Cyrillic alphabet (Кириллица)
Cyrillic alphabet (Кириллица)
The letters in blue had fallen out of use by the 1800 century. The letters in red were eliminated in the 1918 reform.
The names of the letters are in Russian.
Origin
The Cyrillic alphabet is named after St. Cyril, a missionary from Byzantium.
It was invented sometime during the 10th century AD, possibly by St. Kliment of
Ohrid, to write the Old Church Slavonic language.
The Cyrillic alphabet achieved its current form in 1708 during the reign of
Peter the Great. Four letters were eliminated from the alphabet in a 1917/18
reform.
The Cyrillic alphabet has been adapted to write over 50 different languages,
mainly in Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. In many cases additional
letters are used, some of which are adaptations of standard Cyrillic letters,
while others are taken from the Greek or Latin alphabets.
Development of the Cyrillic alphabet
10th century version, as used to write Old Church Slavonic
1708 version
The letters in blue had fallen out of use by the 1800 century. The letters in red were eliminated in the 1918 reform.
1918 version
The names of the letters are in Russian.
