Early Cyrillic alphabet

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The Early Cyrillic alphabet, also called classical Cyrillic or paleo-Cyrillic, is an alphabetic writing system that was developed in Bulgaria in the Preslav Literary School during the late 9th century. The systematization of Cyrillic may have been undertaken at the Council of Preslav in 893. It is used to write the Church 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 modern Cyrillic script, which is used for some Slavic languages (such as Russian), and for East European and Asian languages that have experienced a great amount of Russian cultural influence.

History

The earliest form of manuscript Cyrillic, known as Template:Ill, was based on Greek uncial script, augmented by ligatures and by letters from the Glagolitic alphabet for phonemes not found in Greek.<ref name="Lunt">Template:Cite book</ref>

The Glagolitic script was created by the Byzantine monk Saint Cyril, possibly with the aid of his brother Saint Methodius, around 863.<ref name=Lunt/> Most scholars agree that Cyrillic, on the other hand, was created by Cyril's students at the Preslav Literary School in the 890s as a more suitable script for church books, based on uncial Greek but retaining some Glagolitic letters for sounds not present in Greek.<ref name="Cub" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=FCurta>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> At the time, the Preslav Literary School was the most important early literary and cultural center of the First Bulgarian Empire and of all Slavs:<ref name=FCurta/>

The earliest Cyrillic texts are found in northeastern Bulgaria, in the vicinity of Preslav—the Krepcha inscription, dating back to 921,<ref name="dobrotoliubie.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and a ceramic vase from Preslav, dating back to 931.<ref name=FCurta/> Moreover, unlike the other literary centre in the Bulgaria, the Ohrid 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.<ref name="promacedonia.org">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web

}}</ref> The systematization of Cyrillic may have been undertaken at the Council of Preslav in 893, when the Old Church Slavonic or Glagolitic Cyrillic liturgy was adopted by the First Bulgarian Empire.<ref name="Auty">Auty, R. Handbook of Old Church Slavonic, Part II: Texts and Glossary. 1977.</ref>

Unlike the Churchmen in Ohrid, Preslav scholars were much more dependent upon Greek models and quickly abandoned the Glagolitic scripts in favor of an adaptation of the Greek uncial to the needs of Slavic, which is now known as the Cyrillic alphabet.

American scholar Horace 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,<ref name="Lunt" /> and the majority of uncial Cyrillic letters were identical to their Greek uncial counterparts.<ref name="Auty"/>

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.<ref name=Lunt/> Particularly, this principle is violated by certain vowel letters, which represent {{#invoke:IPA|main}} plus the vowel if they are not preceded by a consonant.<ref name=Lunt/> It is also violated by a significant failure to distinguish between /ji/ and /jĭ/ orthographically.<ref name=Lunt/> 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.<ref name=Cub>Cubberley 1994</ref> Letters served as numerals as well as phonetic signs; the values of the numerals were directly borrowed from their Greek-letter analogues.<ref name=Lunt/> Letters without Greek equivalents mostly had no numeral values, whereas one letter, koppa, had only a numeric value with no phonetic value.<ref name=Lunt/> 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 throughout Eastern Europe and Asia.

The form of the Russian alphabet underwent a change when Tsar Peter the Great introduced the civil script (Template:Langx, or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), in contrast to the prevailing church typeface, (Template:Langx) in 1708. (The two forms are sometimes distinguished as paleo-Cyrillic and neo-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 influenced Cyrillic orthographies for most other languages. Today, the early orthography and typesetting standards remain in use only in Slavonic. A comprehensive repertoire of early Cyrillic characters has been included in the Unicode standard since version 5.1, published April 4, 2008. These characters and their distinctive letterforms are represented in specialized computer fonts for Slavistics.

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Alphabet

Image Unicode Name
(Cyrillic) 		Name
(translit.) 		Name
(IPA) 		Trans. IPA Numeric value Origin Meaning of name Notes
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Azu.svg А а Template:Script azŭ main}} a main}} 1 Greek alpha Α I
File:Early Cyrillic letter Buky.svg Б б Template:Script buky main}} b main}} Greek beta in Thera form Template:GrGl letters
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Vedi.svg В в Template:Script vědě main}} v main}} 2 Greek beta Β know
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Glagol.svg Г г Template:Script glagoli main}} g main}}<ref name=Lunt/> 3 Greek gamma Γ speak main}}; this only occurs rarely, and only in borrowings.<ref name="Lunt" />
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Dobro.svg Д д Template:Script dobro main}} d main}} 4 Greek delta Δ good
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Est.svg Є є Template:Script estŭ main}} e main}} 5 Greek epsilon Ε is main}} when not preceded by a consonant.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Zhivete.svg Ж ж Template:Script živěte main}} ž, zh main}} Glagolitic zhivete Ⰶ live
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Zelo.svg Ѕ ѕ / Ꙃ ꙃ Template:Script dzělo main}} dz, ʒ,<ref name=Lunt/> ẑ main}} 6 Greek stigma Ϛ very The form ꙃ had the phonetic value {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and no numeral value, whereas the form ѕ was used only as a numeral and had no phonetic value.<ref name=Lunt/> Since the 12th century, ѕ came to be used instead of ꙃ.<ref name="Памятники Старославянскаго языка">Памятники Старославянскаго языка / Е. Ѳ. Карскій. — СПб. : Типографія Императорской Академіи наукъ, 1904. — Т. I, с. 14. — Репринт</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref> In many manuscripts з is used instead, suggesting lenition had taken place.<ref name=Lunt/>

