Approximately in 863, two brothers Methodius and Cyril the Philosopher (Konstantin) from Thessaloniki (Thessalonica), by order of Michael III, the Byzantine emperor, made ordering of writing for the Slavic language. The emergence of the Cyrillic alphabet, which comes from the Greek statutory (solemn) letter, is linked to the activities carried out by the Bulgarian school of scribes (after Methodius and Cyril).

After 860, when Christianity was adopted in Bulgaria by the holy Tsar Boris, Bulgaria becomes the center from which Slavic writing began to spread. The Preslav book school was created here - the first book school of the Slavs, where they copied the originals of the Cyril and Methodius liturgical books (church services, the Psalter, the Gospel, the Apostle), made new translations into Slavic from Greek, original works written in Old Slavonic appeared (for example, “On the writings of Chrnorizets the Brave”).

Later, the Old Church Slavonic language penetrated into Serbia, and by the end of the 10th century. in Kievan Rus became the church language. Being the language of the church in Rus', the Old Slavonic language was influenced by the Old Russian language. This, in fact, was the Old Slavonic language, but only in the Russian edition, since it contained living elements of speech Eastern Slavs.

Thus, the progenitor of the Russian alphabet is the Old Russian Cyrillic alphabet, borrowed from the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet and spread after the baptism of Kievan Rus (988). Then, most likely, there were 43 letters in the alphabet.

Later, 4 new letters were added, and in different time as unnecessary, 14 old ones were excluded, since the corresponding sounds disappeared. Iotated yuses (Ѭ, Ѩ) disappear first of all, then big yus (Ѫ) (which returned in the 15th century, but disappeared again at the beginning of the 17th century), and iotated E (Ѥ); other letters, sometimes slightly changing their form and meaning, have remained to this day in the alphabet of the Church Slavonic language, which has long and erroneously been identified with the Russian alphabet.

Spelling reforms of the 2nd half of the 17th century. (associated with the “correction of books” during the time of Patriarch Nikon) the following letter set was recorded: A, B, C, D, D, E (with an excellent orthographic variant of Є, which was sometimes considered a separate letter and put in the alphabet after Ѣ, i.e. . in the position of today's E), Zh, S, Z, I (for the sound [j] there was a variant Y that was different in spelling, which was not considered a separate letter), I, K, L, M, N, O (in 2 forms that differed orthographically: “wide” and “narrow”), P, R, S, T, U (in 2 forms that differed orthographically: Ѹ and), F, X, Ѡ (in 2 forms that differed spelling: “wide” and “narrow”, and also as part of the ligature, which was usually considered a separate letter - “from” (Ѿ)), C, CH, W, SH, b, Y, b, Ѣ, Yu, I ( in 2 forms: Ѧ and IA, which sometimes considered different letters, and sometimes not), Ѯ, Ѱ, Ѳ, ѳ. A large yus (Ѫ) and a letter called “ik” (similar in form to the current letter “y”) were also sometimes introduced into the alphabet, although they had no sound meaning and were not used in any words.

In this form, the Russian alphabet existed until 1708-1711, i.e. before the reforms of Tsar Peter I (Church Slavonic remains the same now). Then they were abolished superscripts(this “abolished” the letter Y) and removed a lot of doublet letters used to write different numbers (with the introduction of Arabic numerals, this became irrelevant). Then a number of abolished letters were returned and canceled again.

By 1917, there were officially 35 letters in the alphabet (in fact, 37): A, B, C, D, D, E, (Yo was not considered a separate letter), Zh, Z, I, (Y was not considered a separate letter), I, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, F, X, C, H, W, W, b, S, b, Ѣ, E, Yu, I, Ѳ, ѳ. (Formally, the last letter in the Russian alphabet was listed, but in fact it was almost never used, occurring only in a few words).

The result of the last major writing reform of 1917-1918 was the emergence of the current Russian alphabet of 33 letters. It also became the written basis for most of the languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR, which until the twentieth century. there was no written language or it was replaced by Cyrillic during the years of Soviet power.

Reports and messages in the Russian language

To the topic: HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE

In the 1st century AD, our ancestors lived on the territory of Europe - the tribes of the Slavs, who spoke ancient language(scientists gave it the name Proto-Slavic language). Over time, these tribes settled in different territories, and their mutual language also began to disintegrate: the Proto-Slavic language formed various branches. One such branch was Old Russian language- the predecessor of the Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian languages.

