The importance of writing in the development of mankind is difficult to overestimate. Even in that era, when there was no trace of the alphabet, ancient people tried to express their thoughts in the form of rock inscriptions.
ABC of Elisabeth Boehm

First they drew figures of animals and humans, then - various signs and hieroglyphs. Over time, people managed to create easy-to-understand letters and put them into an alphabet. Who was the creator of the Russian alphabet? To whom do we owe the opportunity to express ourselves freely through writing?

Who laid the foundation of the Russian alphabet?

The history of the appearance of the Russian alphabet dates back to the 2nd millennium BC. Then the ancient Phoenicians came up with consonant letters and used them for quite a long time to compose documents.

In the 8th century BC, their discovery was borrowed by the ancient Greeks, who significantly improved the letter by adding vowels to it. Subsequently, it was the Greek alphabet, with the help of which statutory (solemn) letters were compiled, that formed the basis of the Russian alphabet.

Who created the Russian alphabet?

In the Bronze Age, Eastern Europe was inhabited by pre-Slavic peoples who spoke the same language.

Primer Slavonic writings of the Greatest Teacher B. Hieronymus of Stridon
Around the 1st century AD, they began to break up into separate tribes, as a result of which several states inhabited by the Eastern Slavs were created in these territories. Among them was Great Moravia, which occupied the lands of modern Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, partly Ukraine and Poland.

With the advent of Christianity and the construction of temples, people had a need to create a writing system that would allow them to record church texts. To learn to write, the Moravian prince Rostislav turned to the Byzantine emperor Michael III for help, and he sent Christian preachers Cyril and Methodius to Moravia. In 863, they came up with the first Russian alphabet, which was named after one of the preachers - the Cyrillic alphabet.

Who are Cyril and Methodius?

Cyril and Methodius were brothers originally from Thessaloniki (now Greek Thessaloniki). In those days, in their hometown, in addition to Greek, they spoke the Slavic-Thessalonica dialect, which formed the basis of the Church Slavonic language.

Initially, Cyril’s name was Konstantin, and he received his middle name just before his death, having taken a monastic vow. In his youth, Constantine studied with the best Byzantine teachers of philosophy, rhetoric, and dialectics, and later taught at Magnavra University in Constantinople.

Monument to Saints Cyril and Methodius in Saratov. Photo by Vasily Zimin.
In 863, going to Moravia, with the help of his brother Methodius, he created. Bulgaria became the center of the spread of Slavic writing. In 886, the Preslav Book School was opened on its territory, where they translated from Greek and rewrote the originals of Cyril and Methodius. Around the same time, the Cyrillic alphabet came to Serbia, and at the end of the 10th century it reached Kievan Rus.

Initially, the first Russian alphabet had 43 letters. Later, 4 more were added to it, and the previous 14 were removed as unnecessary. At first, some of the letters resembled Greek ones in appearance, but as a result of spelling reform in the 17th century, they were replaced with those that we know today.

By 1917, there were 35 letters in the Russian alphabet, although in fact there were 37 of them, since E and J were not considered separate. Additionally, the alphabet contained the letters I, Ѣ (yat), Ѳ (fita) and V (Izhitsa), which later disappeared from use.

When did the modern Russian alphabet appear?

In 1917–1918, a major spelling reform was carried out in Russia, thanks to which the modern alphabet appeared. Its initiator was the Ministry of Public Education under the Provisional Government. The reform began before the revolution, but was continued after the transfer of power to the Bolsheviks.

Wikimedia Commons/Jimmy Thomas ()
In December 1917, Russian statesman Anatoly Lunacharsky issued a decree requiring all organizations to use a new alphabet consisting of 33 letters.

Although the spelling reform was prepared before the revolution and did not have any political background, at first it was criticized by opponents of Bolshevism. However, over time, the modern alphabet took root and is used to this day.

reflections.

A little subjective history.

Have you ever wondered about the origin of our Great and Mighty? Where does our language come from? Having attended Dmitry Petrov’s lecture “On the Origin of Languages” in the summer, I never received an answer to the main question, although the lecture was undoubtedly very interesting.

