EARLY CYRILLIC ALPHABET

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.

Contents

The alphabet

Notes

Numerals, diacritics and punctuation

See also

References

The alphabet

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

Notes

# Zemlya: The first form developed into the second.
# Ouku: The first form developed into a vertical ligature, shown in the second form.
# Ęsǔ: In Russian, this glyph is called ЮСЪ МАЛЫЙ (jusǔ malūj).
# Jęsǔ: In Russian, this glyph is called ЮСЪ МАЛЫЙ ЙОТИРОВАННЫЙ (jusǔ malūj jotirovannūj). This glyph is rare.
# Ǫsǔ: In Russian, this glyph is called ЮСЪ БОЛЬШОЙ (jusǔ bol'šoj). This glyph is rare in Russian, but commonly used in Old Bulgarian.
# Jǫsǔ: In Russian, this glyph is called ЮСЪ БОЛЬШОЙ ЙОТИРОВАННЫЙ (jusǔ bol'šoj jotirovannūj). This glyph is rare in Russian, but commonly used in Old Bulgarian.
# 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.
# Ornate omega: The name of this glyph is unknown; it would seem to be used in s, 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):

★   ''oksia'', indicating a stressed syllable (Unicode U+1FFD), similar to an acute accent

★   ''varia'', indicating stress on the last syllable (U+1FEF), similar to a grave accent

★   ''kamora'', indicating palatalization (U+0484), similar to an inverted breve

★   ''dasy pneuma'', rough breathing mark (U+0485)

★   ''zvatel'tse'', or ''psilon pneuma'', soft breathing mark (U+0486)

★   ''titlo'', indicating abbreviations, or letters used as numerals (U+0483)

★   ''trema'', diaeresis (U+0308)

★   Combined ''zvatel'tse'' and ''oksia'' is called ''iso''.

★   Combined ''zvatel'tse'' and ''varia'' is called ''apostrof''.
Punctuation marks:

★ ·  ''ano teleia'' (U+0387), a middle dot used as a word separator

★ ,  comma (U+002C)

★ .  full stop (U+002E)

★ ։  Armenian full stop (U+0589), resembling a colon

★   Georgian paragraph separator (U+10FB)

★   triangular colon (U+2056, added in Unicode 4.1)

★   diamond colon (U+2058, added in Unicode 4.1)

★   quintuple colon (U+2059, added in Unicode 4.1)

★ ;  Greek question mark (U+037E), similar to a semicolon

★ !  exclamation mark (U+0021)

See also

★ Bosnian Cyrillic

★ Reforms of Russian orthography

References

★ A Berdnikov and O Lapko, "Old Slavonic and Church Slavonic in TEX and Unicode", EuroTEX ’99 Proceedings, September 1999 (PDF)

★ DJ Birnbaum, "Unicode for Slavic Medievalists", September 28, 2002 (PDF)

★ M Everson and R Cleminson, "Final proposal for encoding the Glagolitic script in the UCS", Expert Contribution to the ISO N2610R, September 4, 2003 (PDF)

★ V Lev, "The history of the Ukrainian script (paleography)", in ''Ukraine: a concise encyclopædia, volume 1''. University of Toronto Press, 1963, 1970, 1982. ISBN 0-8020-3105-6

★ V Simovyc and JB Rudnyckyj, "The history of Ukrainian orthography", in ''Ukraine: a concise encyclopædia, volume 1'' (''op cit'').

★ J Zamora, "Help me learn Church Slavonic", online

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