File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Zemlia.svg З з / Ꙁ ꙁ Template:Script zemlja main}} z main}} 7 Greek zeta Ζ earth The first form developed into the second.
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Izhe.svg И и Template:Script iže main}} i main}} 8 Greek eta Η which main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}} when not preceded by a consonant and not the particle ‹i› ("and"); the orthography does not distinguish between {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref name=Lunt/> Speculatively, this letter might have originally been intended to represent {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Izhei.svg І і / Ї ї Template:Script i main}} i, ı, ì main}} 10 Greek iota Ι and main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}} when not preceded by a consonant and not the particle ‹i› ("and"); the orthography does not distinguish between {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref name=Lunt/> Speculatively, this letter might have originally been intended to represent {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Kako.svg К к Template:Script kako main}} k main}} 20 Greek kappa Κ as main}}; this only occurs rarely, and only in borrowings.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Ludi.svg Л л Template:Script ljudije main}} l main}}; sometimes {{#invoke:IPA|main}}<ref name=Lunt/> 30 Greek lambda Λ people When marked with a palatalization mark or followed by a palatalizing vowel (ю, ѭ, or ꙗ, and sometimes ѣ), this letter is pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; some manuscripts do not mark palatalization, in which case it must be inferred from context.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Myslete.svg М м Template:Script myslite main}} m main}} 40 Greek mu Μ think
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Nash.svg Н н Template:Script našĭ main}} n main}}; sometimes {{#invoke:IPA|main}}<ref name=Lunt/> 50 Greek nu Ν ours When marked with a palatalization mark or followed by a palatalizing vowel (ю, ѭ, or ꙗ, and sometimes ѣ), this letter is pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; some manuscripts do not mark palatalization, in which case it must be inferred from context.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Onu.svg О о Template:Script onŭ main}} o main}} 70 Greek omicron Ο he/it
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Pokoi.svg П п Template:Script pokoi main}} p main}} 80 Greek pi Π peace/calm
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Rtsi.svg Р р Template:Script rĭci main}} r main}}; sometimes {{#invoke:IPA|main}}<ref name=Lunt/> 100 Greek rho Ρ say When marked with a palatalization mark or followed by a palatalizing vowel (ю or ѭ), this letter is pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; some manuscripts do not mark palatalization, in which case it must be inferred from context.<ref name=Lunt/> This palatalization was lost rather early in South Slavic speech.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Slovo.svg С с Template:Script slovo main}} s main}} 200 Greek lunate sigma Ϲ word/speech
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Tverdo.svg Т т Template:Script tvrĭdo main}} t main}} 300 Greek tau Τ hard/surely
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Uk.svg Оу оу / Ꙋ ꙋ Template:Script ukŭ main}} u main}} 400 Greek omicron-upsilon ΟΥ / Ꙋ learning The first form developed into the second, a vertical ligature. A less common alternative form was a digraph with izhitsa: Оѵ оѵ.
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Fert.svg Ф ф Template:Script frĭtŭ main}} f main}} or possibly {{#invoke:IPA|main}}<ref name=Lunt/> 500 Greek phi Φ main}} rather than {{#invoke:IPA|main}}; however, in some cases it has been found as a transcription of Greek π.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Kher.svg Х х Template:Script xěrŭ main}} kh, x,<ref name=Lunt/> h main}} 600 Greek chi Χ main}}; this only occurs rarely, and only in borrowings.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Omega.svg Ѡ ѡ Template:Script otŭ main}} ō, w, o, ô main}} 800 Greek omega 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.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Tsi.svg Ц ц Template:Script ci main}} c main}} 900 Glagolitic tsi Ⱌ
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Cherv.svg Ч ч Template:Script črĭvĭ main}} č, ch main}} 90 Glagolitic cherv Ⱍ worm This letter replaced koppa as the numeral for 90 after about 1300.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Sha.svg Ш ш Template:Script ša main}} š, sh main}} Glagolitic sha Ⱎ
