The emergence of the Cyrillic alphabet. Who invented the Cyrillic alphabet? History of Cyrillic - KLINIKA HAŁAŬNOHA MOZHU

). The name goes back to the name of Cyril (before becoming a monk - Constantine), an outstanding educator and preacher of Christianity among the Slavs. The question of the time of the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet and its chronological relationship with the Glagolitic alphabet cannot be considered finally resolved. Some researchers suggest that the Cyrillic alphabet was created by Cyril and his brother Methodius (“the first Slavic teachers”) in the 9th century, earlier than the Glagolitic alphabet. However, most experts believe that the Cyrillic alphabet is younger than the Glagolitic and that the first Slavic alphabet, which was created by Cyril and Methodius in 863 (or 855), was the Glagolitic. The creation of the Cyrillic alphabet dates back to the era of the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon (893-927), it was probably compiled by the students and followers of Cyril and Methodius (Clement of Ohrid?) on the basis of the Greek (Byzantine) solemn uncial writing. The letter composition of the ancient Cyrillic alphabet generally corresponded to the ancient Bulgarian speech.

To convey the ancient Bulgarian sounds, the uncial writing was supplemented with a number of letters (for example, zh, sh, ъ, ь, Ѫ, Ѧ, etc.). The graphic appearance of Slavic letters is stylized according to the Byzantine model. The Cyrillic alphabet included "extra" uncial letters (doublet: i - i, o - ѡ, letters found only in borrowed words: f, ѳ, etc.). In Cyrillic, according to the rules of uncial writing, superscripts were used: aspirations, stress, abbreviations of words with titles and extended letters. Aspiration signs (from the 11th to the 18th centuries) changed functionally and graphically. Cyrillic letters were used in a numerical value (see table), in this case, a title sign was placed above the letter, and two or one dots were placed on its sides.

Written monuments from the era of the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet have not been preserved. The composition of the letters of the original Cyrillic alphabet is also not entirely clear; perhaps some of them appeared later (for example, the letters of iotized vowels). Cyrillic was used among the southern, eastern and, obviously, for some time Western Slavs, in Russia was introduced in the 10-11 centuries. in connection with Christianization. The Cyrillic alphabet among the Eastern and Southern Slavs has a long tradition, which is attested by numerous written monuments. The oldest of them date back to the 10th-11th centuries. Accurately dated are ancient Bulgarian inscriptions on stone slabs of the 10th century: Dobrudzhanskaya (943) and Tsar Samuil (993). Handwritten books or their fragments, written on parchment, have been preserved since the 11th century. The time and place of creation of the oldest of them is determined by paleographic and linguistic signs. 11th c. or possibly the end of the 10th century. "Savin's book" (a collection of gospel readings - aprakos) dates back to the 11th century. include the Suprasl Manuscript, the Eninsky Apostle, and others. The earliest dated and localized East Slavic manuscript is the Ostromir Gospel (aprakos, 1056-57). East Slavic manuscripts have been preserved in greater numbers than South Slavic ones. The oldest business documents on parchment date back to the 12th century, an ancient Russian charter of Prince Mstislav (c. 1130), a charter of the Bosnian ban Kulin (1189). Serbian handwritten books have been preserved since the end of the 12th century: Miroslav's Gospel (aprakos, 1180-90), Vukanov's Gospel (aprakos, c. 1200). Dated Bulgarian manuscripts date back to the 13th century: the Bologna Psalter (1230-42), the Tarnovo Gospel (Tetr, 1273).

Cyrillic 11th-14th centuries characterized special type letters - charter with geometric shapes in the lettering. From the end of the 13th century among the southern Slavs and from the middle of the 14th century. among the Eastern Slavs, the Cyrillic letters lose their strict geometric appearance, variants of the outline of one letter appear, the number of abbreviated words increases, this type of writing is called semi-ustav. From the end of the 14th century the charter and semi-charter are replaced by cursive writing.

In the writing of the Eastern and Southern Slavs, the shape of the Cyrillic letters changed, the composition of the letters and their sound meaning changed. Changes were caused by linguistic processes in the living Slavic languages. So, in the ancient Russian manuscripts of the 12th century. the letters of ioted yus and big yusa are going out of use, in place of which they write “Ꙗ”, Ѧ or “yu”, “ou” respectively; the letter yusa small gradually acquires the meaning ['a] with the preceding softness or combinations ja. Manuscripts of the 13th century it is possible to skip the letters ъ, ь, the mutual exchange of the letters ъ - o and ь - e is reflected. In some manuscripts, starting from the 12th century, the letter Ѣ is written in place of the letter “e” (southwestern, or Galician-Volyn sources), in a number of ancient Russian manuscripts there is a mutual exchange of letters ts - h (Novgorod manuscripts from the 11th century), exchanges s - sh, z - zh (Pskov). In the 14-15 centuries. Manuscripts appear (Middle Russian), where the exchange of letters ѣ - e and ѣ - etc. is possible.

