Russian alphabet: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The modern Russian alphabet is a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet. It was introduced into Kievan Rus at the time of its conversion to Christianity (988), or, if certain archaelogical finds are correctly dated, at a slightly earlier date.

This article treats the application of the Cyrillic to the Russian language exclusively.

The alphabet

The Russian alphabet is as follows:

Capital	Small	Name	Old name1	SAMPA	Numerical value19
А	а	А /A/	азъ /az/	/a/	1
Б	б	бэ /bE/	буки /buki/	/b/	-
В	в	вэ /vE/	вди /vedi/	/v/	2
Г	г	гэ /gE/	глаголь /glagol/	/g/	3
Д	д	дэ /dE/	добро /dobro/	/d/	4
Е	е4	Е /jE/	есть /yest'/	/je/	5
Ё	ё4,7	Ё /jO/	–	/jo/	-
Ж	ж	жэ /ZE/	живте /Z1v'et'e/	/Z/	-
З	з	зэ /zE/	земля /z'eml'a/	/z/	7
И	и4	И /i:/	иже /i:ZE/	/i/	8
Й	й	И краткое /i: kratkoje/	–	/j/	-
К	к	ка /ka/	како /kako/	/k/	20
Л	л	эль /El'/	люди /l'udi/	/l/	30
М	м	эм /Em/	мыслте /m1sl'et'e/	/m/	40
Н	н	эн /En/	нашъ /naS/	/n/	50
О	о	О /o/	онъ /on/	/o/	70
П	п	пэ /pE/	покой /pokoj/	/p/	80
Р	р	эр /Er/	рцы /rts1/	/r/	100
С	с	эс /Es/	слово /slovo/	/s/	200
Т	т	тэ /tE/	твердо /tv'erdo/	/t/	300
У	у	У /u/	укъ /uk/	/u/	400
Ф	ф	эф /Ef/	фертъ /f'ert/	/f/	500
Х	х	ха /xa/	хръ /Cer/	/x/	600
Ц	ц	це /tsE/	цы /ts1/	/ts/	900
Ч	ч	че /tSE/	червь /tServ'/	/tS/	90
Ш	ш	ша /Sa/	ша /Sa/	/S/	-
Щ	щ	ща /S'a/	ща /S'a/	/Sj/	-
Ъ	ъ	твёрдый знак /tv'ord1j znak/	еръ /jer/; Yer	Note2	-
Ы	ы	Ы /1:/	еры /jer1/	/1/5 (IPA [i])	-
Ь	ь	мягкий знак /m'axkij znak/	ерь /jer'/	/'/3	-
Э	э6	э оборотное /E oborotnoje/	–	/E/	-
Ю	ю	Ю4 /ju/	ю /ju/	/ju/	-
Я	я4,16,17	Я /ja/	я /ja/	/ja/	-
Letters eliminated in 1918:
І	і8	-	I /i:/	/i/	10
	9	-	ита /fi:ta/	/f/	9
	10	-	ять /jat'/; Yat	/jE/	-
V	v11	-	ижица /iZ1tsa/	/i/	-
Letters in disuse by the 18th century:18
S	s14	-	зло /z'elo/	/dz/ or /z/	6
	12	-	кси /ksi/	/ks/	60
	12	-	пси /psi/	/ps/	700
	13	-	омега /om'ega/	/o/	800
		-	юсъ большой /jus bol'Soj/, Yus	/u/,/ju/15	-
	15	-	юсъ малый /jus mal1j/	/ja/14	-
		-	юсъ большой іотированный /jus bol'Soj jotirowann1j/	/ju/15	-
		-	юсъ малый іотированный /jus mal1j jotirovann1j/	/ja/15	-

1. Until approximately 1900, mnemonic names inherited from Church Slavonic were used for the letters. They are given here in the pre-1918 orthography of the post-1708 civil alphabet.

Since most of the old names are obviously native words, it has been argued that reading the list in the traditional order produces a kind of paean to the art of language, or a moral instruction:

2. The hard sign ъ indicates that the preceding consonant is not palatized. Its original pronunciation, lost by 1400 at the latest, was that of a very short schwa-like sound, usually latinized ŭ.

