“Where does the Motherland begin”, as it is sung in an old and soulful song? And it starts small: with love for the native language, with the alphabet. Since childhood, we are all accustomed to a certain type of letters in the alphabet of the Russian language. And as a rule, we rarely think about: when and under what conditions did it arise? Nevertheless, the presence and emergence of writing is an important and fundamental milestone in the historical maturation of every nation in the world, contributing to the development of its national culture and identity. Sometimes, in the depths of centuries, the specific names of the creators of the writing of a particular people are lost. But in the Slavic context, this was not the case. And those who came up with the Russian alphabet are still known. Let us and you and I learn more about these people.
The very word "alphabet" is derived from the first two letters: alpha and beta. It is known that the ancient Greeks put a lot of effort into the development and dissemination of writing in many European countries. Who was the first to invent the alphabet in world history? There is a scientific debate about this. The main hypothesis is the "alphabet" Sumerian, which appears about five thousand years ago. Egyptian is also considered one of the most ancient (of the known). Writing developed from drawings to signs, turning into graphic systems. And the signs began to display sounds.
It is difficult to overestimate the development of writing in the history of mankind. The language of the people, its writing reflected life, everyday life and knowledge, historical and mythological characters. Thus, by reading ancient inscriptions, modern scientists can recreate what our ancestors lived.
History of the Russian alphabet
It has, one might say, a unique origin. Its history is about a thousand years old, it keeps many secrets.
Cyril and Methodius
The creation of the alphabet is firmly associated with these names in the question of who invented the Russian alphabet. Let's go back to the 9th century. At that time (830-906) Great Moravia (region of the Czech Republic) was one of the largest European states. And Byzantium was the center of Christianity. In 863, Prince of Moravia Rostislav appealed to Michael III, the Byzantine emperor at that time, with a request to hold services in the Slavic language to strengthen the influence of Byzantine Christianity in the region. In those days, it is worth noting that the cult went only in those languages that were displayed on the Jesus cross: Hebrew, Latin and Greek.
The Byzantine ruler, in response to Rostislav's proposal, sends a Moravian mission to him, consisting of two brothers-monks, the sons of a noble Greek who lived in Saluni (Thessaloniki). Michael (Methodius) and Constantine (Cyril) are considered the official creators of the Slavic alphabet for church ministry. It is in honor of the church name Cyril and was named "Cyrillic". Konstantin himself was younger than Mikhail, but even his brother recognized his intelligence and superiority in knowledge. Cyril knew many languages and was fluent in oratory, participated in religious verbal disputes, was a wonderful organizer. This, according to many scientists, allowed him (along with his brother and other assistants) to combine and synthesize data, creating the alphabet. But the history of the Russian alphabet began long before the Moravian mission. And that's why.
Who invented the Russian alphabet (alphabet)
The fact is that historians have unearthed an interesting fact: even before their departure, the brothers had already created a Slavic alphabet, well adapted to transmit the speech of the Slavs. It was called the Glagolitic (it was recreated on the basis of Greek writing with elements of Coptic and Hebrew signs).
Glagolitic or Cyrillic?
Today, scientists from different countries for the most part recognize the fact that the first was still the Glagolitic alphabet, created by Cyril back in 863 in Byzantium. He presented it in a fairly short time frame. And another, different from the previous one, the Cyrillic alphabet was invented in Bulgaria, a little later. And there are still disputes over the authorship of this, undoubtedly, the cornerstone invention for all-Slavic history. After that, a brief history of the Russian alphabet (Cyrillic) is as follows: in the tenth century it penetrates into Russia from Bulgaria, and its written recording was fully formed only in the XIV century. In a more modern form - from the end of the 16th century.
The importance of writing in the development of mankind can hardly be overestimated. Even in the era when the alphabet did not exist in sight, the ancient people tried to express their thoughts in the form of rock inscriptions.
The ABC of Elizabeth 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 the alphabet. Who was the creator of the alphabet of the Russian language? To whom do we owe the opportunity to express ourselves freely through writing?
