Early Cyrillic alphabet

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The original Cyrillic alphabet was a writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire in the tenth century to write the Old Church Slavonic liturgical language.

With Christianity having been made the official state religion in 864, Knyaz (Prince) Boris I commissioned the creation of the alphabet. Clement of Ohrid developed the alphabet and named it after his teacher, St. Cyril, a missionary who, along with his brother, Methodius, is credited for inventing the Glagolitic alphabet, an earlier Slavic alphabet and an influence on this one. The alphabet also shows influence from the Greek, Latin, and even the Hebrew alphabet.

In the following centuries, the Cyrillic alphabet adapted to changes in spoken language, developed regional variations to suit the features of national languages, and was subjected to academic reforms and political decrees. Variations of the Cyrillic alphabet are used to write languages throughout Eastern Europe and Asia.

Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation key.

Contents

[edit] The alphabet

Image Unicode Name
(Cyrillic)		 Name
(translit.)		 Name
(IPA)		 Trans. IPA Origin Notes
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Azu.png А а АЗЪ azǔ [aʒŭ] a [a] Greek alpha Α, α
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Buky.png Б б БѸКЫ bukū [buky], [bukŭi] b [b] Greek beta Β, β
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Viedi.png В в ВѢДѢ vědě [vædæ] v [v] Greek beta Β, β
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Glagoli.png Г г ГЛАГОЛИ glagoli [glagoli] g [g] Greek gamma Γ, γ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Dobro.png Д д ДОБРО dobro [dobro] d [d] Greek Delta Δ, δ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Yesti.png Є є ЄСТЬ estǐ [ɛstĭ] e [ɛ] Greek epsilon Ε, ε
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Zhiviete.png Ж ж ЖИВѢТЄ živěte [ʒivætɛ] ž, zh [ʒ] Glagolitic zhivete Ⰶ ?
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Dzelo.png Ѕ ѕ ЅѢЛО dzělo [ʣælo] dz [dz]
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Zemlia.png З з ЗЄМЛIА zemlja [zemlja] z [z] Greek zeta Ζ, ζ See note 1
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Izhe.png И и ИЖЄ iže [iʒɛ] i [i] Greek eta Η, η
Image:Early Cyrillic letter I.png І і / Ї ї И i [i] i, I [i] Greek iota Ι, ι
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Kako.png К к КАКО kako [kako] k [k] Greek kappa Κ, κ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Liudiye.png Л л ЛЮДИѤ ljudije [ljudijɛ] l [l] Greek lambda Λ, λ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Myslite.png М м МЫСЛИТЄ mūslite [myslitɛ]/[mŭislitɛ] m [m] Greek mu Μ, μ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Nashi.png Н н НАШЬ našǐ [naʃĭ] n [n] Greek nu Ν, ν
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Onu.png О о ОНЪ onǔ [onŭ] o [o] Greek omicron Ο, ο
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Pokoi.png П п ПОКОИ pokoi [pokoj] p [p] Greek pi Π, π
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Ritsi.png Р р РЬЦИ rǐci [rĭʦi] r [r] Greek rho Ρ, ρ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Slovo.png С с СЛОВО slovo [slovo] s [s] Greek lunate sigma Ϲ, ϲ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Tvrido.png Т т ТВРЬДО tvr̥do [tvr̥do] t [t] Greek tau Τ, τ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Uku.png Ѹ ѹ ѸКЪ ukǔ [ukŭ] u [u] Greek omicron-upsilon ΟΥ, ου See note 2
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Fritu.png Ф ф ФРЬТЪ fr̤̥tǔ [fr̤̥tŭ] f [f] Greek phi Φ, φ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Khieru.png Х х ХѢРЪ xěrǔ [xærŭ] x [x] Greek chi Χ, χ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Otu.png Ѡ ѡ ОТЪ otǔ [otŭ] ō, w [oː] Greek omega Ω, ω
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Tsi.png Ц ц ЦИ ci [ʦi] c [ʦ] Glagolitic tsi Ⱌ ?, from Hebrew final tsadi ץ‎
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Chrivi.png Ч ч ЧРЬВЬ čr̤̥vǐ [ʧr̤̥vĭ] č, ch [ʧ]
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Sha.png Ш ш ША ša [ʃa] š, sh [ʃ] Glagolitic sha Ⱎ, from Hebrew shin ש (possibly through Coptic shai Ϣ)
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Shta.png Щ щ ШТА šta [ʃta] št, sht [ʃt] Ш-Ч or Ш-Т ligature, after Glagolitic shta Ⱋ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Yeru.png Ъ ъ ѤРЪ jerǔ [jɛrŭ] ǔ, u: [ŭ]
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Yery.png Ы ы ѤРЫ jerū [jɛry] ū [y], or possibly [ŭi] ЪI or ЪИ ligature
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Yeri.png Ь ь ѤРЬ jerǐ [jɛrĭ] ǐ, i: [ĭ]
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Yati.png Ѣ ѣ ЯТЬ jatǐ [jatĭ] ě [æ]
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Yu.png Ю ю Ю ju [ju] ju [iu] I-ОУ ligature, dropping У
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Ya.png Я я (И)Я ja [ja] ja [ia] I-А ligature
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Yusu Maliy.png Ѧ ѧ ѦСЪ ęsǔ [ɛ̃sŭ] ę, ẽ [ɛ̃] See note 3
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Yusu Maliy Yotirovaniy.png Ѩ ѩ ѨСЪ jęsǔ [jɛ̃sŭ] ję, jẽ [jɛ̃] I-Ѧ ligature See note 4
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Yusu Bolshiy.png Ѫ ѫ ѪСЪ ǫsǔ [ɔ̃sŭ] ǫ, õ [ɔ̃] See note 5
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Yusu Bolshiy Yotirovaniy.png Ѭ ѭ ѬСЪ jǫsǔ [jɔ̃sŭ] jǫ, jõ [jɔ̃] I-Ѫ ligature See note 6
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Ksi.png Ѯ ѯ КСИ ksi [ksi] ks [ks] Greek xi Ξ, ξ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Psi.png Ѱ ѱ ПСИ psi [psi] ps [ps] Greek psi Ψ, ψ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Fita.png Ѳ ѳ ФИТА fita [fita] θ, th, T, F [t]/[θ]/[f] Greek theta Θ, θ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Izhitsa.png Ѵ ѵ ИЖИЦА ižica [iʒiʦa] ü [ɪ], [y] Greek upsilon Υ, υ
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Ye.png Ѥ ѥ (И)Ѥ jeː [jɛ] je [iɛ] І-Є ligature
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Dierv.png Ћ ћ ДѤРВ đerv, djerv [ʤɛrv], [djɛrv] đ, dj [ʤ], [dj] Serbian tshe Ћ, ћ See note 7
Image:Early Cyrillic letter Tvrido Otu.png Ѿ ѿ ОТЪ otǔ [otŭ] ōt, wt [otŭ] Ѡ-Т ligature
Image:Early Cyrillic letter O.png See note 8