The need for writing arose among the Slavs in the 9th century with the emergence of such states as Serbia, Bulgaria, Poland, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. And when Christianity replaced the ancient paganism (Rus' adopted Christianity in 988), the need for writing increased even more (there was a need for economic and cultural ties with other states).

Our distant ancestors, the Slavs, formed the Old Russian people, which included East Slavic tribes glades, drevlyans, krivichi, vyatichi. On the territory adjacent to the middle reaches of the Dnieper, inhabited by meadows, a powerful state appeared - Kievan Rus. In the VIII-IX centuries, in addition to Kyiv, the ancient Russian cities of Pskov, Chernigov, Polotsk, Smolensk were formed, in which various crafts developed. IN Kievan Rus the first church books written in Old Church Slavonic began to arrive. This language was formed on the basis of translations from the Greek language of the first Christian books and had a great influence on the development of many Slavic languages. continuation Old Church Slavonic as a literary language was Church Slavonic.

People already used some letters of the Greek alphabet for counting and writing, but it had to be streamlined, systematized, adapted for use in new conditions. The first Slavic alphabet - Cyrillic - was created on the basis of the Greek alphabet in 863. This alphabet (of course, in a modified version) we use now.

The Slavic alphabet is named Cyrillic in honor of its creator - Cyril. True, his real name is Konstantin. He was named Cyril shortly before his death, since he took the vows as a monk (and the monks are given a new name after the rite of tonsure). Cyril developed the alphabet based on the Greek alphabet together with his brother Methodius. Often they are called the Thessalonica brothers, since they come from the Greek city of Thessaloniki (otherwise called Thessalonica).

In 863 Cyril and Methodius went on an important mission to the Grand Duchy of Moravia (the territory of modern Czech Republic and Slovakia). The mission of the brothers was to explain the Christian doctrine to the people in their mother tongue. And for this it was necessary first to translate the liturgical books from Greek into Slavonic. That is why Cyril and Methodius took up the development of a new alphabet. They even created 2 alphabets - Cyrillic and Glagolitic, but the Glagolitic alphabet was forgotten over time (in Rus' it was used only in the very first years of the development and spread of writing). Our Russian alphabet comes from Cyrillic. On its basis, the Ukrainian, Belarusian and Bulgarian alphabets were also created - that is why these languages ​​are so similar.

Of course, the alphabet that we use now bears little resemblance to the ancient Old Slavonic alphabet. And the modern Russian language is also very different from the Old Slavonic and Old Russian languages.

Cyrillic is in many ways similar to our modern writing. If you look at the letters of this alphabet, you will see that many letters have disappeared from our modern use:

• yus big and yus small (they denoted nasal vowels; these sounds remained in Polish and French);
• instead of fita and firth, we use the letter f;
• instead of green and earth - the letter z;
• instead of yat and is - the letter e;
• xi and psi.

And of course, many Cyrillic letters have changed their style over time. The names of modern letters have also become shorter.

Cyrillic letters originally also had a numerical value, that is, they were used instead of numbers.

The Cyrillic alphabet had several types of styles. For a long time (especially among the Eastern Slavs), the charter letter, or charter, was preserved: Cyrillic letters were written directly, one separately from the other. By the charter they wrote mainly liturgical books. Over time, the statute was replaced by a semi-statute, which is found in books of the 15th-17th centuries. The font of the first Russian printed books was cast according to the model of the semi-ustav.

The semi-ustav was replaced by cursive writing, in which the original outline of Cyrillic letters has changed significantly. Starting from the time of Peter I, the Cyrillic alphabet, from which some letters were excluded, was called the Russian civil alphabet. So a slightly modified Cyrillic alphabet formed the basis of our modern alphabet.

Literacy was highly valued in Rus'. From the depths of centuries, monuments of ancient Russian writing have come down to us: church books, codes of laws, business documents, annals, literary works. The oldest surviving Russian handwritten books date back to the 11th century. Handwriting in Ancient Rus' was the only way"replicating" the book and distributing it among literate people.

The appearance of printing in Rus' was the beginning of a new era.