In Bulgarian manuscripts from the 12th-13th centuries. the mutual exchange of yuses, large and small, is common, iotized yuses are becoming obsolete; it is possible to change letters Ѣ - Ꙗ, ъ - ь. Single-Er sources appear: either “b” or “b” is used. Mutual exchange of letters "b" and yus is possible. The letter Ѫ existed in the Bulgarian alphabet until 1945. The letters of iotated vowels in the position after the vowels (moa, dobraa) are gradually falling out of use, the letters y - and are often mixed.

Serbian manuscripts in early stage there is a loss of letters of nasal vowels, the letter "b" goes out of use, and the letter "b" is often doubled. From the 14th century it is possible to change the letters b - b with the letter "a". In the 14th-17th centuries. Cyrillic and Slavic spelling were used by the population of modern Romania. On the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet, the modern Bulgarian and Serbian alphabets, the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian alphabets have historically developed, and through the Russian alphabet, the alphabets of other peoples of the USSR.

Cyrillic alphabet of the era of the oldest Slavic manuscripts (late 10th - 11th centuries)

inscription letters	letter name	Sound meaning letters	Digital meaning		inscription letters	letter name	Sound meaning letters	Digital meaning
	az	[a]	1			dick	[X]	600
	bows	[b]				ot (omega)*	[about]	800
	see	[in]	2			qi	[q']	900
	verbs	[G]	3			worm or worm	[h']	90
	good	[e]	4			sha	[w']
	eat or eat**	[e]	5			staff**	[sh’͡t’], [sh’h’]
	live	[w']
	S - green *	[d’͡z’]	S=6			er	[b]
	earthꙗ	[h]	7			years	[s]
	izhei**	[and]	8			er	[b]
	below*	[and]	10			ꙗт	[æ], [ê]
	kako	[to]	20				['y],
	people	[l]	30			and iotated*	['a],
	think	[m]	40			e iotated*	['e],
	ours**	[n]	50			yus small*	initially [ę]	900
	he	[about]	70			yus small iotated*	initially [ę],
	chambers	[P]	80			jus big*	initially [ǫ]
	rci	[R]	100			yus big iotated*	initially [’ǫ],
	word	[with]	200			xi*	[ks]	60
	hard and hard	[t]	300			psi*	[ps]	700
	ouk**	[y]	400			Vita*	[f]	9
	firt or frt	[f]	500			izhitsa*	[and], [in]	400

• Lavrov P. A., Palaeographic review of Cyrillic writing, P., 1914;
• Lowcott Ch., Development of writing, trans. from Czech, M., 1950;
• Istrin V. A., 1100 years of the Slavic alphabet, M., 1963 (lit.);
• Shchepkin V. N., Russian paleography, 2nd ed., M., 1967;
• Karsky E. F., Slavic Kirillov paleography, 2nd ed., M., 1979;
• The legend of the beginning Slavic writing. [Commented edition of the text of ancient sources. Introductory article, translation and comments by B. N. Flori], M., 1981;
• Bernstein S. B., Konstantin the Philosopher and Methodius, M., 1984;
• English Petar, History of Serbian Cyrillic, Beograd, 1971;
• Bogdan Damian P., Paleografia româno-slavă, Buc., 1978.

Cyrillic- a term that has several meanings:

Old Slavonic alphabet (Old Bulgarian alphabet): the same as the Cyrillic (or Cyrillic) alphabet: one of two (along with the Glagolitic) ancient alphabets for the old Slavic language;
Cyrillic alphabets: a writing system and an alphabet for some other language based on this Old Slavonic Cyrillic alphabet (they talk about Russian, Serbian, etc. Cyrillic; it is incorrect to call the “Cyrillic alphabet” the formal union of several or all national Cyrillic alphabets);
Statutory or semi-statutory font: the font in which church (Orthodox) books are traditionally printed (in this sense, Cyrillic is opposed to the civil, or Peter's, font).

Belarusian language (Belarusian alphabet)
Bulgarian language (Bulgarian alphabet)
Macedonian language (Macedonian alphabet)
Rusyn language/dialect (Rusyn alphabet)
Russian language (Russian alphabet)
Serbian(Serbian Cyrillic alphabet)
Ukrainian language(Ukrainian alphabet)
Montenegrin language (Montenegrin alphabet),

as well as most non-Slavic languages peoples of the USSR, some of which previously had other writing systems (on a Latin, Arabic or other basis) and were translated into Cyrillic in the late 1930s. See the list of languages ​​with Cyrillic-based alphabets for details. Read more → Wikipedia.

Is it true that the alphabet used in about 50 countries is called Cyrillic, and it is believed that it was introduced and invented by the Bulgarians (or Slavs) missionaries and Saints Cyril and Methodius.

Bulgarian linguist Ivan Iliev wrote research work "Short story Cyrillic alphabet", (Ivan G. Iliev / Ivan G. Iliev), where he notes that Cyril relies on the author of the Glagolitic alphabet used for writing in those days (actually Slavic alphabet), and which was very different from the Greek alphabet (and others). The Cyrillic alphabet was created in order to add letters to record the sounds of Slavic speech that were not available in the Greek alphabet, so in general it was some kind of modification of the Greek alphabet with the addition of Glagolitic or Latin . It is named after Cyril because of his merits.