Who laid the foundation for the Russian alphabet?
The history of the emergence of the Russian alphabet dates back to the II millennium BC. Then the ancient Phoenicians invented consonants and used them for a long time to draw up documents.
In the 8th century BC, their discovery was borrowed by the ancient Greeks, who significantly improved the letter by adding vowels to it. In the future, it was the Greek alphabet, with the help of which the statutory (solemn) letters were drawn up, that formed the basis of the Russian alphabet.
Who created the Russian alphabet?
In the Bronze Age, Proto-Slavic peoples lived in Eastern Europe who spoke the same language. 
Primer of Slavic letters of the Greatest Teacher B. Jerome of Stridonsky
Around the 1st century AD, they began to disintegrate into separate tribes, as a result of which several states inhabited by 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 emergence of Christianity and the construction of temples, people had a need to create a written language that would make it possible to record church texts. To learn how to write, the Moravian prince Rostislav turned to the Byzantine emperor Michael III for help, who 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 - in Cyrillic.
Who are Cyril and Methodius?
Cyril and Methodius were brothers from Thessaloniki (now Greek Thessaloniki). In those days, in their hometown, in addition to Greek, they spoke the Slavic-Solun dialect, which formed the basis of the Church Slavonic language.
Initially, Cyril's name was Constantine, and he received his middle name just before his death, taking a monastic vow. In his youth, Constantine studied with the best Byzantine teachers of philosophy, rhetoric, dialectics, and later taught at the University of Magnavr in Constantinople. 
Monument to Saints Cyril and Methodius in Saratov. Photo by Zimin Vasily.
In 863, having gone to Moravia, with the help of his brother Methodius, he created. Bulgaria became the center for the spread of Slavic writing. In 886, the Preslav Book School was opened on its territory, where they were engaged in translations from the Greek language and copied Cyril and Methodius originals. At about 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 14 of the previous ones 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 Y were not considered separate. Additionally, the alphabet contained the letters I, Ѣ (yat), Ѳ (fita) and Ѵ (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. It was initiated by 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 according to which all organizations were ordered to use the new alphabet, consisting of 33 letters.
Although the spelling reform was prepared even before the revolution and had no political overtones, it was initially criticized by opponents of Bolshevism. However, over time, the modern alphabet took root and is used to this day.
Alphabet.
The Guinness Book of Records considers ...
Oldest
The earliest example of alphabetic writing was found in Ugarit (now Ras Sharma, Syria). It dates from around 1450 BC. NS. and is a clay tablet with 32 wedge-shaped letters inscribed on it.
The oldest letter
The oldest letter "o" remained unchanged in the same form in which it was adopted in the Phoenician alphabet (about 1300 BC). There are currently 65 alphabets in use.
Longest and shortest alphabets
The largest number of letters - 72 - is contained in the Khmer language, the smallest - 11 (a, b, e, g, i, k, o, p, t, u) - in the Rotokas language from Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea.
The origin of the Russian alphabet.
The alphabet in the usual 33-letter form did not always exist. The prototype was the alphabet, called Old Church Slavonic, or Church Slavonic.
The emergence of the Cyrillic alphabet, which goes back to the Greek language, is traditionally associated with the activities of the famous educators Cyril and Methodius.
The Old Church Slavonic language, being the language of the Church in Russia, was influenced by the Old Russian language. Thus, the Russian alphabet originated from the Old Russian Cyrillic alphabet, which was borrowed from the Greeks and became widespread in Kievan Rus after the adoption of Christianity (988).
At that time, it apparently had 43 letters. He looked like this:
It is easy to see that some Cyrillic letters sound like our modern words: "good", "earth", "people". Others - az, beeches, lead ... What do they mean and what is their origin?
A3 is a personal pronoun of the first person singular.
BUKI is a letter. There were a lot of words with an unusual for us nominative singular form: "kry" - blood, "bry" - eyebrow, "lyuby" - love.
