One story about the Russian alphabet (part 1) The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters nowadays. However, there were much more letters formerly in the Cyrillic alphabet which, in fact, was based on

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One story about the Russian alphabet (part 1) The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters nowadays. However, there were much more letters formerly in the Cyrillic alphabet which, in fact, was based on the Ancient Greek: having taking as a basis some Greek letters the Cyrillic was supplemented with brand new letters which were created to reproduce some peculiarities of the Russian language. Besides, some Slavic's letters were doubled, e.g. Greek «о» и «ѡ», transfered to the Russian alphabet, designated short [o] and long [o] sounds of the Greek language, but Russian didn't (and still don't) draw a line between short and long vowels; the letters Ѯ (Ksi) and Ѱ (Psi) were doublets of combination of letters "ks" and "ps" as hooked for transfering of frequent Greek combinations which were not the same in Russian words and etc. The war against unnecessary letters in the Russian alphabet had been going through the ages. Some were excluded while Peter's the Great reforms in 1708-1710. The tsar wanted to change the alphabet as he changed foundations, government system, and fashion in Russia. People got started writing some letters in another way, and the alphabet lost some more letteres: Ѱ (Psi), ѡ (Omega), Ѥ (Iotated E), Ꙗ (Iotated A), Ѫ, (big Yus) Ѩ and Ѭ (little and big iotified Yus). Ѧ (little Yus) were substituted for Я. Arabic numerals were brought. After Peter the I death Russian Academy of Sciences continued reforms in grammar and got rid of Ѯ (Ksi) and S (Dze) in 1735. Moreover, while some letters had been thrown away, others new were created. The same year (1735) letters Э and Й were brought into usage. The decision had both supporters and opposers. Let's take a look at opinions of learned contemporaries about the letter Э.

5. Feb. 2013 14:53

Korrekturen · 1

One story about the Russian alphabet (part 1)

The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters nowadays. However, there were many more letters formerly in the Cyrillic alphabet which, in fact, was based on the ancient Greek. Having taking as a basis some Greek letters, the Cyrillic alphabet was supplemented with brand-new letters which were created to reproduce some peculiarities of the Russian language. In addition, some Slavic letters were doubled, e.g. Greek «о» и «ѡ», transferred to the Russian alphabet, designated short [o] and long [o] sounds of the Greek language, but Russian didn't (and still doesn't) draw a distinction between short and long vowels. The letters Ѯ (Ksi) and Ѱ (Psi) were doublets based on the combination of the letters "ks" and "ps", joined together for transferring of frequent Greek combinations which were not the same in Russian words. and etc.

The war against unnecessary letters in the Russian alphabet had been going on through the ages. Some were excluded during Peter the Great's reforms of 1708-1710. The tsar wanted to change the alphabet just as he changed the basis of society, the system of government, and fashion in Russia. People began writing some letters in other ways, and the alphabet lost some more letters: Ѱ (Psi), ѡ (Omega), Ѥ (Iotated E), Ꙗ (Iotated A), Ѫ, (big Yus) Ѩ and Ѭ (little and big iotified Yus). Я was substituted for (little Yus), and Arabic numerals were introduced. After the death of Peter the I, the Russian Academy of Sciences continued reforms in grammar, and in 1735 did away with Ѯ (Ksi) and S (Dze) in 1735.
Moreover, while some letters had been jettisoned, other new ones were created. The same year (1735) the letters Э and Й were brought into usage. The decision had both supporters and opposers. Let's take a look at opinions of learned contemporaries about the letter Э.