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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.

The alphabet

Image Unicode Name
(Cyrillic) 		Name
(transliterated) 		Name
(IPA) 		Transliteration IPA Notes
А а АЗЪ azǔ a
Б б БѸКИ buky b
В в ВѢДИ vědě v
Г г ГЛАГОЛИ glagoli g
Д д ДОБРО dobro d
Є є ѤСТЬ estǐ e
Ж ж ЖИВѢТЄ živěte ž, zh
Ѕ ѕ ЅѢЛО dzělo dz, Z
З з ЗЄМЛIА zeml’ja z See note 1
И и ИЖЄ iže i
І і / Ї ї И i i, I
К к КАКО kako k
Л л ЛЮДИѤ ljudije l
М м МЫСЛИТЄ mūslite m
Н н НАШЬ našǐ n
О о ОНЪ onǔ o
П п ПОКОИ pokoi p
Р р РЬЦИ rǐci r
С с СЛОВО slovo s
Т т ТВРЬДО tvr̥do t
Ѹ ѹ ѸКЪ ukǔ u See note 2
Ф ф ФРЬТЪ fr̤̥tǔ f
Х х ХѢРЪ xěrǔ ? x
Ѡ ѡ ОТЪ otǔ ō, w
Ц ц ЦИ ci c
Ч ч ЧРЬВЬ čr̤̥vǐ č, ch
Ш ш ША ša š, sh
Щ щ ШТА šta št, sht, šč, shch
Ъ ъ ѤРЪ jerǔ ǔ, u:
Ы ы ѤРЫ jerū ū
Ь ь ѤРЬ jerǐ ǐ, i:
Ѣ ѣ ЯТЬ jatǐ ě, je
Ю ю Ю ju ju
Я я (И)Я ja ja
Ѧ ѧ ѦСЪ ęsǔ ę, ẽ See note 3
Ѩ ѩ ѨСЪ jęsǔ ję, jẽ See note 4
Ѫ ѫ ѪСЪ ǫsǔ ǫ, õ See note 5
Ѭ ѭ ѬСЪ jǫsǔ jǫ, jõ See note 6
Ѯ ѯ КСИ ksi ks
Ѱ ѱ ПСИ psi ps
Ѳ ѳ ФИТА fita θ, th, T, F
Ѵ ѵ ИЖИЦА ižica ü
Ѥ ѥ (И)Ѥ jeː jeː
Ћ ћ ДѤРВ đerv, djerv đ, dj See note 7
Ѿ ѿ ОТЪ otǔ ōt, wt
See note 8

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.

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:

See also

References

Cyrillic alphabet

초기 키릴 문자 | Alfabeto cirillico arcaico | Старословенско писмо | Oudcyrillisch alfabet | Кирилиця

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Early Cyrillic alphabet".

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