VEDI - the form from the verb "vedeti" - to know.
VERB - the form from the verb "verb" - to speak.
GOOD - the meaning is clear.
IS - present tense third person singular from the verb "to be".
LIVE is the present tense plural second person from the verb "to live".
ZELO is an adverb with the meaning "very", "strong", "very".
IZHE (AND EIGHT) is a pronoun with the meaning "that", "which". In the Church Slavonic language, the union is "what". This letter was called "octal" because it had the numerical value of the number 8.
AND (AND DECESTERIAL) - it was called so by its numerical value - 10.
HOW is the interrogative adverb "how".
PEOPLE - the meaning is self-explanatory.
THINK - the form from the verb "think".
OUR is a possessive pronoun.
OH is a personal pronoun of the third person singular.
РЦЫ - the form from the verb "speech", to speak.
WORD - the meaning is beyond doubt.
FIRM - also requires no comment.
UK - in Old Church Slavonic - teaching.
FERT - the etymology of this letter name has not been reliably clarified by scientists. From the outline of the sign came the expression "to stand with a fert", that is, "hands on the hips."
HER - it is believed that this is an abbreviation of the word "cherub", the name of one of the angelic ranks. Since the letter is "cruciform", the meaning of the verb "to lose" has developed - to cross out, abolish, destroy in a cruciform manner.
HE IS THE GREAT - Greek omega, which has received our name from the letter "he".
TSY is an onomatopoeic name.
WORM - in the Old Slavonic and Old Russian languages, the word "worm" meant "red paint", and not just "worm". The name of the letter is acrophonic - the word "worm" began precisely with "h".
SHA, SHA - both letters are named according to the familiar principle: the sound signified by the letter plus any vowel sound before and after it.
EPA - the compound name of this letter - "ep" plus "and" - was, as it were, a "description" of its form. We renamed it to "s" a long time ago.
EP, EPL are conventional names of letters that have ceased to express the sounds of incomplete education and have become simply "signs".
YAT - it is believed that the name of the letter "Yat" may be associated with "Yat" - food, food.
Yu, I - these letters were called according to their sound: "yu", "ya", as well as the letter "ye", meaning "iotated e".
YUS - the origin of the name is unclear. They tried to deduce it from the word "mustache", which in the Old Bulgarian language sounded with a nasal sound at the beginning, or from the word "yusenitsa" - a caterpillar. The explanations do not appear to be indisputable.
FITA - in this form, the name of the Greek letter Θ was transferred to Russia, which was called at different times either “theta”, then “fita” and, accordingly, meant either a sound close to “f”, or the sound that Western alphabets now transmit with the letters TH. We hear it close to our "g". The Slavs adopted "fit" at the time when it was read as "f". That is why, for example, until the 18th century we used to write the word “library” “vivliofika”.
IZHIZA - Greek "upsilon", which transmitted the sound, as it were, standing between our "and" and "u" in the surname "Hugo". Originally this sound was transmitted in different ways, imitating the Greeks, and the Slavs. So, the Greek name "Cyrillos", a diminutive of "Kyros" - lord, was usually rendered as "Cyril", but the pronunciation of "Kuril" was also possible. In the epics, "Kurill" was transformed into "Chyurilo". Until recently, in the west of Ukraine, there was a place called Kurilovtsy, the descendants of Kuril.
Time rushes forward and makes its own adjustments. Some letters disappeared, new ones appeared in their place.
The Russian alphabet remained in this form until the reforms of Peter I in 1708-1711. (and the Church Slavonic is still the same), when superscripts were eliminated (which in the meantime "canceled" the letter Y) and many doublet letters and letters used to write numbers were abolished (which became irrelevant after the transition to Arabic numerals).