"Reports and messages on the Russian language" V.A. Krutetskaya. Additional materials, helpful information, Interesting Facts. Elementary School.

See also: The emergence of printing in Rus'

“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 writing arise, who invented the Russian alphabet? 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-awareness. 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.

What is an alphabet?

The very word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: 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. One of the most ancient (of the known) alphabets are Chinese and Egyptian. 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 reflected 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

Slavic writing has, one might say, a unique origin. Its history is about a thousand years old, it keeps many secrets.

• During pagan times, the Slavic peoples had writings called features or cuts. Notches and dashes were made on a tree (special tags).


• After the adoption of Christianity by Vladimir (in fact, this event happened twice: the first - under Olga, in 957, the second - under Vladimir, in 988), Rus' could no longer do without books that were needed in worship (psalters and chapels) . However, the Greek confessors did not speak Russian. Thus, the need for church services in the native language and the translation of the Bible and other shrines is brewing.


• Transitions to worship in Slavic also assumed the presence of writing, Slavic literary language, since the translation of divine books into a common everyday language would not lead to an accurate transmission of the content.

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 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 different countries for the most part, they recognize the fact that the first Old Slavonic alphabet was nevertheless the Glagolitic alphabet, created by Cyril back in 863 in Byzantium. He introduced her in pretty 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 Short story Russian alphabet (Cyrillic) is as follows: in the tenth century it penetrates into Rus' from Bulgaria, and its written fixation is fully formalized only in the XIV century. In more modern form- since the end of the XVI century.

In a world that is constantly changing, in a world open to all peoples and languages, there is something constant, something that connects us with our ancestors - this is our alphabet. We use it when we think, when we speak or write, but the alphabet is interesting not only as a building block of sentences. The uniqueness of our alphabet is in the history of its creation, because it is completely unique!

Sooner or later, every person begins to be tormented by the question: Who invented the letters, words and names of objects? It is impossible to say anything definite about the origin of some scripts: who invented them, and when they were invented. Take, for example, Chinese or Greek writing? These scripts were not invented by individuals, but developed over many centuries and were the result of the accumulation of knowledge of several generations. They do not and cannot have a personal author, just as there is no creator of a wheel, a hammer, a knife, etc. Other scripts were lucky: they appeared as a result of a specific creative process that took place at a certain time in a certain place. For example, the Georgian script was founded by King Farnavaz, and the Armenian script was founded by Mesrop Mashtots. If you are asked the question of who created the Slavic letter, you will answer without hesitation that the creators of the Slavic script are Cyril and Methodius. However, their contribution is much greater than many people think. After all, Cyril and Methodius not only invented the alphabet for writing the Slavic language and became the founders of writing itself, but also translated many church books into Slavic. Where did it all start?

An attempt to look into the past

The history of Slavic writing is a vivid example of how powerless science is in the face of time and history, but the power of our scientists lies in the fact that despite any prohibitions, changes in power, they are still trying to find a life-giving source of truth. Today, the famous Thessalonica brothers - Cyril (Konstantin) and Methodius - are the brightest historical figures about which more than five thousand have been written scientific works, where many hypotheses have been put forward, and even more research has been carried out on who is actually the author of the first Old Slavonic alphabet. At the same time, research scientists have found a huge amount of materials that both confirm and fundamentally refute each other. That is why exact answers have not been found to important questions about the history of the emergence of Slavic writing.

"What is the reason?" - you ask. First of all, this is due to the nature of the ancient texts, which are the main sources on the basis of which scientists build their hypotheses. These texts are sometimes inaccurate and sometimes deliberately distorted. In some texts, one can find descriptions of events for which no exact confirmation has been found. At the same time, ancient sources have come down to us in their original form. However, with repeated rewriting, different chroniclers distorted the original texts, adding their vision or thoughts to them, and a kind of “spoiled telephone” was obtained, which prevents modern scholars from reaching a unanimous opinion. Thus, it is often possible to encounter a situation where different copies of the same ancient document describe information in different ways. On the other hand, modern scientists themselves are to blame, because they often like to interpret historical events the way they are comfortable. The reasons for such liberties lie either in the usual lack of professionalism or dishonesty, or in false patriotism. Regardless of the reasons that drive our scientists, we have to admit that we still do not know in what year Methodius was born and what his real name was. After all, Methodius is the monastic name of the discoverer of the Slavic alphabet. Due to the elementary human ignorance of scientists, the Thessalonica brothers were credited with the creation of letters, to which they had nothing to do. Let's discard these scientists "probably" and "possibly" and try to figure out where the first alphabet came from, how it looked, and what meaning our ancestors put into each letter.

