Appendix:Old Cyrillic script

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Early Cyrillic alphabet and scientific transliteration

Wikipedia Wikipedia

This appendix explains characters written in the Old Cyrillic script.

This is the Cyrillic alphabet, as used in Old Church Slavonic and other Slavic languages before the eighteenth century. Sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet. Transliteration method is the scholarly system used in linguistics.

Text entry

The classic Cyrillic alphabet has different writing and typographical conventions from the modern.

• е, Е (е, Е) – the normal, narrow letter iest is represented by the Cyrillic letter е (Unicode U+0435). This should be used in most entries.
• є, Є (є, Є) – the broad, or anchor, form of iest is represented by the Cyrillic letter є (U+0454). This should appear in a main or alternate-form entry where it is attested, and should be used in a citation following the source.
• оу, ОУ (oу, ОУ) Should be entered as two separate characters (о+у, О+У). The Unicode combined Uk Ꙋ, ꙋ (U+0478, U+0479) is deprecated.
• ꙑ, Ꙑ (ꙑ, Ꙑ) should be used instead of the modern ы, Ы.
• ꙗ, Ꙗ (ꙗ, Ꙗ) should be used instead of the modern я, Я.

The Cyrillic alphabet

Old Cyrillic alphabet (ISO 15924 code Cyrs)

Greek uncial	Cyrillic ustav	Modern	Old Church Slavonic names	Sound	Translit.
	а	А б	азъ (azŭ)		a
(в)	б	Б б б	боукꙑ (buky)		b
	в	В в	вѣди (vědi), вѣдѣ (vědě)		v
	г, г҄	Г г	глаголи (glagoli), глаголъ (glagolŭ)		g
	д	Д д	добро (dobro)		d
	е, є	Е е	ѥсть (jestĭ), естъ (estŭ)	( when not preceded by a consonant)	e
(Ⰶ)	ж	Ж ж	живѣте (živěte)	~	ž
(зꙁ) (cursive digamma)	ꙃ ѕ	— (Ѕ ѕ)	ѕѣло (dzělo), зѣло (zělo)	~~	dz
	ꙁ, з	З з	землꙗ (zemlja)		z
	и	И и	и (i), ижеи (ižei)	(usually or when not preceded by a consonant)	i
	і ї	І і	иже (iže)	(usually or when not preceded by a consonant)	i
—	Absent (see г҄)	—	eрвь (ervĭ), дервь (dervĭ)	~~	ǵ
	к	К к	како (kako)		k
	л, ꙥ	Л л	людьѥ (ljudĭje), людиѥ (ljudije)	(sometimes )	l
	м	М м	мꙑслите (myslite), мꙑслѣте (myslěte)		m
	н	Н н	нашь (našĭ)	(sometimes )	n
	о	О о	онъ (onŭ)	~	o
	п	П п	покои (pokoi)		p
	р	Р р	рьци (rĭci)	(sometimes )	r
	с	С с	слово (slovo)		s
	т	Т т	тврьдо (tvrĭdo), тврдо (tvrdo), твердо (tverdo)		t
(о+ѵ)	оу ꙋ	У у	оукъ (ukŭ), икъ (ikŭ)		u
	ф	Ф ф	фьртъ (fĭrtŭ), фртъ (frtŭ)	(occasionally )	f
	х	Х х	хѣръ (xěrŭ), херь (xerĭ)		x
	ѡ ѿ	—	ѡтъ (otŭ)	~	o (ô)
—	ц	Ц ц	ци (ci)	~	c
—	ч	Ч ч	чрьвь (črĭvĭ)	~	č
—	ш	Ш ш	ша (ša)	~	š
(ш+т / Ⱋ)	щ	Щ щ	ща (šta), шта (šta)	~~~	št
—	ъ	Ъ ъ	ѥръ (jerŭ)	~ (neutralized to after ж, ѕ, ц, ч, ш, щ, жд)	ŭ (ъ, ”)
(ъ+і)	ꙑ, ъи (y)	Ы ы	ѥрꙑ (jery)	~ or ~~	y
—	ь	Ь ь	ѥрь (jerĭ)	~	ǐ (ь, ’)
—	ѣ	Ѣѣ	ѣть (ětĭ), ꙗть (jatĭ)	( in western South Slavic dialects)	ě
(і+оу)	ю	Ю ю	ю (ju)	( after ж, ѕ, ц, ч, ш, щ, жд)	ju
(і+а)	ꙗ	—	ꙗ (ja), иꙗ (ija)		ja
(і+е)	ѥ	—	ѥ (je), иѥ (ije)		je
—	ѧ, ꙙ	Я я	ѧсъ (ęsŭ), юсъ малыи (jusŭ malyi)	( when not preceded by a consonant)	ę
(і+ѧ)	ѩ	—	ѩсъ (jęsŭ), юсъ малыи иотірованныи (jusŭ malyi iotirovannyi)		ję
—	ѫ	—	ѫсъ (ǫsŭ), юсъ большии (jusŭ bolĭšii)		ǫ
(і+ѫ)	ѭ	—	ѭсъ (jǫsŭ), юсъ больший иотірованныи (jusŭ bolĭšij iotirovannyi)		jǫ
	ѯ	—	кси (ksi)		ks
	ѱ	—	пси (psi)		ps
	ѳ	Ѳ ѳ	ѳита (θita)	~	θ (th, ḟ)
	ѵ		ижица (ižica)	~,	ü (ẏ)