Cyrillic as it has been since ancient times.

The numbers opposite the letters are the numbers that denoted the account, so the letters also had a digital value (except for the names-words).

Another feature of the early alphabet is the absence of uppercase and lowercase letters.

What we call Cyrillic now is a distant image of the original Cyrillic, which was simplified (reformed) several times, the last after the 1917 revolution.

The alphabet of Peter 1, or civic font was introduced in 1708 as a counterbalance to the church Cyrillic alphabet (or alphabet) in order to simplify.
In 1707, Anton Demey, a word-writer who arrived from Holland, brought with him "newly invented Russian letters of the 8th alphabet with punches, matrices and forms, and two camps on the go with all sorts of controls." The font introduced by Peter the Great differed from the Slavic one in that letters (similar to Greek) are completely excluded from it and forces and titles are thrown back. The rest of the letters received the outline that they have now, with the following exceptions: the letter d at first resembled the Latin g, while the capital retained its former form; instead, z and Slatin s were introduced; instead of i, ib d - one letter I without any sign at the top; m, n - like Latin m, n; the letters c, f, b and b, as well as p, sh and s, had some differences in outline from the current ones. Three books were printed in this font in 1708 in Moscow: "Geometry of Slavic land surveying and given by new typographic embossing", "Applications of how complements are written" and "A book on the methods of creating free water flow of rivers." But, probably, experience convinced that this typeface was not entirely convenient, and therefore in "The Victorious Fortress to the happy congratulations of the glorious victory over Azov - to the happy entry into Moscow" (op. by engineer Borgsdorf), printed in the same 1708, made there are already concessions reminiscent of the old alphabet: in the book there are Slavic over ï there are dots everywhere - the mark, which was preserved in our press almost until the beginning of this century, was then introduced over the words of power (emphasis). Further changes followed in 1709. E and I appeared, restored; And it was used in three cases: in a combination of two and (ïi), at the beginning of Russian words and at the end of words. Then z (earth) began to be used in all cases, instead of the canceled s (green); e received a modern style; b, c, f, t, p received outlines more suitable for the current .

AT Kievan Rus the use of the Cyrillic alphabet is noted from the beginning of the 10th century, and it is believed that it appeared there with church Bulgarian books - there was no printing business in Russia at that time. Church Slavonic is considered the closest to the Bulgarian language, and had a serious influence on the formation of the Russian language (although Bulgaria and Muscovy were far from each other).

Ivan Fedorov Muscovite - the first Russian printer, publisher of the first accurately dated printed book "Apostle" in the Russian kingdom (1564). However, for church books (and such books were mostly published), Church Slavonic (almost Bulgarian) was still used for several centuries.

Returning to Cyril and his older brother Methodius, the majority famous historians Byzantine era it is assumed that they were Greeks from Thessalonica, although the Bulgarians continue to believe that they were Bulgarians or South Slavs (Macedonians). Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki) was a Greek-Macedonian city within the Byzantine Empire. However, with ethnic origin try to figure it out there, in fact, since there was a pretty decent Slavic migration to Thessaloniki from the 6-7th century (the city was noble at that time).

Library HOME SEARCH REFERENCE Paleo-Slavistics \ 2. St. Cyril and Methodius \ 2.4. Slavic alphabets - Glagolitic and Cyrillic 2.4.8. The problem of the origin and relative chronology of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets. Debate on the ratio of two alphabets Debate on the ratio of two alphabets

The discussion about the relationship between the two alphabets - Cyrillic and Glagolitic - began in the 18th century, actively continued in the 19th century, has an ambiguous decision in the 20th, and the disputing parties use the same arguments to prove their case:

The founder of Slavic studies, J. Dobrovsky, considered the Glagolitic alphabet to be a very late phenomenon - approximately the XIY century - and considered Croatia to be the place of its origin. He believed that Cyrillic writing, which bore obvious traces of Byzantine influence, was persecuted by Rome. In an effort to keep worship mother tongue, the Croats came up with the Glagolitic alphabet. A similar view of the Glagolitic alphabet dominated until 1836 and was in full accordance with the scientific data of that time: Glagolitic manuscripts older than the XIY century and of non-Croatian origin were not yet known. That is why, despite the fact that such dating of the Glagolitic was objectionable, the first defenders of the antiquity of the Glagolitic had to operate in their argument with considerations general order: a specific form of Glagolitic letters, which is more consistent with ancient evidence of new the letters invented by Cyril, while the Cyrillic alphabet, which was based on the Greek alphabet, was more difficult to call new.

Supporters of such a relative chronology of Cyrillic and Glagolitic were I.I. Sreznevsky, A.I. Sobolevsky, E.F. Karsky, P.Ya. Chernykh. As possible places the emergence of the Glagolitic alphabet, Moravia and Bulgaria were also indicated.