Many adhere to the views of the so-called “Norman theory”, that it is the people-tribe of Rus' that takes its roots from Scandinavia (Varangians). If you look at the map and realize the endless expanses of our homeland, then this theory turns out to be too narrow. I'm sure we have more in Russia than we imagine.

The Scandinavian influence on Rus' was indeed significant, but only in one of its geographical parts. True, it cannot be denied that the first legitimate power was still with the Varangians (Rurik).

My personal subjective opinion: Scandinavian tribes assimilated on the territory of Rus' with the tribes that lived there at that time

Most likely the Rus are not Slavs or Scandinavians, but a peculiar mix. Varangian-Russian ethnic community.

There were many tribes. That is, the tribe “Rus”, and the territory “Rus” was the territory of present-day Ukraine (Kievan Rus), and the Slavs, apparently, lived on Novgorod Land.

In general, the Novgorodians for a long time did not consider themselves Russians at all, the word Rus belongs to their territory. In Novgorod birch bark letters, as well as in chronicles for some time, there are stories that such and such a bishop in such and such a year went to Rus' from Novgorod, that is, went south, to Kiev or Chernigov. - Andrey Zaliznyak (outstanding linguist, academician).

I always had the impression that our country has always been some kind of separate state, in comparison with the Western world, and its economic and political formation began much earlier than Rurik’s coming to reign. But intuitively I feel that the real Russia is not in Moscow, but much further from it, somewhere there, to Novgorod and beyond. And near Moscow, the influence of Western culture is really strong, which often determines the mentality. We are close. In general, many Russian people living to the north have a harsh mentality. Kind, good, but harsh. Hence all the stereotypes about bears and Siberia and vodka. Not out of nowhere. Cold. And there it is already.

About the language.

The Slavic branches grow from the powerful trunk of the Indo-European family, which covers most of the languages ​​of Europe and India. The Indian and Iranian groups are represented in the East. In Europe, languages ​​originate from Latin: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian. Greece and Greek are represented first by Ancient Greek, and now by Modern Greek. From Germany we received German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, and English. Baltika combines the Baltic languages ​​and Slavic.

The Baltic branch includes Latvian, Lithuanian and the now extinct Old Prussian. And the Slavs were divided into 3 groups: South Slavic, West Slavic and East Slavic languages.

• South Slavic - these are Bulgarian, Serbian, Slovenian, Macedonian;
• Western Slavic are Polish, Czech, Slovak, Lusatian.
• And the East Slavic languages ​​(OURS) are Russian (otherwise Great Russian), Ukrainian and Belarusian.

After the divine coming of the brothers Cyril and Methodius, the language in Rus' acquired an alphabet and commonality. After all, the tribes used to speak their own dialects. Cyril and Methodius came from Byzantium, therefore, they brought us part of the Greek. Did the shades of Greek influence the Russians? Maybe.

Church Slavonic appeared. Language of Worship. The language of the elite. Ordinary people did not speak it.

And Old Russian, which was used as a folk language.

In comparison with Church Slavonic, in contrast to it.

The Russian language was perceived as a simple language, not just neutral, but even a little derogatory. “Russianize” means to descend, to stop looking after oneself. Inadmissible for expressing spiritual content.

Russian language and Sanskrit.

Sanskrit is the ancient literary language of India. It is considered the same language of the elite as Latin, like Church Slavonic, but only in India. Sacred language. A huge number of religious texts and high literature are written on it.

Slavic and Sanskrit have a lot in common. Probably because Sanskrit belongs to the Indo-European family and has a common root. I am sure that the mutual influence of India and Russia did not stop there. Russia is still too big.

A close connection can be seen between words such as “ jnana " and "knowledge", " Vidya " and "knowledge", " dvara " and "door", " mrityu " and "death", " Shveta " and "light", " jiva " and "alive", Isn't it?

A great expert in languages, dialects, professor and linguist Durgo Shastri, came to Moscow half a century ago. He didn't speak Russian. A week later, the professor refuses the translator, saying that he began to understand the Russians because they speak corrupted Sanskrit. There are such cases.