File:Early Cyrillic letter Shta.svg Щ щ Template:Script šta main}} št, sht main}} Glagolitic shta Ⱋ main}}.<ref name=Lunt/> It was sometimes replaced by the digraph шт.<ref name=Lunt/> Pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in Old 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.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Back-Yer.svg Ъ ъ Template:Script jerŭ main}} ŭ, ъ<ref name=Lunt/> main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}}<ref name=Lunt/> Glagolitic yer Ⱏ<ref name=Auty/> After č, š, ž, c, dz, št, and žd, this letter was pronounced identically to ь instead of its normal pronunciation.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Yery.svg Ꙑ ꙑ / Ъи ъи<ref name=Lunt/> Template:Script jery main}} y main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}}<ref name=Lunt/> Ъ + І or Ъ + И ligature. Ꙑ was the more common form; rarely, a third form, ы, appears.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Yer.svg Ь ь Template:Script jerĭ main}} ĭ, ь<ref name=Lunt/> main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}}<ref name=Lunt/> Glagolitic yerj Ⱐ<ref name=Auty/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Yat.svg Ѣ ѣ Template:Script ětĭ main}} ě main}}<ref name=Lunt/> Glagolitic yat Ⱑ<ref name=Auty/> In western South Slavic dialects of Old Church Slavonic, this letter had a more closed pronunciation, perhaps {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref name=Lunt/> This letter was only written after a consonant; in all other positions, ꙗ was used instead.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Iotated-A.svg Ꙗ ꙗ Template:Script ja main}} ja main}} І-А ligature This letter was probably not present in the original Cyrillic alphabet.<ref name=Auty/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Iotated-E.svg Ѥ ѥ Template:Script je main}} je main}} І-Є ligature This letter was probably not present in the original Cyrillic alphabet.<ref name=Auty/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Yu.svg Ю ю Template:Script ju main}} ju main}} І-ОУ ligature, dropping У main}} 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 {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, without iotation.
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Big-Yus.svg Ѫ ѫ Template:Script ǫsŭ main}} ǫ, õ main}} Glagolitic ons Ⱘ Called юсъ большой (big yus) in Russian.
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Iotated-Big-Yus.svg Ѭ ѭ Template:Script jǫsŭ main}} jǫ, jõ main}} І-Ѫ ligature main}}, without iotation. Called юсъ большой йотированный (iotated big yus) in Russian.
File:Early Cyrillic letter Yusu Maliy.svg Ѧ ѧ Template:Script ęsŭ main}} ę, ẽ main}} 900 Glagolitic ens Ⱔ main}} when not preceded by a consonant.<ref name=Lunt/> Called юсъ малый (little yus) in Russian.
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Iotated-Lesser-Yus.svg Ѩ ѩ Template:Script jęsŭ main}} ję, jẽ main}} І-Ѧ ligature This letter does not exist in the oldest (South Slavic) Cyrillic manuscripts, but only in East Slavic ones.<ref name=Lunt/> It was probably not present in the original Cyrillic alphabet.<ref name=Auty/> Called юсъ малый йотированный (iotated little yus) in Russian.
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Ksi.svg Ѯ ѯ Template:Script ksi main}} ks main}} 60 Greek xi Ξ These two letters were not needed for Slavic but were used to transcribe Greek and as numerals.
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Psi.svg Ѱ ѱ Template:Script psi main}} ps main}} 700 Greek psi Ψ
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Fita.svg Ѳ ѳ Template:Script fita main}} θ, th, T, F main}}, or possibly {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 9 Greek theta Θ main}}, as the oldest texts sometimes replace instances of it with т.<ref name=Lunt/> Normal Old Church Slavonic pronunciation probably did not have a phone {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Izhitsa.svg Ѵ ѵ Template:Script ižica main}} ü, v, ỳ main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 400 Greek upsilon Υ small yoke This letter was used to transcribe Greek upsilon and as a numeral. It also formed part of the digraph оѵ.
File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Koppa.svg Ҁ ҁ Template:Script kopa main}} q no sound value 90 Greek koppa Ϙ This letter had no phonetic value, and was only used as a numeral. After about 1300, it was replaced as a numeral by črĭvĭ.<ref name=Lunt/>
File:Cyrillic letter Djerv.svg
Djerv (Template:Script: Ꙉ ꙉ), predecessor to Ћ ћ and Ђ ђ in early Serbian monuments