In 1836, for the first time, a real basis for the thought of the antiquity of the Glagolitic appeared. A Glagolitic manuscript known in the Russian tradition as the Collection of Klotz was found and published. Based on the testimony of this monument, its publisher V. Kopitar put forward a hypothesis of greater antiquity of the Glagolitic alphabet compared to the Cyrillic alphabet, considering the Glagolitic alphabet to be an invention of Cyril. For the unambiguousness of this conclusion in 1836 there were still not enough facts, but subsequent discoveries more and more confirmed Kopitar's idea. In the 40s XIX years century, the Russian Slavist V. I. Grigorovich took from his trip to Athos and the Balkan Peninsula whole line data that were important for the correlation of Cyrillic and Glagolitic. He opened a number of Glagolitic monuments: the Count's Four Gospels, the Gospel of Mary, the Cyrillic monument of the 13th century, the so-called Boyana palimpsest, in which on some pages the Cyrillic text was written over the washed-out Glagolitic, the Ohrid Apostle of the 12th century, in which separate fragments are written in Glagolitic. Grigorovich also found a Greek life of St. Clement, who reported that St. Clement invented a new "clearer" alphabet. In 1855 Prague Glagolitic fragments were discovered with Czech features in the language. The analysis of this monument allowed P.J. Shafarik to formulate, on the basis of convincing arguments, a scientifically based hypothesis of the correlation between Cyrillic and Glagolitic, recognized by most Slavists: the Glagolitic is older than Cyrillic; the Glagolitic is the invention of Cyril; the Cyrillic alphabet is the invention of Kliment Ohridsky. Research late XIX- the beginning of the XX century. - the works of S. M. Kulbakin, A. Vaillant, B. Velchev, V. Georgiev and others - finally established that Cyril created precisely the Glagolitic alphabet. The position that the Cyrillic alphabet was formed on the territory of the first Bulgarian kingdom as a result of the synthesis of the Greek script, which has long been widespread here, and those elements of the Glagolitic alphabet that the best way could convey the features of the language of the Slavic (Old Bulgarian) population. The arguments of P.J. Shafarika in Defense of the Antiquity of the Glagolitic

In the work of 1857 "On the origin and homeland of Glagolitism" P. Y. Shafarik gives the following arguments in defense of his hypothesis about the temporal correlation of Cyrillic and Glagolitic:

In areas, or where the preaching of the first teachers penetrated early, we find not Cyrillic, but Glagolitic; The language of the oldest Glagolitic monuments is more archaic than the language of Cyrillic monuments; In most palimpsests, the earlier text is Glagolitic; according to paleographic data, it belongs to the 10th century, indicates a West Slavic origin; Croats from the 12th century. only the Glagolitic alphabet has been recorded to this day. Meanwhile, already in the 10th century, at the local council, the Slavic liturgy was condemned as an evil that was firmly rooted in the Croatian regions. And at that time she could penetrate to the Croats only from Pannonia. And consequently, the Glagolitic alphabet was brought to Pannonia by the brothers; It would be unnatural to replace the simple and clear Cyrillic alphabet with an elaborate and difficult to write Glagolitic alphabet. It is precisely because of the pretentiousness and complexity of the Glagolitic alphabet that it can be more easily represented as the result of an individual act of creativity, which was the alphabet created by Constantine in the 9th century.

To the objections of the opponents of his theory, who referred to the very name "Cyrillic" and its most logical interpretation as "the alphabet created by Cyril", Safarik pointed out the possibility of confusion by the next generations of the names of both Slavic alphabets, and he managed to find actual confirmation of this assumption.

Shafarik P.J. On the origin and homeland of Glagolitism // Readings of the Society of Russian History and Antiquities. Book. IV. 1860. Det. III. pp. 1-66

The actual confirmation of the hypothesis of P.J. safarika

P.J. Šafarik managed to find factual confirmation of the greater antiquity of the Glagolitic. In the Cyrillic copy of the Book of the Prophets, made in 1499, the original entry of 1047 is repeated. This entry was made in 1047 by priest Upir Likhoi. It states:

The postscript indicates that this Cyrillic manuscript was copied from the original, written in a different script than the manuscript of Upir Likhoy, which the Novgorodians called Cyrillic, in the manuscript itself there are Glagolitic letters and even whole words, proving that the original was written in Glagolitic. Obviously, in Novgorod in the XI century. Glagolitic was called Cyrillic.

Every year on May 24, when the Day of Slavic Literature is celebrated, someone is sure to utter a stupidity similar to the one that sounded on Tuesday in the Vesti program of Russian television:

"Today they honor the memory of Saints Methodius and Cyril, who more than 11 centuries ago created a new alphabet, our native Cyrillic, in which we still read and write."

Well, the Slavic enlighteners Cyril and Methodius did not create their "native Cyrillic alphabet"! Through the efforts of the eldest of the brothers, the Glagolitic arose. About this alphabet, which has long become dead, the author tells a large number scientific papers on the history of the Russian language Victor Zhivov:

- The Glagolitic alphabet is not used now, but it served for many centuries and played a decisive role in the development of Slavic writing. Cyril's merit is that he came up with a new alphabet for the Slavic language. The Cyrillic alphabet, which, apparently, arose later, was simply a translation of the Glagolitic into a different script. But the very structure of the Slavic alphabet was created by Cyril.

