Old East Slavic Alphabet at a Glance
- Early Cyrillic script with numerous letters, including archaic forms like yat (ѣ) and yus (ѧ, ѫ, ѩ) [1]
- Used in Kievan Rus' from approximately the 10th to 15th centuries [2]
- Direct ancestor of modern Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages [2]
- Also known as Old Russian or Old Ruthenian in historical texts [2]
- Featured in important historical documents like the Primary Chronicle and Russkaya Pravda (legal code)
- Used yat (ѣ) extensively to represent a special vowel sound that later evolved differently in daughter languages
- Preserved in birch bark documents, chronicles, and legal texts from medieval Kievan Rus'
Old East Slavic is a historical language used in Kievan Rus' from approximately the 10th to 15th centuries [2]. Written in Early Cyrillic script, it served as the common ancestor of modern Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian [2]. The alphabet contained numerous letters, including archaic forms such as yat (ѣ), little yus (ѧ), big yus (ѫ), and iotified little yus (ѩ). Old East Slavic appears in important historical documents including the Primary Chronicle (history of Kievan Rus'), Russkaya Pravda (legal code), and numerous birch bark documents discovered by archaeologists. The language gradually diverged into the separate East Slavic languages we know today, with distinct pronunciation and spelling developing in different regions of the former Kievan Rus' territory.
Old East Slavic Vowel Letters
Old East Slavic included numerous vowel letters, including the important yat (ѣ) and nasal vowels (yus letters) that later disappeared from modern East Slavic languages.
Old East Slavic Vowels (Uppercase)
Old East Slavic Vowels (Lowercase)
Old East Slavic Consonant Letters
Old East Slavic contained numerous consonants from the Early Cyrillic script, many of which are still used in modern Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian.
For example:
In the word "землѧ" (zemlja), meaning "land" or "earth", the vowels Е (e) and little yus (ѧ) combine with the consonants З (z), М (m), Л (l) to form this important word.
Old East Slavic Consonants (Uppercase)
Old East Slavic Consonants (Lowercase)
Special Signs (Yers)
Old East Slavic used yers - the hard sign (Ъ) and soft sign (Ь) - which originally represented ultra-short vowels but gradually changed function over time.
All Alphabet
The complete Old East Slavic Early Cyrillic alphabet with all letters including archaic forms used in medieval Kievan Rus'.
Digits
Old East Slavic used Cyrillic numerals - letters with titlo marks (҃) to represent numbers, following the Byzantine Greek numeral system.
Punctuation and Symbols
Old East Slavic used medieval punctuation including titlo (҃) for abbreviations, plus various marks found in manuscript traditions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
References:
- [1] Unicode Consortium. "Cyrillic Unicode Block (U+0400-U+04FF)". Retrieved from Unicode Cyrillic Block
- [2] Omniglot. "Old East Slavic language and alphabet". Retrieved from Omniglot: Old East Slavic
Sambhu Raj Singh ·