is angular or Croatian.
The numerical value of the letters does not match either. The fact is that in the Middle Ages, the Slavic peoples, like the Greeks, did not know Arabic numerals and used letters to record numbers. In the Glagolitic alphabet, "az" corresponds to one, "beeches" to two, and so on. In Cyrillic, numbers are tied to numerical values corresponding letters of the Greek alphabet. Therefore, “az” is a unit, and “lead” is a deuce. There are other inconsistencies as well.
The author of the medieval Bulgarian treatise “On Letters”, Chernorizets Khrabr, wrote about the Slavic alphabet, about its advantage over the Greek one and that it has undergone improvement: “The same Slavic letters are more holiness and honor that the holy man created them, and the Greek ones - the Hellenes filthy. If someone says that he did not arrange them well, because they are still finishing them, in response we will say this: the Greeks also completed many times.
Use of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets in Russia
The Glagolitic alphabet has become widespread among the southern Slavic peoples, and in ancient Russia it was used very little - there are only single inscriptions. Already in early XXI century in Novgorod Sophia Cathedral"graffiti" in a mixture of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets dating back to the 11th century were discovered. Sometimes the Glagolitic alphabet was used in Russia as a secret script, which suggests that even in those days it was little known to anyone.
one of the two, together with the Glagolitic alphabet, the first Slavic alphabets. Named after the Slavic educator Cyril. In 1708, it was reformed in Russia and formed the basis of the Russian alphabet.
Great Definition
Incomplete definition ↓
CYRILLIC
one of two, along with the Glagolitic alphabet, the first Slavic alphabets. Created based on the Greek alphabet with the addition of a few letters. Its creation is attributed to Cyril (see Cyril and Methodius). In 1708 it was reformed, and in 1710 Peter I personally ruled and approved the alphabet, introducing a civil script.
Great Definition
Incomplete definition ↓
CYRILLIC
one of the two (together with the Glagolitic alphabet) of the first Slavic alphabets. Named after the enlightener Cyril (see Cyril and Methodius). Created on the basis of the Greek statutory letter in the late 9th - early 10th centuries. with the addition of a few letters. Known in Russia before the adoption of Christianity. After the Baptism of Russia in 988-89, it was laid as the basis Old Russian writing. In 1708 in Russia it was reformed and made the basis of the Russian alphabet.
Great Definition
Incomplete definition ↓
Cyrillic
one of the Slavic alphabets (along with the Glagolitic), probably created at the end of the IX - beginning. 10th century educator Cyril on the basis of the Greek script (possibly named after him). Underlies the series Slavic alphabets. Reformed by Peter I in 1708. The last reform was carried out in 1918, when the letters "I", "V", "Q" were excluded from it, "b" was no longer used at the end of words after solid consonants. At the same time, three new letters appeared (Y, E, YO).
Great Definition
Incomplete definition ↓
CYRILLIC
one of the two (along with the Glagolitic) ancient glories. alphabet Name "TO." comes from the name of the educator of the Slavs Cyril, who developed glory. alphabet. Before K., the Slavs sporadically used Greek. alphabet (certificate of Chernorizets Brave, etc.) for the transfer of otd. glory. texts. In the 10-11 centuries. K. had 43 letters, of which 25 were borrowed from Byzantium. charter, and 18 were built relatively independently to transfer those missing in Greek. language of sounds Staroslav. speech. The oldest surviving monuments written by K.: inscriptions on the ruins of the Bolg. Tsar Simeon (Preslav, late 9th century), Bolg. inscription from Dobruja (943), Rus. the inscription on the pot - "gorukhsha", found in a mound near Smolensk (beginning of the 10th century), Novgorod " Ostromir gospel"(1056-57) and birch bark letters(11th century and later). The alphabetical composition and graphics of K. have changed several times, in particular in Russia, as a result of the reforms of 1708-10, 1735, 1738, 1758 and 1917-18, 12 letters K., which became unnecessary, were excluded, and two new ones were introduced - "y" (1735), "e" (finally since 1956). Statutory letter from the 14th century. was supplanted by a simpler and more fluent semi-ustav (which formed the basis of the first Russian printed fonts), in con. 14th c. in everyday and clerical correspondence, even more fluent cursive writing became widespread, and in book headings - ornamental script; in 1708-1710, Peter I introduced a "civilian" font close to the modern one instead of the half-ustav. The alphabets of most peoples of the USSR (except for Georgian, Armenian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian) and also Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, and Mongolian were built on the basis of K. Writing systems based on K. are used by 10% of the population the globe and are used for 70 languages. -***-***-***- Alphabets of Cyrillic and Glagolitic in comparison with the letters of the Byzantine charter