In addition to the basic letters, there were a number of scribal variations, combining ligatures, and regionalisms used (for example, the additional letter ꙉ, which was used officially by the Serbians<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>), all of which varied over time.

Versions of this initial alphabet where the letters ҁ and ѿ are omitted are also valid, since ҁ did not have a phonetic value nor an official placement in the alphabet with some putting it between п and р to correspond with the placement of the Greek letter ϙ and other putting it right at the end, and ѿ came later as ligature of ѡ and т. The Greek letters that were used in Cyrillic mainly for their numeric value are sometimes transcribed with the corresponding Greek letters for accuracy: ѳ = θ, ѯ = ξ, ѵ = υ, ҁ = ϙ, ѱ = ψ, and ѡ = ω.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Numerals, diacritics and punctuation

Each letter had a numeric value also, inherited from the corresponding Greek letter. A titlo over a sequence of letters indicated their use as a number; usually this was accompanied by a dot on either side of the letter.<ref name=Lunt/> In numerals, the ones place was to the left of the tens place, the reverse of the order used in modern Arabic numerals.<ref name=Lunt/> Thousands are formed using a special symbol, Template:Script (U+0482), which was attached to the lower left corner of the numeral.<ref name=Lunt/> 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 of nomina 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.<ref name=Lunt/> 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 a pokrytie diacritic.<ref name=Lunt/> Several diacritics, adopted from Polytonic Greek orthography, were also used, but were seemingly redundant<ref name=Lunt/> (these may not appear correctly in all web browsers; they are supposed to be directly above the letter, not off to its upper right):

Template:Script  varia (grave accent), indicating stress on the last syllable (U+0300)
Template:Script  oksia (acute accent), indicating a stressed syllable (U+0301)
Template:Script  trema, diaeresis (U+0308)
Template:Script  kamora (circumflex accent), indicating long falling accent (U+0311); in later Church Slavonic, it disambiguates plurals from homophonous singulars.
Template:Script  titlo, indicating abbreviations, or letters used as numerals (U+0483)
Template:Script  palatalization sign, indicating palatalizationTemplate:Citation needed (U+0484)
Template:Script  dasia or dasy pneuma, rough breathing mark (U+0485)
Template:Script  psili, zvatel'tse or psilon pneuma, smooth breathing mark (U+0486). Signals a word-initial vowel, at least in later Church Slavonic.
Template:Script  pokrytie, indicating an abbreviation (U+0487).
Template:Script  combined psili and varia is called apostrof.
Template:Script  combined psili and oksia is called iso.
Template:Script  Template:Ill (U+033E) and payerok (U+A67D), indicating an omitted jerŭ (ъ) after a letter.<ref>Berdnikov and Lapko 2003, p. 12</ref>

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.<ref name=Lunt/>

Template:Script  ano teleia (U+0387), a middle dot used to separate phrases, words, or parts of words<ref name=Lunt/>
Template:Script  Full stop, used in the same way<ref name=Lunt/>
Template:Script  Armenian full stop (U+0589), resembling a colon, used in the same way<ref name=Lunt/>
Template:Script  Georgian paragraph separator (U+10FB), used to mark off larger divisions
Template:Script  triangular colon (U+2056, added in Unicode 4.1), used to mark off larger divisions
Template:Script  diamond colon (U+2058, added in Unicode 4.1), used to mark off larger divisions
Template:Script  quintuple colon (U+2059, added in Unicode 4.1), used to mark off larger divisions
Template:Script  Greek question mark (U+037E), similar to a semicolon

Some of these marks are also used in Glagolitic script. Used only in modern texts

Template:Script  comma (U+002C)
Template:Script  full stop (U+002E)
Template:Script  exclamation mark (U+0021)

Old Bulgarian examples

Medieval Greek Uncial manuscripts from which early Cyrillic letter forms take their shapes

Early Cyrillic manuscripts

See also

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References

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Sources

  • Berdnikov, Alexander and Olga Lapko, {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}, EuroTEX '99 Proceedings, September 1999

  • Birnbaum, David J., {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}, September 28, 2002

  • Cubberley, Paul (1996) "The Slavic Alphabets". In Daniels and Bright, below.
  • Daniels, Peter T., and William Bright, eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Everson, Michael and Ralph Cleminson, {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}, September 4, 2003

  • Franklin, Simon. 2002. Writing, Society and Culture in Early Rus, c. 950–1300. Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Iliev, I. Short History of the Cyrillic Alphabet. Plovdiv. 2012/Иван Г. Илиев. Кратка история на кирилската азбука. Пловдив. 2012. Short History of the Cyrillic Alphabet
  • Lev, V., "The history of the Ukrainian script (paleography)", in Ukraine: a concise encyclopædia, volume 1. University of Toronto Press, 1963, 1970, 1982. Template:ISBN
  • Simovyc, V., and J. B. Rudnyckyj, "The history of Ukrainian orthography", in Ukraine: a concise encyclopædia, volume 1 (op cit).
  • Zamora, J., Help me learn Church Slavonic
  • Azbuka Template:Webarchive, Church Slavonic calligraphy and typography.
  • Obshtezhitie.net, Cyrillic and Glagolitic manuscripts and early printed books.

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