Slavonic writing in Russia

Modern Russian is based on Old Slavonic, which, in turn, was used earlier for writing and for speech. To our days, many scrolls and paintings have survived.

Culture of Ancient Russia: writing

Many scientists argue that until the ninth century there was no written language in sight. This means that in the times of Kievan Rus, writing did not exist as such.

However, this assumption is erroneous, because if you look at the history of other developed countries and states, you can see that every strong state had its own written language. Since Ancient Rus also belonged to a number of fairly strong countries, the writing was also necessary for Russia.

Another group of scientists-researchers proved that the writing was, and this conclusion was supported by a number of historical documents and facts: Hrabr wrote the legends "On the letters". Also, "in the Lives of Methodius and Constantine," mention is made of the existence of writing in the Eastern Slavs. Ibn Fadlan's records are also cited as evidence.

So when was writing appeared in Russia? The answer to this question is still controversial. But the main argument for society, confirming the emergence of writing in, are the treaties between Rus and Byzantium, which were written in 911 and 945.

Cyril and Methodius: a huge contribution to the Slavic script

The contribution of Slavic enlighteners is invaluable. It was with the beginning of their work that the Slavic language had its own alphabet, which was much easier in its pronunciation and writing than the previous version of the language.

It is known that the Enlightenment with their students did not preach from the East Slavic peoples, but the researchers say that, perhaps, Methodius and Cyril set such a goal. The access to their views would not only allow them to expand their interests, but would also simplify the introduction of a simplified language into the Eastern Slavonic culture.

In the tenth century, books and lives of great enlighteners came to the territory of Russia, where they began to enjoy real success. It is to this moment that researchers attribute the origin of writing in Rus, the Slavic alphabet.

Rus since the appearance of its language alphabet

Despite all these facts, some researchers are trying to prove that the alphabet of the Enlightenment appeared even in the times of Kievan Rus, that is, even before baptism, when Russia was a pagan land. Despite the fact that most of the historical documents are written in Cyrillic, there are papers that contain information written in Glagolitic. Researchers say that, probably, the Glagolitic was also used in Ancient Rus precisely during the ninth to tenth centuries - before the adoption of Christianity by Russia.

Quite recently this assumption was proved. Scientists-researchers found a document that contained a record of a certain priest Poppy. In turn, he wrote that in 1044 in Russia the Glagolitic was used, but the Slavic people perceived it as the work of the Enlightener Cyril and began to be called "Cyrillic."

It is difficult to say how different the culture of Ancient Rus was at that time. The emergence of writing in Russia, as is commonly believed, began precisely from the time the enlightenment books were widely distributed, despite the facts that the writing was an important element for pagan Russia.

Rapid development of the Slavonic script: the baptism of the pagan land

The rapid development of the writing of the East Slavic peoples began after the baptism of Rus, when the writing in Rus appeared. In 988, when Prince Vladimir took Christianity in Russia, children who were considered a social elite, began to learn from alphabetic books. It was at this time that ecclesiastical books appeared in writing, inscriptions on cylinder locks, and also written expressions that blacksmiths knocked out on order, with swords. Texts appear on princely seals.

Also, it is important to note that there are legends about coins with inscriptions, which used princes Vladimir, Svyatopolk and Yaroslav.

And in 1030, birch-bark letters are widely used.

The first written entries: birch bark and books

The first written records were records on birch bark letters. Such a charter is a written record on a small piece of birch bark.

Their uniqueness lies in the fact that today they are perfectly preserved. For researchers, this finding is very important: in addition to the fact that thanks to these certificates one can learn the peculiarities of the Slavic language, the letters on the birch bark are able to tell about important events that took place during the eleventh to fifteenth centuries. Such records became an important element for studying the history of Ancient Rus.

In addition to Slavic culture, birch bark was also used among cultures of other countries.

At the moment, there are a lot of birch bark documents in the archives, the authors of which are the Old Believers. In addition, with the advent of birch bark paper, people have taught us to strip birch bark. This discovery was the impetus for writing books on the birch bark. Slavic writing in Russia began to develop more and more.

Find for Researchers and Historians

The first letters made on birch paper, which were found in Russia, were in the city of Veliky Novgorod. Everyone who studied history knows that this city was of no small importance for the development of Russia.

A new stage in the development of writing: translation as the main achievement

Great influence on writing in Russia had the southern Slavs.

Under Prince Vladimir in Russia began to translate books and documents from the South Slavic language. And under Prince Yaroslav the Wise, the literary language began to develop, thanks to which a literary genre appeared, such as ecclesiastical literature.

Of great importance for the Old Russian language was the ability to translate texts from foreign languages. The first translations (books) that came from the West European side were translations from Greek. It was the Greek language that in many ways changed the culture of the Russian language. Many borrowed words were used more and more in literary works, even in the same church scriptures.

It was at this stage that the culture of Rus began to change, the writing of which became more and more complicated.

Reforms of Peter the Great: on the way to a simple language

With the advent of Peter I, who reformed all the structures of the Russian people, even significant changes were made to the culture of the language. The appearance of writing in Rus in ancient times immediately complicated the already complicated Slavonic language. In 1708, Peter the Great introduced the so-called "civil font." Already in 1710 Peter the Great personally revised every letter of the Russian language, after which a new alphabet was created. The alphabet was distinguished for its simplicity and ease of use. The Russian ruler wanted to simplify the Russian language. Many letters were simply excluded from the alphabet, due to which simplified not only spoken language, but also written.

Significant changes in the 18th century: the introduction of new symbols

The main change in this period was the introduction of such a letter as "and a short". This letter was introduced in 1735. Already in 1797 Karamzin used a new sign to denote the sound of "yo."

By the end of the 18th century the letter "yat" had lost its meaning, because its sound coincided with the sound of "e". It was at this time that the letter "yat" was no longer used. Soon it also ceased to be a part of the Russian alphabet.

The last stage of the development of the Russian language: small changes

The final reform, which changed the writing in Russia, was the reform of 1917, which lasted until 1918. It implied the exclusion of all letters, the sound of which was either too similar, or even repeated. It is thanks to this reform that today the solid sign (b) is separative, and the soft sign (b) has become a separator for the designation of soft consonant sound.

It is important to note that this reform has caused great dissatisfaction on the part of many outstanding literary figures. For example, Ivan Bunin strongly criticized this change in his native language.