When I was in Moscow, at the hotel they gave me the keys to room 234 and said “dwesti tridtsat chetire.” In bewilderment, I could not understand whether I was standing in front of a nice girl in Moscow or whether I was in Benares or Ujjain in our classical period some 2000 years ago. In Sankrit 234 it will be “dwsshata tridasha chatwari”. Is there a greater similarity possible anywhere? There are hardly two other different languages ​​that have preserved their ancient heritage - such close pronunciation - to this day.

I had the opportunity to visit the village of Kachalovo, about 25 km from Moscow, and was invited to dinner by a Russian peasant family. An elderly woman introduced me to the young couple, saying in Russian: “On moy seen i ona moya snokha.”

How I wish that Panini, (the great Indian grammarian who lived about 2600 years ago), could be here with me and hear the language of his time, so wonderfully preserved with all the minutest subtleties! - Durga Prasad Shastri

Of course, the influence on the modern Russian language is simply enormous; a huge number of words have already been borrowed from those countries with which we have been able to communicate closely over all periods of history.

To be honest, the modern Russian language contains traces of influences from almost all four corners of the world.

BORROWING.

Sail from the Greek “Pharus”.

During the expansion of the Goths - König, king - Prince.

Regiment from the German “Volk”.

Kaufenfrom German“ Buy”.

Words of Turkic origin for example words like shoe, boar, cap, brick, product, lumber room, Cossack, cauldron, mound.

Bazaar, Barn, Attic are words of Turkish origin.

Watermelon. In Persian it is “Harbuza”. In Persian it is watermelon, Where har this is a “donkey”, and booza- "cucumber'. Together it turns out to be a “donkey cucumber”, and, by the way, it means not a watermelon, but a melon.

From the Swedes - Herring, herring. By the way, the word “Finns” also came to us from the Swedes. The Finns themselves call themselves “Suomi”.

Words cruiser,skipper, flag- Dutch. There are several dozen such words. Appeared during the reign of Peter the Great.

See how much neighboring languages ​​influence the formation of words. The Russian language has communicated with a huge number of languages, at least two dozen. And if we count isolated cases, then there are a dozen more with long-distance connections.

Russian language is the largest language in the world. In terms of the number of people speaking it, it ranks 5th after Chinese, English, Hindi and Spanish.

Origin

Slavic languages, to which Russian belongs, belong to the Indo-European language branch.

At the end of the 3rd – beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The Proto-Slavic language, which is the basis for the Slavic languages, separated from the Indo-European family. In the X – XI centuries. The Proto-Slavic language was divided into 3 groups of languages: West Slavic (Czech, Slovak arose from it), South Slavic (developed into Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian) and East Slavic.

During the period of feudal fragmentation, which contributed to the formation of regional dialects, and the Tatar-Mongol yoke, three independent languages ​​emerged from East Slavic: Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian. Thus, the Russian language belongs to the East Slavic (Old Russian) subgroup of the Slavic group of the Indo-European language branch.

History of development

During the era of Muscovite Rus', the Middle Russian dialect arose, the main role in the formation of which belonged to Moscow, which introduced the characteristic “akan”, and the reduction of unstressed vowels, and a number of other metamorphoses. The Moscow dialect becomes the basis of the Russian national language. However, a unified literary language had not yet emerged at that time.

In the XVIII–XIX centuries. Special scientific, military, and naval vocabulary received rapid development, which was the reason for the appearance of borrowed words, which often clogged and burdened the native language. There was a growing need to develop a unified Russian language, which took place in the struggle of literary and political movements. The great genius M.V. Lomonosov in his theory of “three” established a connection between the subject of presentation and the genre. Thus, odes should be written in a “high” style, plays and prose works in a “medium” style, and comedies in a “low” style. A.S. Pushkin in his reform expanded the possibilities of using the “middle” style, which now became suitable for ode, tragedy, and elegy. It is from the language reform of the great poet that the modern Russian literary language traces its history.

The emergence of Sovietism and various abbreviations (prodrazverstka, people's commissar) are associated with the structure of socialism.

The modern Russian language is characterized by an increase in the number of special vocabulary, which was a consequence of scientific and technological progress. At the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st centuries. The lion's share of foreign words enters our language from English.