- What does this mean - he isolated from oral speech some pieces of words, that is, sounds, phonemes and reflected them in letters? Or something else?

– Generally speaking, the alphabet created by Kirill is phonological. It almost unequivocally corresponds to the composition of the phonemes of that Slavic dialect on which the language used by Cyril and Methodius was based. This is the Old Church Slavonic language. It is based on the Macedonian dialect of the Slavic language.

– You said that Glagolitic existed for several centuries. Specify what century it is.

– The Glagolitic alphabet was created by Cyril. So, it happened in the middle of the ninth century. It was used by Western Slavs - Czechs, Moravans, apparently in the 10th century and in the 11th century. It was used by the Croats from the 11th century onward until at least the 17th. She returned to Bohemia at some point in the 14th century. The Glagolitic alphabet was also known in Russia. Monuments have survived to this day, on which there are some Glagolitic inscriptions made by Russians.

– But these are just inscriptions: in churches, on icons, on some objects, but by no means books.

No, not books.

- And, as far as I remember, in Russia the Glagolitic alphabet did not exist for as long as in the countries you named.

- Oh sure. In Russia, it was such an exotic. It was used for special purposes, such as cryptography.

- When did the Cyrillic alphabet appear?

- Yes. Cyrillic was already in Russia. When Russia received literacy along with baptism (this was the end of the 10th century, as we know), by that time the Cyrillic alphabet had already existed for 100 years.

What do verbal letters look like? We know very well that the Cyrillic alphabet is very similar to the Greek alphabet. And what was the basis of the Glagolitic graphics?

- It's a difficult question. There, for some letters, you can find analogues, say, in Greek cursive, in Greek minuscule. For some letters, you can try to look for other analogues. But, generally speaking, this artificial creation. It's very noticeable. The first letter "Az" is a cross.

There are a number of symmetrical letters that form symmetrical shapes, such as "I" and "C". These are the letters that abbreviate the name Jesus.

- There are also intertwined circles, squares.

Yes, but there are a lot of them. Be that as it may, this is such an artificial font, artificial graphics.

– When they say that the Cyrillic alphabet arose on the basis of the Glagolitic alphabet, how should this be understood?

- In Cyrillic, as you correctly noted, the forms of the Greek manuscule are mainly transferred. They are supplemented by a number of missing letters, because the Greeks did not have letters for such sounds as, for example, Sh or Ch. These letters were taken from the Glagolitic alphabet.

- That is, this is a spontaneous birth of writing?

- Natural something spontaneous, but not quite. Because in the beginning it was natural development, and then on this basis an alphabet was created, supplemented by a number of letters that the Greeks did not have. With the help of this alphabet, books began to be written. And this is, without a doubt, the birth of a new graphics system.

- And from Bulgaria this system has already come to Ancient Russia- along with church books?

– Yes, although Bulgaria was not the only source of church books for Russians.

- I think it makes sense to clarify: the Russian alphabet is named Cyrillic in memory of Kirill, and not because he is its author.

- Oh sure. And by the way, Cyrillic is not an old name. True, there is a mention somewhere (we will not go into details in which of the monuments) - "Cyrillic". But there, by "Cyrillic" they mean the Glagolitic! Cyrillic in the current sense of the word appears only in the 19th century.

- So it is by the standards of the language quite late?

- Yes, it is later and it is, so to speak, scholarly. In the 19th century there was an increased interest in Slavic antiquities. Of course, Cyril and Methodius were extremely important figures for the Slavic national movement.

Everyone knows how words are formed today: it is taken finished word, a ready-made suffix or prefix with certain value- and we have something new: ecstasy - a pelvis that was in use. It is clear that education words are coming on the basis of already developed concepts: the ancient words "overgrown" with suffixes and prefixes, changing their meaning. But it is also clear that the very first words were formed differently.

Each letter carries a concept. For example, the letter "A" is associated with the beginning - the main, starting point of our physical and spiritual actions. The categories of energy correspond to the letters "E", "E", "I", and the first two have a shade of cosmic energy, and the letter "I" tends to more "earthly" forms of its manifestation. In the sounds and letters of the alphabet lies the original meaning of everything. And the very first words were formed in accordance with this original meaning.

That is why the alphabet can be safely considered the first code, and applicable to any language - modern or ancient. Why does the word start with two "a"s? Do you feel something in common between the words layer, stroke, flatten, palm, plateau? Or, for example, remember the word yell, meaning to plow, cultivate the land. Among the Sumerians, Ur-Ru meant to plow; in Hebrew horeysh is a plowman, in Lithuanian and Latvian arti is to plow; in Latvian to plow is aro; in Old High German art - a plowed field, and in Hindi, harvaha - a plowman. Modern English Earth is related to Old Norse ertha, Old High German erda, modern German Erde; aro is Latin for plow, which is related to the English and French arable - arable. After all these examples, it is quite clear that Aryan means first of all a farmer, and not what we usually think.

