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.
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.
And it is written in all history textbooks who were the first to create the alphabet for the Russian language - these are the brothers Cyril (Constantine) the Philosopher and Methodius (Mikhail) of Thessalonica, Greek missionaries, later recognized as saints equal to the apostles. In 862, by order of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, they went on a mission to Great Moravia. This early feudal Slavic state occupied the territory where today Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and part of Ukraine are located. The main task that Patriarch Photius of Constantinople set for the brothers was the translation of sacred texts from Greek into Slavic dialects. However, in order for the records not to be forgotten, it was necessary to record them on paper, and this cannot be done in the absence of our own Slavic alphabet.
The basis for its creation was the Greek alphabet. However, phonetically, ancient Slavic dialects were much richer than Greek speech. Because of this, the educational missionaries of this country were forced to come up with 19 new letters to display on paper the sounds and phonetic combinations that were missing in their language. Therefore, the first alphabet (alphabet), which has survived to this day among Belarusians, Bulgarians, Russians, Serbs and Ukrainians, with minor changes, included 43 letters. Today it is known as the “Cyrillic alphabet”, and the writing of these peoples belongs to the Cyrillic alphabet.
Who was the first to create the Russian alphabet?
However, when considering the question of who was the first to create the Slavic alphabet, it is necessary to take into account that in the 9th century there were two alphabets (two alphabets) - Cyrillic and Glagolitic, and which of them appeared earlier is impossible to answer. Unfortunately, the original texts written during the time of Cyril and Methodius have not survived. According to most researchers, the 38-letter Glagolitic, but more complex in writing characters, has a more ancient history. It was called in the ancient Slavic language “Kirillovitsa”, and its authorship is attributed to the “creative team” led by Cyril and Methodius, which included their students Clement, Naum and Angelarius. The alphabet was created starting in 856, before Cyril’s first educational campaign in the Khazar Kaganate.
Palimpsests - texts written in it, later scraped off from parchment and replaced with Cyrillic writing - also speak in favor of the originality of the Glagolitic alphabet. In addition, its ancient spelling is quite close in appearance to the Georgian church alphabet - “khutsuri”, which was used until the 9th century.
According to supporters of the above hypothesis, the first Russian alphabet - the Cyrillic alphabet - was developed by Kirill's student, Kliment Ohritsky and named after the teacher. The alphabet got its name from the names of its first two letters - “az” and “buki”.
The most ancient Slavic alphabet
However, the question of who first created the alphabet is not so simple, and Cyril and Methodius are only the first enlighteners who brought writing to the early Slavic states, the historicity of which is not in doubt. The same Cyril, describing his journey to the Great Khaganate, points to the presence in the churches of Chersonese (Korsun) of “the Gospel and Psalter written in Roussian writing.” It was acquaintance with these texts that prompted the Greek enlightener to think about dividing the letters of his alphabet into vowels and consonants.
Veles’s book, written in “strange” letters called “v(e)lesovitsy,” is still controversial. According to the discoverers (hoaxers) of this book, they were carved on wooden tablets before both the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet became widespread.
Unfortunately, the alphabet for the Russian language, “v(e)lesovitsy”, and the authorship of the “Russian letters” cannot be established today.
Its sound, expressive means and artistic capabilities were sung by many famous people. It was spoken by Pushkin, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky... and more than 260 million people continue to speak it. It arose not as long ago as the rest of its “brothers”, but already has a rich history. We are talking, of course, about the Russian language, the history of the emergence and development of which we will tell today.
Origin: versions of several scientists
According to a legend that exists in India, seven white teachers can be considered the “fathers” of the Russian language. In ancient times, they came from the cold North (the Himalaya region) and gave people Sanskrit, an ancient literary language that became widespread in India from the 1st century. BC - thereby laying the foundation of Brahmanism, from which Buddhism was later born. Many believe that this North at that time was one of the regions of Russia, which is why modern Hindus often go there as pilgrims .