Subsequently, some of the abolished letters were restored and canceled again. By 1917, the alphabet came in a 35-letter (officially; there were actually 37 letters) composition: A, B, C, D, E, E, (E was not considered a separate letter), F, Z, I, (Y was not a separate letter considered), I, K, L, M, N, O, P, P, S, T, U, F, X, Ts, Ch, Sh, Sh, b, Y, b, Ѣ, E, Y, Y , Ѳ, Ѵ. (The last letter was formally listed in the Russian alphabet, but de facto its use almost disappeared, and it was found in just a few words).
The last major reform of writing was carried out in 1917-1918 - as a result, the current Russian alphabet, consisting of 33 letters, appeared. This alphabet also became the written basis for most of the languages \ u200b \ u200bof the USSR, for which the writing system was absent before the 20th century or was replaced during the years of Soviet power.
Introduction ………………………………………………………………… .... 1
The origin of the Russian language ………………………………………… ...... 2
The origin of the Russian alphabet ………………………………………… 4
The value of birch bark letters for the history of the Russian language ……………… .. 5
Church Slavonic language ……………………………………………… .. 6
Conclusion ……………………………………………………………… ... 7
List of used literature ………………………………………. eight
Introduction
The Russian language is one of the East Slavic languages, one of the largest languages in the world, the national language of the Russian people, a means of interethnic communication of the peoples of the former USSR, is one of the most common languages in the world. One of the official and working languages of the United Nations. Modern Russian is the state language of Russia. When researching this topic, the origin, distinctive features of the Russian language will be revealed. And it will also be clarified when the Russian language appeared, from which languages it originated, why it has the name Russian, and not some other name, which contributed to the development of the Russian language. This topic was chosen because the Russian language is constantly changing, and scientists, linguists are studying more deeply the features of the Russian language.
The origin of the Russian language
In addition to its modern name, the Russian language had two others: Great Russian and Russian, which in turn shows the antiquity of the origin and greatness of the Russian language. The Russian language was constantly changing and the modern language does not look like the ancient one. The modern Russian language is derived from Old Russian. The Old Russian language was spoken by the East Slavic tribes, which formed in the 9th century. Old Russian nationality within the Kiev state. The origins of Russian begin far in the past, as early as 1-2 centuries BC. The Old Russian (East Slavic) language was the language of the Old Russian people, and it existed from the 7th to the 14th century. Writing emerges on the basis of the East Slavic language. But in the 13-14 centuries, as a result of the Polish-Lithuanian conquests, the Old Russian nationality disintegrated, and 3 centers of new ethno-linguistic associations were formed that fought for their Slavic identity: northeastern (Great Russians), southern (Ukrainians) and western (Belarusians). And in the 14-15th centuries, these associations formed independent East Slavic languages: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. The Russian language of the era of Moscow Russia (14-17 centuries) had a complex history. Dialectal features continued to develop. Two main dialectal zones were formed - the North Great Russian and the South Great Russian dialects, overlapping with other dialectal divisions. In medieval Muscovy, several languages existed simultaneously:
1. Near-Slavic Koine
2. Turkic languages
3.Bulgarian language
It was these languages that became the basis of the Russian language.
Since the 17th century, the Russian language begins to develop rapidly. Secular writing begins to spread. As a result of the development of terminology, words and expressions were borrowed from Western European languages. Big
the influence in the development of the Russian language was played by the language theory of M.V. Lomonosov: "The theory of three calm" or the doctrine of three styles. The doctrine of three styles is a classification of styles in rhetoric and poetics, distinguishing three styles: high, medium and low (simple). MV Lomonosov used the doctrine of three styles to build the stylistic system of the Russian language and Russian literature. Three "calm" according to Lomonosov:
1) High calm - high, solemn, stately. Genres: ode, heroic poems, tragedies, oratory.
2) Average calm - elegies, dramas, satires, eclogs, friendly compositions.
3) Low calm - comedies, letters, songs, fables.