We often cannot accurately determine the “fine” structure of the meanings of words - since we do not set such a task for ourselves - but we can always feel it. And - thanks to the creators of alphabets - to see on the letter. They managed to isolate the smallest particles of meaning - sounds from the flow of information that brings down reality on us and stop them, leave them on parchment, paper, metal or wood. Right, we are talking about letters. The invention of the real alphabet can be considered the largest cultural revolution in the history of mankind.

The ancients were much more aware of the importance of the alphabet than we are. They perceived it as something whole, as a model of the world, the macrocosm - that is why on vases, urns, medallions from ancient burials we find complete records of various alphabets that played the role of a propitiatory sacrifice. At the same time, naturally, if the alphabet as a whole was a model of the world, then its individual signs were considered as elements of the world.

We do not know the ancient own name» of the alphabet, it may have been taboo. All alphabets are called by their first letters: Latin ABCD-arium (or abecedarium), Church Slavonic alphabet, Russian alphabet, Greek alphabet, German Abc.

Historians cannot give an exact answer to the question of when society became ready for the appearance of a real alphabet. Wars, fires, wrong dating and established stereotypes are too many obstacles to find out how everything really was. The art of writing is described in the Mahabharata, and, based on these data, it appeared long before the writing of the Sumerians and at least two thousand years before the Phoenician alphabet. There are more questions than answers in this area of ​​knowledge. But for now we will not look into the depths of millennia - even with regard to the relatively young Cyrillic alphabet, there is a lot of obscurity.

History of Slavic writing.

Since the Slavs settled quite widely - from the Elbe to the Don, from the northern Dvina to the Peloponnese - it is not at all surprising that their groups of alphabets had many variants. But if you "look at the root", then these groups that succeeded each other can be distinguished three - runes, Glagolitic and Cyrillic.

Slavic runes.

At the end of the 17th century, about fifty figurines and ritual objects of ancient Slavic deities with runic inscriptions were found in the village of Prilwitz, among which the inscriptions Retra and Radegast were most often found. Scientists have come to the conclusion that the collection of these items belonged to the temple of Radegast from the city of Retra. The German Andreas Gottlieb Masch acquired this collection and in 1771 published a catalog of items with engravings in Germany. Shortly after publication, the collection disappeared. At the end of the 19th century, three stones (Mikorzhinsky stones) were found in the Poznań Voivodeship in Poland with inscriptions carved on them in the same alphabet as on Retrin objects.

Slavic runes in Scandinavian sources are called "Venda Runis" - "Vendian runes". We know practically nothing about them, except for the very fact of their existence. Runes were used for brief inscriptions on gravestones, boundary markers, weapons, jewelry, and coins. Cult figurines with runic inscriptions scattered around museums different countries, and there they mostly remain undeciphered.

Runic writing was the first, preliminary stage in the development of writing, when there was no particular need for it: messengers were sent with news, they all lived together, knowledge was kept by the elders and priests, and songs and legends were passed from mouth to mouth. Runes were used for short messages: an indication of the road, a border post, a sign of property, etc. The real writing among the Slavs appeared along with the Glagolitic alphabet.

Glagolitic and Cyrillic.

Regarding the invention of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, scientists have an established opinion - something like this. The appearance of these alphabets is associated with the adoption of Christianity by the Slavs. The brothers Cyril (in the world - Konstantin the Philosopher) and Methodius invented the Glagolitic alphabet on behalf of the Byzantine Empire on the basis of some rudiments of Slavic writing in order to translate liturgical books into this alphabet and pave the way for the adoption of Christianity by the Slavs. A little later, 20-30 years later, the Cyrillic alphabet was invented, which was more convenient than the Glagolitic, and therefore it rather quickly replaced the latter. Although the Cyrillic alphabet is named after the monastic name of Constantine the Philosopher, it was not invented by him himself, but, apparently, by one of his students. Thus, Slavic writing appeared no earlier than 863, and all written monuments dating back to the 860s were swept aside by science as false and impossible.

This statement in itself is surprising. Indeed, at the very least, it is strange to assume that a normal people did not have normal writing at a time when everyone around already had it. And the very posing of the question of the "invention" of the alphabet in certain point time is highly doubtful. The need for writing among the Slavs appeared centuries earlier. Knowing about the existence of runic, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and other writing, the Slavs probably either adapted other people's alphabets for their needs, or gradually developed their own. The Slavic pagan epic mentions that Svarog, the god of heaven, carved laws for people on a stone called Alatyr - that is, the population should already be able to read and, therefore, write. So what is the merit of Constantine the Philosopher?

Konstantin Filosov, aka Cyril, brother of Methodius.

Constantine the Philosopher was a man of an extraordinary mind, strong character and high education, and Constantinople, using these qualities of his, often entrusted him with various diplomatic tasks. During the years of Constantine's life, the situation in Byzantium cannot be called calm: not only did discontent rise within the country, it also experienced a significant threat from the growing power of the Slavic tribes. All together, this called into question the existence of the Byzantine Empire itself.