However, what does Sanskrit have to do with the Russian language?
According to the theory of ethnographer Natalya Guseva, who wrote more than 150 scientific works on the history and religion of India, many Sanskrit words completely coincide with Russian ones. But why did she even come to this conclusion? Once, on a tourist trip along the northern rivers of Russia, Guseva accompanied a respected scientist from India. While communicating with residents of local villages, the Indian suddenly burst into tears and refused the services of an interpreter. Seeing the puzzled looks, he replied that he was very happy to hear his native Sanskrit. Natalya Guseva was very interested in this case, so she decided to devote her whole life to studying the Russian language and Sanskrit.
By the way, the famous philologist Alexander Dragunkin fully supports his colleague and claims that the great language of the Russian people really comes from a simpler one - Sanskrit, which has fewer word-forming forms, and its writing is nothing more than Slavic runes slightly modified by the Indians.
Text in Sanskrit.
Source: Wikimedia.org
According to another version, which is approved and accepted by most philologists, people about 2.6 million years ago (the time of the appearance of the first man) were simply forced to learn to communicate with each other in the course of collective work. However, in those days the population was extremely small, so individuals spoke the same language. Thousands of years later, a migration of peoples took place: the DNA got mixed up and changed, and the tribes became isolated from each other, and so many different languages appeared, which differed from each other in form and word formation. Later, there was a need for science that described new achievements and things invented by man.
As a result of this evolution, so-called matrices - linguistic pictures of the world - arose in people's heads. The linguist Georgy Gachev studied these matrices; at one time he studied more than 30 of them. According to his theory, the Germans were very attached to their home, and this is how the image of a typical German-speaking person was formed - organized and thrifty. And the mentality of the Russian speaker came from the image of the road and the path, because In ancient times, Russian-speaking people traveled a lot.
The birth and development of the Russian language
Let's bring a little specificity to our article and talk in more detail about the birth and formation of our native and great Russian language. To do this, let's go back to India of the 3rd millennium BC. At that time, among the Indo-European languages, the Proto-Slavic dialect stood out, which a thousand years later became the Proto-Slavic language. In the VI-VII centuries. already n. e. it was divided into several groups: eastern, western and southern (the Russian language is usually classified as eastern). In the 9th century. (the moment of the formation of Kievan Rus) the Old Russian language reached its maximum development. At the same time, two brothers, Cyril and Methodius, invented the first Slavic alphabet and alphabet based on the Greek letter.
However, the creators of Slavic writing did not limit themselves only to the alphabet: they translated and wrote down gospel sermons, parables, liturgical texts and apostolic epistles; and also spent about three and a half years educating the Slavs in Moravia (the historical region of the Czech Republic).
Thanks to the work and knowledge of the enlightenment brothers, the Slavic language began to develop rapidly. By that time, in terms of popularity, it could already be compared with Greek and Latin, which, by the way, also belong to the Indo-European language family.
Division of language and normalization of writing
Then came the era of feudalism, and the Polish-Lithuanian conquests in the XIII-XIV centuries. divided the language into three groups: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian, as well as some intermediate dialects. By the way, until the 16th century. Russian was greatly influenced by the other two – Belarusian and Ukrainian and was called “prosta mova”.
In the 16th century Muscovite Rus' decided to normalize the written language of the Russian language, and it was then that they introduced the predominance of coordinating connections in sentences and the frequent use of conjunctions “yes”, “and”, “a”. Also, the declension of nouns became similar to the modern one, and the basis of the literary language became the features characteristic of modern Moscow speech: “akanie”, the consonant “g”, the endings “ovo” and “evo”.
Russian language in the 18th century.
The Petrine era greatly influenced Russian speech. It was at this time that our language freed itself from the tutelage of the church, and in 1708 the alphabet was reformed and made similar to the European one.
“Geometry Slavonic Land Measurement” is the first secular publication printed after the reform of the Russian alphabet in 1708.
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 linguistic 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.