3. The soft sign ь indicates that the preceding consonant is palatized. Its original pronunciation, lost by 1400 at the latest, was that of a very short iotated schwa-like sound, usually latinized ĭ.

4. The vowels е, ё, и, ю, я palatalize a preceding consonant, and all but и are iotated (with an preceding [j]) when initial. Initial и was iotated until the nineteenth century.

5. The ы is an old Common Slavonic tense intermediate vowel, thought to have been preserved better in modern Russian than in other Slavic languages. It was originally nasalized in certain positions: OR камы /kam1~/ R камень /kam'en'/ "rock". Its written form developed as follows: ъ + і > ъı > ы.

6. The э was introduced in 1708 to distinguish the non-iotated/non-palatalizing /e/ from the iotated/palatalizing е. The original usage had been е for the uniotated /e/, ıє or for the iotated, but ıє had dropped out of use by the sixteenth century.

7. The ё, introduced by Lomonosov in the eighteenth century, marks a /jo/ sound that has historically developed from /je/ under stress, a process that continues to be productive today. The letter ё is optional: it is formally correct consistently to write e for both /je/ and /jo/. None of the several attempts in the twentieth century to mandate the use of ё have stuck, and today it is conceded that computer input has further weakened it.

8. The і, identical to pronunciation to и, was used exclusively immediately in front of other vowels (for example Нью-Іоркъ /n'ju jork/ "New York" and in the word міръ /mir/ "world" and its derivativers, to distinguish it from the (etymologically equivalent) word миръ /mir/ "peace".

9. The , from the Greek theta, was identical to ф in pronunciation, as in Byzantine Greek, but was used etymologically.

10. The or Yat had originally had a distinct sound, but by the middle of the eighteenth century had become identical in pronunciation to е in the standard language. Since its elimination in 1918, it has remained a political symbol of the old orthography.

11. V (originally Greek upsilon) was identical to и in pronunciation, as in Byzantine Greek, but was used etymologically, though by 1918 had become very rare.

12. and are Greek letters xi and psi, used etymologically though inconsistently in secular writing until the eighteenth century, and more consistently to the present day in Church Slavonic.

13. is the Greek letter omega, identical in pronunciation to о, used in secular writing until the eighteenth century, but to the present day in Church Slavonic, mostly to distinguish inflexional forms otherwise written identically.

14. S corresponded to a primitive /dz/ pronunciation, already absent in East Slavic at the start of the historical period, but kept by tradition in certain words until the eighteenth century in secular writing, and in Church Slavonic to the present day.

15. The yuses had become, according to linguistic reconstruction, irrelevant for East Slavic phonology already at the beginning of the historical period, but were introduced along with the rest of the Cyrillic alphabet. and largely vanished by the twelfth century. continued to be used, etymologically, until the sixteenth century. Thereafter it was restricted to being a dominical letter in the Paschal tables. The seventeenth-century usage of and (see next note) survives in contemporary Church Slavonic.

16. was adapted to represent the iotated /ja/ я in the middle or end of a word; the modern letter я is an adaptation of its cursive form of the seventeenth century, enshrined by the typographical reform of 1708.

17. Until 1708, the iotated /ja/ was written ıa at the beginning of a word. This distinction between and ıa survives in Church Slavonic.

18. Although it is usually stated that the letters labelled "fallen into disuse by the XVIII century" above were eliminated in the typographical reform of 1708, reality is somewhat more complex. The letters were indeed originally omitted from the sample alphabet, printed in a western-style serif font, presented in Peter's edict, along with the modern letter и, but were reinstated under pressure from the Russian Orthodox Church in a later variant of the modern typeface. Nonetheless, they fell completely out of use in secular writing by 1750.

19. The numerical values correspond to the Greek numerals, with S being used for digamma, Ч for koppa, and Ц for sampi. The system was abandoned for secular purposes in 1708, after a transitional period of a century or so; it continues to be used in Church Slavonic.

• Transliteration of Russian into English
• Russian language
• Cyrillic alphabet
• Russian orthography
• Reforms of Russian orthography
• Church Slavonic