The only salvation for her could only be the conversion of these pagans to Christianity. Byzantium took several failed attempts, but the idea did not take hold of the masses. And then in Constantinople it was quite reasonably decided that it would be more successful to present Christianity to the Slavs in their native language. In 860, Constantine the Philosopher was sent to Chersonese to translate liturgical books - the Crimea at that time was a crossroads, where communication between Russia and the Byzantine Empire usually took place. Constantine was supposed to study the Slavic alphabet, translate Christian prayer books with its help, and generally prepare the ground for the Christianization of all of Russia.

Constantine spent four years in the Crimea, and then was sent along with his brother Methodius to the Moravian ruler Rostislav, to whom, according to the annals, he brought prayer books written in Glagolitic. Perhaps, on this basis, it was concluded that the Glagolitic alphabet became the invention of Constantine on the coastal shores of Chersonese.

However, as the “Life of Constantine” testifies, in 858, while in Chersonese, he found the Gospel and the Psalter there, written in Russian letters, and also met a man who spoke Russian, was able to somehow explain himself to him, and then quite quickly learned to read and speak the language. Constantine learned to read so quickly that it seemed to his Greek companions that a great miracle had happened. In fact, even though the writing was alien, unfamiliar - judging by the fact that Konstantin still had to learn to read, but Old Russian language turned out to be quite close to the language of the Macedonian Slavs, which was Constantine the Philosopher.

It turns out that more than a hundred years before the official baptism of Russia, the Slavs already had translations of church books into the Slavic language and their own developed writing system, different from Greek. What was this writing? And what does Konstantin have to do with it?

It must have been a verb. And certainly the letter at that time was already quite developed - in any case, not the beginnings. The assertion that Slavic writing appeared only together with Christianity is not true. The Chernorizet Khrabr (Bulgaria, late 9th century) writes in his “Tale of the Slavic Writings” that the Slavs have long read and written, using special “features and cuts” for this.

Konstantin did not get acquainted with the beginnings of Slavic writing, but with a developed letter - probably unsystematized, so he had not so much to invent a new alphabet, but to reform an existing one. What was this Slavic alphabet like?

Glagolitic.

There are also enough ambiguities in the history of the origin of the Glagolitic alphabet. As a Slavic alphabet, it appeared at least in the 4th century. The Glagolitic alphabet was born on the Balkan Peninsula, where it still exists in a dying form. The Glagolitic alphabet among the Western Slavs (Czechs, Poles, etc.) did not last long and was replaced by the Latin script, while the rest of the Slavs switched to the Cyrillic alphabet. But the Glagolitic alphabet was used until the beginning of the Second World War in some settlements in Italy, where newspapers were even printed in this font.

Its invention, or at least its introduction into use, is associated with Bishop Ulfila, a primate among the so-called small Goths who lived on the Balkan Peninsula. In fact, these were the Getae, who fell victim to consonance with the Goths, but "small ones" were added to their name to distinguish them. Thucydides also mentioned the Getae, and their history reaches Trojan War. The Getae in ancient times had high culture- the Greeks themselves declared that the Getae were almost no different from the Greeks. It is very likely that both the Slavs and holy books Christians were translated by them long before Cyril.

It is not known whether Bishop Ulfilas invented the Glagolitic alphabet himself or improved the Getic runes in this way. But it can be argued that the Glagolitic alphabet is at least five centuries older than the Cyrillic alphabet. Knowing this, a lot historical documents can be overestimated, because they were dated based on the fact that the Glagolitic alphabet was created only in the 9th century, although the Slavs had their own written language by the end of the 4th century. There are few traces of it left, and this heritage is little studied and not appreciated, since it does not fit into the picture of the invention of Slavic writing by Cyril and Methodius.

What are the most character traits this mysterious alphabet?

The Glagolitic alphabet lacks the Greek letters "xi" and "psi", which are found in the Cyrillic alphabet. The author of the Glagolitic alphabet was more independent of the Greek alphabet than Cyril, and decided that there was no point in introducing a third letter to combine sounds that already had their own designations. There are two letters in the Glagolitic alphabet for hard and soft "g", which is more in line with the phonetics of Slavic speech. Glagolitic - two different letters for the sounds "dz" and "z". In Cyrillic, initially there was only the letter "z", but later the Cyrillic alphabet was improved to the degree of the Glagolitic alphabet and the diphthong "dz" began to be transmitted by the crossed out letter "z".

It turns out that if the original was written in the Glagolitic alphabet, and rewritten in Cyrillic, then the scribe, mechanically repeating the letters of the original, actually changed the date - often for decades. This explains some discrepancy in dates. The verb graphics are very intricate and evoke associations with Armenian or Georgian writing. According to the shape of the letters, two types of Glagolitic can be noted: round Bulgarian and Croatian (Illyrian, Dalmatian) - more angular.