An important role in the development of the Russian language is played by A.S. Pushkin. It is with the creativity of Pushkin that the modern Russian literary language begins, rich and diverse linguistic styles (artistic, journalistic, scientific, etc.) are formed, closely related to each other, all-Russian phonetic, grammatical and lexical norms are compulsory for all who know the literary language, and the lexical system is enriched. Russian writers of the 19th and 20th centuries played an important role in the development and formation of the Russian literary language. The Russian language is becoming the interethnic language of communication between the peoples of the USSR. An extensive study of the Russian language began in the 20th century. The manifestation of interest in Russian literature in foreign countries begins. The International Association of Teachers of the Russian Language and Literature, the Institute of the Russian Language named after A.S. Pushkin, Institute of the Russian Language of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. And now the Russian language is developing, and the activities of the institutes and departments of the Russian language are aimed at studying and ordering the processes taking place in the Russian language.
The origin of the Russian alphabet
Around 860, the brothers Cyril and Methodius ordered Slavic symbols, that is, they created the Cyrillic alphabet. But the modern Russian alphabet originated from the Old Russian alphabet, which originated from the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet. And the date of the adoption of Christianity in Russia is considered the date of the appearance of the Old Russian Cyrillic alphabet. At first, there were 43 letters in the alphabet. But after Peter1 came to power, writing reforms began to take place and as a result, 33 letters remained in the alphabet, which we use to this day. “The last major reform of writing was carried out in 1917-1918 - as a result, the current Russian alphabet, consisting of 33 letters, appeared. This alphabet also became the written basis of most of the languages of the USSR, the writing for which was absent before the 20th century or was replaced during the years of Soviet power. " With the development of the alphabet, the improvement of the Russian language took place. The Old Russian Cyrillic alphabet had a significant impact on the origin of the Russian language, because the Cyrillic alphabet was and is a part of the Russian language. Without the alphabet, there would be no writing, and without writing, no language will develop.
The alphabet is a special form of writing based on a standardized set of characters. They denote linguistic phonemes, but there is practically no unambiguous correspondence between sounds and letters. It is believed that the alphabet was first invented in the Phoenician state about 3 millennia ago. However, some historians believe that similar writing systems existed before, but the progenitor of modern alphabetic systems is precisely the Phoenician writing.
The origin of the alphabet
Certain elements of the phonetic notation, which preceded the emergence of the alphabet, were used in ancient times in Mesopotamia and Egypt. In the Egyptian hieroglyphs, which were written in the era of the Middle Kingdom, a system of 1-, 2- and 3-consonant phonemes was used. The writing system of Ancient Egypt was a combination of ideography and phonetic writing. The latter was used more and more often with the flow, at first to designate foreign words and proper names, the sound of which could not be conveyed using hieroglyphs, and then to convey everyday information in a simplified, more understandable form for the population.
Development of alphabetic systems
In the XIX-VIII century BC. The Phoenician alphabet was borrowed by the Greeks, who for a long time used it practically unchanged. As a result, the names of the Greek letters practically do not differ from those used in the Phoenician alphabetical system. But on the basis of the Greek alphabet, the Latin alphabet appeared, which soon became the main writing system for almost all the peoples inhabiting the European continent. A little later, on the basis of the Latin alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet was created, which is used by us to this day. Although individual facts indicate that even without the invention of Cyril and Methodius, the Slavic peoples had their own writing system - Glagolitic, and even earlier -.
At the beginning of the 5th century A.D. Monk Mesrop Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet, which had 22 characters, which is very reminiscent of the Phoenician system already familiar to us. The latter, having undergone significant changes over time, became the basis for the development of writing in the Semitic languages. It should be noted that the letters, for example, of the Hebrew alphabet, are written somewhat differently than in the Phoenician system, but their names and order of sequence remained practically the same.
Linear alphabetic systems became widespread in the XIV century - it was then that the Proto-Chaanian and Proto-Sinai varieties of writing arose. In these alphabets, there is a connection and phonetics, as in the Old Slavic Glagolitic alphabet. The Ugaritic texts dated from the 13th century deserve special attention. They contain 30 cuneiform characters, which defines the Ugarit alphabet as the first nonacrophonic system.
