“Where does the Motherland begin,” as is sung in an old and soulful song? And it starts small: with love for the native language, with the alphabet. Since childhood, we have all become accustomed to a certain type of letters in the alphabet of the Russian language. And as a rule, we rarely think: 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 self-consciousness. 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 did not happen. And those who invented the Russian alphabet are still known. Let's find out more about these people.
The very word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters: alpha and beta. It is known that the ancient Greeks put a lot of effort into the development and spread of writing in many European countries. Who first invented the alphabet in world history? There are scholarly debates about this. The main hypothesis is the Sumerian "alphabet", which appears about five thousand years ago. Egyptian is also considered one of the most ancient (of the known). Writing develops from drawings to signs, turning into graphic systems. And the signs began to display sounds.
The development of writing in the history of mankind is difficult to overestimate. The language of the people, its writing reflects life, way of 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 ninth century. In those days (830-906) Great Moravia (a region of the Czech Republic) was one of the major European states. And Byzantium was the center of Christianity. The Moravian prince Rostislav in 863 turned to Michael III, the Byzantine emperor at that time, with a request to hold services in the Slavic language in order to strengthen the influence of Byzantine Christianity in the region. In those days, it is worth noting, the cult was sent only in those languages that were displayed on the Jesus cross: Hebrew, Latin and Greek.
The Byzantine ruler, in response to the proposal of Rostislav, sends a Moravian mission to him, consisting of two monk brothers, sons of a noble Greek who lived in Saluny (Thessaloniki). Michael (Methodius) and Constantine (Cyril) and are considered the official creators of the Slavic alphabet for church service. It is in honor of the church name of Cyril and was called "Cyrillic". Konstantin himself was younger than Michael, but even his brother recognized his intelligence and superiority in knowledge. Cyril knew many languages and owned oratory, participated in religious verbal disputes, was a wonderful organizer. This, according to many scientists, allowed him (together with his brother and other assistants) to connect and summarize the 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 the Slavic alphabet, well adapted to convey the speech of the Slavs. It was called Glagolitic (it was recreated on the basis of Greek writing with elements of Coptic and Hebrew characters).
Glagolitic or Cyrillic?
Today, scientists from different countries, for the most part, recognize the fact that the Glagolitic alphabet, created by Cyril back in 863 in Byzantium, was the first. He introduced her in a fairly short time. And another, different from the previous one, the Cyrillic alphabet was invented in Bulgaria, a little later. And there are still disputes about the authorship of this, undoubtedly, a cornerstone invention for the pan-Slavic history. After a brief history of the Russian alphabet (Cyrillic) is as follows: in the tenth century it penetrates into Russia from Bulgaria, and its written fixation is fully formalized only in the XIV century. In a more modern form - from the end of the XVI century.