Belarus Russia russianRUSSIAN LANGUAGE: A BRIEF HISTORY By Adrienne Landry Kazakhstan Ukraine CREES Outreach Coordinator The Russian language is the largest native language in Europe, it is the Serbia Montenegro Bulgaria Uzbekistan primary language of 175 million people Kyrgyzstan living in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Macedonia Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, and is unof- Turkmenistan Tajkistan ficially spoken in most of the countries that were once republics of the USSR, making it the most geographically wide- Countries that use a Cyrillic alphabet among their official languages (Mongolia not shown). spread language of Eurasia. Europe). Their legacy would leave an Greek. Eventually the Cyrillic alpha- Despite its widespread use, for many indelible mark on the cultural devel- bet came to dominate over Glagolitic of us in the Western world, Russian opment of all Slavs, for which they in the 12th century until it was the remains a mystery. are still venerated by the Orthodox lingua franca of Eastern Europe. Church as saints. For starters, Russian uses a different Over the course of the next 9 centu- alphabet known as “Cyrillic.” The Cyril and Methodius were chosen ries, the Cyrillic alphabet has adapted name of the alphabet often confuses for this mission because they spoke to changes in spoken language, de- people because it does not identify a a Slavic dialect. Cyril devised a first veloped regional variations to suit the commonly known reference of ori- alphabet, now known as Glagolitic, features of different nations, and was gin. Some even refer to Cyrillic as the based on this dialect, and the broth- subjected to academic reforms and “Russian alphabet” because Russia ers used it to translate sections of the political decrees. Today, over 90 lan- is the most populous and influential Bible, prayers and other texts used guages throughout Europe and Asia user of the alphabet. Many would be in Church services from Greek into a write with a Cyrillic derived alphabet, surprised to discover that Russian is, Slavic dialect that could be broadly including Russian. in fact, just one of dozens of languag- understood in Central Europe. Today For those of us who grew up speaking es using a Cyrillic derived alphabet. we refer to the language of their English with no exposure to Slavic lan- translations as Old Church Slavonic. The history of Cyrillic traditionally guages, learning Russian can be quite begins in the 9th century when the St. Clement of Ohrid, one of Cyril and difficult. According to the United ruler of an early Slavic state in East- Methodius’ best known disciples, is States Intelligence Community, Rus- ern Europe, Moravia, requested the traditionally accredited with simplify- sian is a “hard target” language, due Byzantine Emperor send missionaries ing Glagolitic into the earliest form to both its difficulty for English speak- to Christianize his subjects. Emperor of Cyrillic. New scholarship, however, ers and its critical role in American Michael III nominated two brothers, suggests that the earliest known foreign policy. It is fortunate, then, the monks Cyril and Methodius, to form of Cyrillic was actually created that Russian is largely a phonetic spread Christianity among the Slavic at the Preslav Literary School in the language – it looks the way it sounds. peoples of Bulgaria, Great Moravia Bulgarian Empire. Whether or not he If you can learn the Russian variant and Pannonia (Central and Southeast invented it, St. Clement used Cyril- of the Cyrillic alphabet, you can read lic in his prolific translations. It is his the words out loud…whether or not writings that spread throughout the you know what they mean, however, Slavic area. depends on how much you study. The new Cyrillic alphabet was popu- If you’re feeling adventurous, take a lar because it was not only simpler look at the Russian Cyrillic alphabet than Glagolitic, but it alsoaugmented chart in the following pages. Can you Glagoliticligatures and consonants translate the words on the worksheet? for sounds used by Slavic peoples not Sources and Information found in Ancient www.russianlessonsonline.com First complete Bible printed in Cyrillic, 1663. www.volgawriter.com/VW%20Cyrillic.htm.