The complex relationships between the various layers of the Russian language, as well as the influence of borrowings and new words on it, have led to the development of synonymy, which makes our language truly rich.

Russian is one of the group of East Slavic languages, along with Ukrainian and Belarusian. It is the most widespread Slavic language and one of the most widespread languages ​​in the world in terms of the number of people who speak it and consider it their mother tongue.

In turn, Slavic languages ​​belong to the Balto-Slavic branch of the family of Indo-European languages. Thus, to answer the question: where did the Russian language come from, you need to take an excursion into ancient times.

Origin of Indo-European languages

About 6 thousand years ago there lived a people who are considered native speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language. Where exactly he lived is today the subject of fierce debate among historians and linguists. The steppes of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, and the territory on the border between Europe and Asia, and the Armenian Highlands are called the ancestral homeland of the Indo-Europeans.
In the early 80s of the last century, linguists Gamkrelidze and Ivanov formulated the idea of ​​two ancestral homelands: first there was the Armenian Highlands, and then the Indo-Europeans moved to the Black Sea steppes. Archaeologically, speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language are correlated with representatives of the “Yamnaya culture”, who lived in eastern Ukraine and the territory of modern Russia in the 3rd millennium BC.

Isolation of the Balto-Slavic branch

Subsequently, the Proto-Indo-Europeans settled throughout Asia and Europe, mixed with local peoples and gave them their own language. In Europe, languages ​​of the Indo-European family are spoken by almost all peoples except the Basques; in Asia, various languages ​​of this family are spoken in India and Iran. Tajikistan, Pamir, etc. About 2 thousand years ago, the Proto-Balto-Slavic language emerged from the common Proto-Indo-European language.

The Pre-Balto-Slavs existed as a single people speaking the same language, according to a number of linguists (including Ler-Splavinsky) for approximately 500-600 years, and the archaeological culture of Corded Ware corresponds to this period in the history of our peoples. Then the linguistic branch divided again: into the Baltic group, which henceforth took on an independent life, and the Proto-Slavic group, which became the common root from which all modern Slavic languages ​​originated.

Old Russian language

Pan-Slavic unity was maintained until the 6th-7th centuries AD. When speakers of East Slavic dialects emerged from the general Slavic massif, the Old Russian language began to form, which became the ancestor of the modern Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian languages. The Old Russian language is known to us thanks to numerous monuments written in Church Slavonic, which can be considered as a written, literary form of the Old Russian language.
In addition, written monuments have also been preserved - birch bark letters, graffiti on the walls of churches - written in everyday, colloquial Old Russian.

Old Russian period

The Old Russian (or Great Russian) period covers the time from the 14th to the 17th centuries. At this time, the Russian language finally stands out from the group of East Slavic languages, phonetic and grammatical systems close to modern ones are formed in it, other changes occur, including the formation of dialects. The leading dialect among them is the “akaya” dialect of the upper and middle Oka, and, first of all, the Moscow dialect.

Modern Russian language

The Russian language we speak today began to take shape in the 17th century. It is based on the Moscow dialect. The literary works of Lomonosov, Trediakovsky, and Sumarokov played a decisive role in the formation of the modern Russian language. Lomonosov wrote the first grammar, establishing the norms of the literary Russian language. All the richness of the Russian language, formed from the synthesis of Russian colloquial, Church Slavonic elements, borrowings from other languages, is reflected in the works of Pushkin, who is considered the creator of the modern Russian literary language.

Borrowings from other languages

Over the centuries of its existence, the Russian language, like any other living and developing system, has been repeatedly enriched by borrowings from other languages. The earliest borrowings include “Balticisms” - borrowings from the Baltic languages. However, in this case, we are perhaps not talking about borrowings, but about vocabulary preserved from the time when the Slavic-Baltic community existed. “Balticisms” include words such as “ladle”, “tow”, “stack”, “amber”, “village”, etc.
During the period of Christianization, “Grecisms” entered our language - “sugar”, “bench”. “lantern”, “notebook”, etc. Through contacts with European peoples, “Latinisms” - “doctor”, “medicine”, “rose” and “Arabisms” - “admiral”, “coffee”, “varnish”, “mattress”, etc. entered the Russian language. A large group of words entered our language from Turkic languages. These are words such as “hearth”, “tent”, “hero”, “cart”, etc. And finally, since the time of Peter I, the Russian language has absorbed words from European languages. Initially, this is a large layer of words from German, English and Dutch related to science, technology, maritime and military affairs: “ammunition”, “globe”, “assembly”, “optics”, “pilot”, “sailor”, “deserter” "
Later, French, Italian and Spanish words related to household items and the field of art settled in the Russian language - “stained glass”, “veil”, “couch”, “boudoir”, “ballet”, “actor”, “poster”, “pasta” ", "serenade", etc. And finally, these days we are experiencing a new influx of borrowings, this time mainly from the English language.