Based on the almost complete coincidence of K. in alphabetical composition, location, sound value and the names of letters with the Glagolitic alphabet (K. differed from it only in a clearer form of letters close to the Byzantine charter and partly in their numerical value) suggest that one of the glories. the alphabet arose on the basis of another. About the origin of K., about which of the two glory. the alphabet was created by Cyril and is more ancient, there are a number of hypotheses. Most scientists (G. Dobner, P. I. Shafarik, N. S. Tikhonravov, V. I. Grigorovich, I. V. Yagich, V. N. Shchepkin, A. M. Selishchev, L. A. Yakubinsky, E Georgiev and others), referring to the great archaism of the Glagolitic language. monuments and on the Novgorod manuscript of the 11th century, in which Glagolitic. the letter is called K., he believes that Cyril developed the Glagolitic alphabet, and K. was created by the beginning of the 10th century. in Bulgaria in order to bring glory closer. letters to Byzantine. A number of researchers (I. Dobrovsky, I. I. Sreznevsky, A. I. Sobolevsky, E. F. Karsky, V. A. Istrin, and others) attribute to Cyril the development of K., and consider the Glagolitic alphabet created in Moravia at the end of the 9th century ., when too similar to Byzantium. letter K. was there persecuted by the Roman clergy, who competed with Byzantium. As evidence, they refer to the "Tale" of the Brave, in which the characterization of Cyril's alphabet is more suitable for K. than for the Glagolitic. The issue is complicated by the fact that until the 11th-12th centuries. K. and Glagolitic were used by the Slavs in parallel, only later K., as more convenient, replaced the Glagolitic. Lit .: Vilinsky S. G., The Tale of the Chernorizet the Brave about Slavic writings, O., 1901; Yastrebov N. V., Collection of sources for the history of life and work of Cyril and Methodius, St. Petersburg, 1911; Karsky E. P., Slavic Kirillov paleography, L., 1928; Lavrov P. A., Materials on the history of the emergence of ancient Slavic writing, L., 1930; Ilyinsky G. A., Experience of systematic Cyril and Methodius bibliography, S., 1934; Georgiev E., Slavic writing before Cyril and Methodius, S., 1952; Cherepnin L. V., Russian paleography, M., 1956; Istrin V. A., 1100 years of the Slavic alphabet, M., 1963; Hilyada and a hundred years of Slavonic writing. 863-1963, S., 1963. V. A. Istrin. Moscow.
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, more precisely, 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 its history 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 to create 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 fact that the Cyrillic alphabet is an alphabet based on the Greek statutory letter. It is also worth noting that with the help of some letters of the Cyrillic alphabet, numbers were indicated. For this, a special symbol was placed above the combination of letters. diacritic- 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 had adopted Christianity. At the end of the 9th century, the Cyrillic alphabet penetrated into Serbia, and after another hundred years, into the territory of Kievan Rus.
Along with the alphabet, church literature, translations of the Gospel, the Bible, and prayers began to spread.
In fact, from this it becomes clear what Cyrillic is and where it came from. But has it come down to us in its original form? Far from it. Like many other things, writing has changed and improved along with our language and culture.
Modern Cyrillic has lost some of its designations and letters in the course of various reforms. So such as the title, iso, camora, the letters er and er, yat, yus big and small, izhitsa, fita, psi and xi disappeared. The modern Cyrillic alphabet consists of 33 letters.
In addition, alphabetic reckoning has not been used for a long time, it has been completely replaced Modern version Cyrillic 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 monks-enlighteners Cyril and Methodius on the orders of Tsar Michael III. Having accepted 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 long time remained the only type of literature that the educated sections of the population of Kievan Rus could enjoy.
In the course of time and under the influence of various reforms, the alphabet changed, improved, unnecessary and unnecessary letters and designations disappeared from it. Cyrillic alphabet, which 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.
Studies of Slavic writing monuments are rather scarce, but Russian writing has its own history, from which ours “came out”. modern alphabet. Az, beeches, lead ... this is the first scripture Slavic letters called Cyrillic. Where did these letters come from, how were they modernized and are they used in modern times? Let's figure it out together.
What is Cyrillic?
Cyrillic is a system of symbols that were used for writing by peoples living on the territory of the ancient Slavic states. If you explain in simple words what is the Cyrillic alphabet, then this is the usual alphabet, consisting of ancient characters. On Wikipedia, the term Cyrillic has a broader meaning and several transcripts. So, Cyrillic is:
- Old Slavonic alphabet.
- Ancient alphabet.
- Church script font.
The "ancestor" of the Cyrillic alphabet is Greek language(the authorized letter is unciale), and such an alphabet was created approximately in the 9th century in Bulgaria. Composed ancient cyrillic of 45 letters. BUT the main objective its creations - write down Church Slavonic languages, which contributed to the acquaintance of pagan tribes with Eastern Christianity.
A bit of history about the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet
The term got its name in honor of the educator Cyril, who, together with Methodius, was one of the first to create Slavic alphabet. He also translated Christian liturgical writings, which made a huge contribution to the church culture of that time.
After the adoption of Christianity, Russia received the alphabet, known to us as the Cyrillic alphabet, thanks to which Greek religious texts were translated. Today, 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 Cyrillic in the modern world?
The ancient Cyrillic alphabet has not come down to 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, it is still written by the peoples who speak the language Slavic languages, such as:
- Kyrgyz;
- Abkhazian;
- Kazakh;
- Mongolian;
- Ossetian;
- Tajik.
most sacred Orthodox books and writings, created in Cyrillic languages. These are the Bible, Genesis, the Gospel, the Service Books, the Epistles.
The modern Cyrillic alphabet has only 33 letters and is called the alphabet that is taught in school today. This type of system of signs of writing, acquired in Soviet time(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.