The most interesting manual on the origin of Slavic writing is the primary source, which is the legend of the monk Brave, which includes excerpts from the lives of Methodius and Cyril (Konstantin). This legend was republished in 1981 and is called "The Legend of the Beginning of Slavic Writing". If desired, this book can be found on the shelves of bookstores or purchased through the online store.

Who invented the alphabet

In the 9th - early 10th centuries, one of the largest states in Europe was Great Moravia, which included not only modern Moravia (the historical region of the Czech Republic), but also Slovakia, and part of Poland, the Czech Republic, and other states located nearby. Great Moravia played a major political role from 830 to 906.

In 863, the Moravian prince Rostislav turned to the Byzantine emperor Michael III with a rather bold request - to hold a service in the Slavic language. This audacity consisted in the fact that before this worship was held in three languages, in which the inscription on the cross of Jesus was made: Latin, Hebrew and Greek.

The decision to conduct worship in the Slavic language, according to Rostislav, was exclusively political in nature and would allow Rostislav to weaken the dependence of his policy on the Bavarian clergy. Why the Slavic language? Everything is very simple - at that time the Slavs had a common language, the difference was only in different dialects. However, the Slavs did not yet have a written language, and they used Latin or Greek writing to write. The transition to worship in the Slavic language presupposed the presence of Slavic writing, since it was necessary to translate the main service books into Slavonic and train priests. At the same time, such a translation meant the creation of not only a special Slavic script, but also a written literary Slavic language. It was difficult to translate Greek religious texts into everyday Slavic, as they were not adapted to convey their content. The Greek texts simply lacked necessary words and syntactic constructions.

What do you think, answered Michael III? But he did not answer, he sent the so-called Moravian mission to Rostislav in the person of two brothers. These two brothers were the sons of a noble Greek who lived in the city of Thessalonica (the Slavic name for the city of Thessaloniki, which is located on the territory of modern Greece), and their names were Methodius (presumably born in 815) and Constantine (his date of birth falls on 827- oh year). Methodius (real name - Michael) was a monk. Constantine, only before his death, accepted monasticism, with which the new name Cyril. It is his monastic name that will be immortalized in the name of the Slavic alphabet - Cyrillic. Although Constantine was younger than Methodius, his authority is recognized even by his elder brother. To date, it is known for certain that Constantine was a very educated person, and among his many professions and vocations one can distinguish: philosopher, theologian, poet and linguist. He knew many languages ​​and was fluent in oratory, which allowed him to participate more than once in religious disputes. The bright advantages of the older brother were considered innate organizational skills, which allowed him to be a governor in the Slavic lands, as well as the abbot of the monastery. But most importantly, both brothers were fluent in the Slavic language.

Scientists consider it an interesting fact that even before leaving for Moravia, Constantine and Methodius created the Slavic alphabet, which was perfectly adapted to transmit the sounds of Slavic speech. This first alphabet was called Glagolitic and it was based on the letters of minuscule Greek writing. In addition to Greek characters, some Hebrew and Coptic characters joined the Glagolitic. Naturally, having created the first Slavic alphabet, Constantine and Methodius were eager to get to work on translations.

The first translations of church books appeared in Byzantium, and upon arrival in Moravia, the brothers launched their main work at a very high pace. Thus, a new written language appeared, which in scientific circles is called Old Church Slavonic.

In parallel with the translations, Cyril and Methodius were preparing priests who could conduct worship in the Slavic language. After such painstaking work, the Thessalonica brothers return home, spreading new letters along the way. As you understand, the “old” clergy, who recognized trilingualism, did not like the emergence of new traditions, so the brothers go to Rome, where Constantine holds successful debates with trilinguals. In Rome, the mission of the Thessalonica brothers is delayed, and Constantine takes the monastic order and the new name of Cyril. This happened just 50 days before his death.