As we can see, the Glagolitic alphabet differs significantly from the Greek script used in Byzantium. This is another argument against its invention by Constantine. Of course, it can be assumed that Konstantin created a new script from scratch, which was so radically different from what he was used to. But then the question needs to be answered: where did he get these styles, this design principle, because he had time to spare - Byzantium sent Constantine on a rather urgent mission.

It also raises doubts that the “Cyrillic script” was created later in Constantinople by one of the followers of Cyril, and it adapted the Greek alphabet to the needs of the Slavic languages. The Cyrillic alphabet was a very subtle device - it generally retained internal system Glagolitic letters, however, the Glagolitic letters were replaced by new Greek ones, and additional letters to denote special Slavic sounds were stylized as Greek. Thus, this letter was Greek in its graphics, and native Slavic in its phonetics. The unknown follower of Constantine must have been a solid scholar. It is hard to imagine that he kept silent about his role and allowed to call his offspring by someone else's name.

Moreover, when the Cyrillic alphabet, which belonged to some unknown creator, began to displace the Glagolitic, the students and admirers of Cyril and Methodius could not but react to this, because the transition from the Glagolitic to Cyrillic actually nullified all the work of the brothers. Imagine: translating liturgical books for years, using them for at least 20 years - and suddenly drop everything and start rewriting all the literature in Cyrillic? Such a revolution was to cause a struggle between the supporters of the innovation and its opponents. Go to new font was impossible without the convening of a special church council, without disputes, differences of opinion, but there is not a word about this in history. Not a single church book written using the Glagolitic alphabet has survived either.

From all this, the conclusion suggests itself that Constantine the Philosopher invented not the Glagolitic alphabet, but the Cyrillic alphabet. And most likely, he did not even invent, but reformed the already existing alphabet. Even before Cyril, the Slavs used both non-Greek and Greek alphabets. AT XVIII century in the hands of the Montenegrin house of the princes of Chernoevich was the diploma of Pope Leo IV (847-855), written in Cyrillic. One of the reasons why the document was declared false was that Cyril should have invented the Cyrillic alphabet only in 863.

Another example is the image of Christ on a towel, the so-called image of Veronica, kept among other relics in the Vatican. It is generally accepted that it belongs to the first centuries of Christianity. On it, in addition to the letters IC (Jesus) XC (Christ), there is a clear inscription: “THE IMAGE OF SPDN ON UBRUS” (ubrus is a towel for the face).

The third example is the icon of the apostles Peter and Paul, recorded in the catalog of Giacomo Grimaldi in 1617 under number 52. By the nature of the painting, it belongs to the first centuries of our era. In the central part of the icon at the top is the image of the Savior with the Cyrillic inscription "ICXC". On the left is the image of St. Peter with the inscription: "STOY PETER". On the right is the image of St. Paul with the inscription: "STA PAVL".

The Slavs used Greek-type alphabets centuries before Cyril, so he took the already existing alphabet as a basis, supplemented it and created church literature on it. He could not base the Glagolitic alphabet: it was unsuitable for quick writing because of its complexity, in addition, Ulfila stood behind it, not particularly revered Orthodox Church. Finally, the Glagolitic alienated Byzantium with its Greek writing and the Slavs.

Rome treated the Glagolitic rather loyally. From 1554 french kings, assuming the throne, they swore an oath in the Reims Cathedral on the Gospel. The gospel consists of two parts: the first is written in Cyrillic and includes readings from the New Testament according to the Slavic rite; the second is written in Glagolitic and concludes readings from the New Testament according to the Catholic rite. On the Glagolitic text there is an inscription in French: “The Year of the Lord is 1395. This Gospel and epistle are written in the Slavic language. They should be sung throughout the year when the hierarchal service is performed. As for the other part of this book, it corresponds to the Russian rite. It was written by St. Prokop, abbot, and this Russian text was donated by the late Charles IV, Emperor of the Roman Empire, to perpetuate St. Jerome and St. Prokop. God, give them eternal rest. Amen". It should be noted that St. Prokop, abbot of the monastery in Sazava (died February 25, 1053), celebrated the liturgy according to the Roman Catholic rite, but on Old Church Slavonic. According to legend, the first king to swear an oath on this gospel was Philip I, son of Henry and Anna, daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, who were married in 1048. The gospel may have belonged to Anna, and her son took oath on it out of respect for his mother. In any case, Cyrillic and Glagolitic for many centuries coexisted peacefully in the Roman Catholic Church, in contrast to the Orthodox, where Glagolitic was deliberately avoided, although both alphabets were used in parallel in everyday life.

The Glagolitic is much older than the Cyrillic and phonetically more perfect. Along with the Glagolitic alphabet, the Slavs also used Greek-style alphabets, and it fell to Cyril only to finalize what was in common use, but had no rules and canon. Thus, both Glagolitic and Cyrillic are composed specifically for the Slavic language. Cyrillic is graphically a variant of Greek writing (it was often called "Greek writing"), and in its sound structure it is an imitation of the Glagolitic alphabet. The Glagolitic alphabet is rather a product of the West - it developed there, there it became more and more fixed, and there it still exists.