[edit] Notes

  1. Zemlya: The first form developed into the second.
  2. Ouku: The first form developed into a vertical ligature, shown in the second form.
  3. Ęsǔ: In Russian, this glyph is called ЮСЪ МАЛЫЙ (jusǔ malūj).
  4. Jęsǔ: In Russian, this glyph is called ЮСЪ МАЛЫЙ ЙОТИРОВАННЫЙ (jusǔ malūj jotirovannūj). This glyph is rare.
  5. Ǫsǔ: In Russian, this glyph is called ЮСЪ БОЛЬШОЙ (jusǔ bol'šoj). This glyph is rare.
  6. Jǫsǔ: In Russian, this glyph is called ЮСЪ БОЛЬШОЙ ЙОТИРОВАННЫЙ (jusǔ bol'šoj jotirovannūj). This glyph is rare.
  7. Đerv: This letter is present in the Glagolitic alphabet, but its sound had disappeared by the time Cyrillic started to be used. In Russian, Gherv or Dzherv is only used in modern scientific texts where Cyrillic is used to transliterate Glagolitic; the character is found in some Balkan languages, notably the languages of the former Yugoslavia.
  8. Ornate omega: The name of this glyph is unknown; it would seem to be used in interjections, especially before vocatives.

[edit] Numerals, diacritics and punctuation

Each letter also had a numeric value, inherited from the corresponding Greek letter. A titlo over a sequence of letters indicated their use as a number. See Cyrillic numerals, Titlo.

Several diacritics, adopted from Polytonic Greek orthography, were also used (these may not appear correctly in all web browsers; they are supposed to be directly above the letter, not off to its upper right):

Punctuation marks:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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