After the death of Cyril, Methodius became the main champion of divine services in the Slavic language, who was invited to Pannonia (modern Hungary) by the local prince Kotsela, who supported the undertakings of Cyril and Methodius. At this time, a tense struggle was being waged between the supporters of Methodius and the German tri-pagans. Nevertheless, Pope Adrian, bowing to the merits of Methodius, raises him to the rank of bishop. However, this did not prevent the Bavarian clergy, the just cause of trilingualism, from throwing Methodius in prison in 870, where he spends two and a half years. Only in 873 did Methodius emerge from captivity and restore his dignity, after which he returned to Moravia.

Methodius spends the rest of his life in Moravia in the rank of archbishop and dies in 885. And this is where the real war of the trilinguals with the disciples of Cyril and Methodius began. In 886, the Slavic liturgy was completely destroyed, and priests who conducted services in the Slavic language were beaten, stoned, chained, expelled from the country, sold into slavery, and even killed. But this does not mean that the struggle against the “Slavs” ended in the victory of the tri-pagans. On the contrary, many disciples of Methodius find shelter in the Bulgarian state, where they are kindly received by Prince Boris. It is he who organizes new school Slavic writing, and Bulgaria becomes a new center of Slavic book culture. At the head of the new Slavic school stands the student of the Thessalonica brothers Clement, who would later be called Clement of Ohrid. Why was he given such a nickname? Everything is very simple: the school was located near Lake Ohrid, which today is located on the territory of modern Macedonia.

According to most modern scientists, the creator of the new Slavic alphabet - Cyrillic is Clement of Ohrid. Clement named it Cyrillic in honor of his teacher Cyril. However, the name of this alphabet for a long time confuses learned minds, who believed that the Cyrillic alphabet is older than the Glagolitic. However, today many agree that Cyril did not create the Cyrillic alphabet, but the Glagolitic one. The most interesting thing is that these are just guesses, not supported by any Old Slavonic writings. But the most interesting fact remains that in ancient manuscripts there is not a single mention of the existence of two Slavic alphabets!

Glagolitic and Cyrillic

Today, most scholars agree that Glagolitic is the real first Old Slavonic alphabet, and it was invented by Cyril back in 863, when he was in Byzantium. Cyril - Konstantin The philosopher created it in a fairly short time and included many Greek symbols. Cyrillic was invented in Bulgaria around the 9th century. However, the question still remains, who is the author of this invention. Many scholars are still debating this issue. Yes, adherents classical theory argue that it was undoubtedly Clement of Ohrid, while others suggest that the signs displayed in Cyrillic are more reminiscent of those used by the Old Slavonic scribes, led by the educator Konstantin Pereslavsky.

Any alphabet is notable for the fact that each letter corresponds to a formal meaning and a meaningful one. Formal studies of each letter presuppose the history of the inscription of the sign that is displayed in a particular letter, and a meaningful approach to the study of letters involves a search for a correspondence between the letter itself and its sound. If you pay attention to Glagolitic and Cyrillic, you will see that Glagolitic is a brighter invention than Cyrillic. At the same time, the number of letters in the Glagolitic corresponds to the number of sounds that existed in the Old Slavonic language. In other words, the creator or creators of the Glagolitic alphabet perfectly knew the phonetics of the Old Slavonic language and were guided by this when creating the Old Slavonic writing.

It is also interesting to compare Glagolitic and Cyrillic in terms of lettering. In both the first and second cases, the symbolism is very reminiscent of Greek, however, the Glagolitic alphabet still has features characteristic only of the Slavic alphabet. Take, for example, the letter "az". In Glagolitic, it resembles a cross, and in Cyrillic, it completely borrows Greek writing. But this is not the most interesting thing in the Old Slavonic alphabet. After all, it is in the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets that each letter represents single word filled with a deep philosophical meaning that our ancestors put into it.

Although today the letters-words have disappeared from our everyday life, nevertheless they continue to live in Russian proverbs and sayings. For example, the expression “start from the basics” means nothing more than “start from the very beginning”. Although in fact the letter "az" means "I".

Letters are the basis of any language in the world, because we use their combination when we think, speak or write. The alphabet of the Russian language is interesting not only as a building material", but also the history of his education. 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 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 divine 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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".
4. 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.

Russian alphabet is full 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 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.