Russia has seen a lot before forming its culture, rebuilding majestic cities and creating the mighty Russian language. Before becoming what it is today, the Russian language went through many metamorphoses, overcame barriers and obstacles. The history of how the Russian language originated is quite rich. But there are key points thanks to which you can consider in detail, but briefly, all the nuances of the formation and development of the Russian language.

First steps

The history of the emergence of the Russian language began even before our era. In the 2nd - 1st millennium BC, the Proto-Slavic dialect appeared from the Indo-European language family, and in the 1st millennium AD. e. it turned into a Proto-Slavic language. Proto-Slavic language in the VI-VII centuries. n. e. split into three branches: western, eastern and southern. The East Slavic branch includes the Old Russian language, which was spoken in Kievan Rus. During the formation of Kievan Rus, the Russian language was the main means of communication for many principalities.

Since the time of the Tatar-Mongol yoke and wars with the Principality of Lithuania, changes have occurred in the language. In the XIV-XV centuries. Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian languages ​​appeared. The Old Russian language disappeared, and a more modern northeastern dialect began to form, which can be considered the forefather of modern Russian.

Where did the Russian language come from? The correct answer is Kievan Rus, after the collapse of which the more modern Russian language began to form. From the beginning of the 15th century to the end of the 17th century, the Russian language was formed quite quickly. The center of development is Moscow, where the modern dialect originated. There were many dialects outside the city, but the Moscow dialect became the main one. Clear endings of words appear, cases are formed, spelling develops, words change according to gender, cases and numbers.

Dawn

At the end of the 17th century, the history of the development of the Russian language was experiencing a period of complete formation. Writing is developing, new words, rules, and a modern church language appear in which religious literature is written. In the 19th century, the church language was clearly distinguished from the literary language, which was used by all residents of Muscovite Rus'. The language is becoming even more modern, similar to today. A lot of literature written in the new Russian language is published.

With the development of military, technical, scientific and political spheres of activity, modern terminology appears in the Russian language, words that are taken from foreign languages ​​(French, German). The vocabulary changes a little and becomes rich in French words. Since the language began to be “clogged” with foreign words and speech patterns, the question has arisen of assigning the status of a national language to the Russian language. Until Peter I decided to give the status of a Russian state to Muscovite Rus', there were disputes over the national status of the Russian language. The emperor assigned a new name to the state and issued a decree on the adoption of Russian as the national language.

At the beginning of the 20th century, when the scientific field of activity was actively developing, English words began to be used, which were tightly intertwined with the Russian language and became inseparable from it. The Church, as well as many politicians in the period of the 18th-20th centuries, fought for the preservation of the pure Russian-Slovenian language as the national language. But the study of foreign speech made its mark: a fashion for words of foreign origin developed.

Modern Russian language

Since the Russian language appeared, it has undergone many metamorphoses from the basics to a modern rich and rich language with complex rules and a huge vocabulary. History shows that the Russian language was formed gradually, but purposefully. In the mid-twenties, the peak of popularity and mastery of the Russian language by many countries around the world began. In the seventies, almost all major educational institutions in the world studied Russian. The number of countries that mastered the Russian language exceeded 90. The language is experiencing its ascent, acquiring new rules, and being brought to perfection. Learning a language, drawing up rules, exceptions, finding new examples continues to form to this day. The Slavic language with an admixture of foreign words became modern Russian and the national language of all Russia. It is also a staple in some countries of the former Soviet Union.