Numerals

Fonts

Note: some characters may not display without a suitable Unicode 5.1 font. Some fonts can be downloaded from:

• Slavonic Computing Initiative at Ponomar Project. Freely licences, high-quality Unicode fonts.
• Medieval Slavic Fonts at the AATSEEL
• Resources at Obshtezhitie (Dilyana v 2.001, Lazov v 1.00, Menaion Medieval v 2.10)
• Code2000 version 1.17
• BukyVede version 1.002
• Kliment Std version 3.00
• RomanCyrillic Std version 3.00
• DejaVu Sans 2.26 has 24 characters from Cyrillic Extended-B. The development versions of DejaVu Sans and DejaVu Serif support more characters
• GNU Unifont 2008-05-10 (bitmap glyphs only)

Comparison

1	у	л	д	х	и	н	ц	ч	щ	ы	ꙑ	а	ꙗ	я	ѧ	е	є	ѥ	з	ꙁ	ꙃ	Notes
2	у	ʌ		χ	ʜ	ɴ				ьı	ъı			ѧ	ѧ	є	є	ıє
Menaion Unicode	21	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	21	21	2	2	1	21	2	21	21	1	21	21	-Latin, bad bold
Lazov	21	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	21	21	2	2		21	2	21	21	1	21	21	+Latin
BukyVede	21	2	2	2	1	2	1	2	2	21	21	2	2	1	21	2	21	21	1	21	21	+Latin
Kliment Std	21	2	2	1	2	2	1	2	2	21	21	2	2	1	21	1	21	21	1	21	21	+Latin
Dilyana	21	2	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	ъı	—	2	—	2	—	2	21	21	2	—	—	-Latin
Menaion Medieval	21	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	ъı	—	2	—		21	2	—	21	2	—	—	-Latin, bad bold
Ostromirov UCS	оу	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	ъı	—	2	—		—	2	21	21	2	—	—	blackboard? capital
Fedorovsk Unicode	21	2	2	2	1	2	1	1	2	21	—	2	2	1	21	2	21	21	1	21	—
Ponomar Unicode	21	2	2	2	1	2	1	1	2	21	—	2	2	1	21	2	21	21	1	21	—	-Latin
RomanCyrillic Std	21	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	21	21	1	2	1	21	1	21	21	1	21	21

Examples

ц (ɥ ):

• Иоанъ, editor (1076), “Не рьци [Nє рьɥʜ]”, in Изборник 1076 года [Izbornik of 1076]‎, page 31 (16), line 5

ы:

• Иоанъ, editor (1076), “помысливъ о оубогꙑхъ”, in Изборник 1076 года [Izbornik of 1076]‎, page 84 (42.5), line 4

зꙁ (long/short ):

• “землѧ [ɀємʌѧ]”, in Novgorod Codex‎ (in Old Church Slavonic), 1010±15, page 1, line -6
• “възмѧтошѧ [въɀмѧтошѧ]”, in Novgorod Codex‎ (in Old Church Slavonic), 1010±15, page 1, line 8
• Ретъко, editor (1025±50?), “земьꙗ [ɀємьꙗ]”, in Codex Suprasliensis‎ (in Old Church Slavonic), page (leaf) 161.5, line 10
• “звѣрь [ɀвѣрь]”, in Fragmenta Chilandarensia (in Old Church Slavonic), 1051±50, page (leaf) 1, line 20
• “ѡбраза [ѡбрɑɀɑ]”, in Enina Apostle‎ (in Old Church Slavonic), 1051±50, page 36, line 10

зꙁ ():

• Иоанъ, editor (1076), “золотьмь [ȥоʌотьмь]”, in Изборник 1076 года [Izbornik of 1076]‎, page 541 (271), line 1
• Иоанъ, editor (1076), “Знаѥмꙑꙗ[Ȥɴɑѥмꙑꙗ]”, in Изборник 1076 года [Izbornik of 1076]‎, page 31 (16), line 5
• Uncertain: “Знаемъ [ℤɴɑємъ?]”, in Novgorod Codex‎ (in Old Church Slavonic), 1010±15, page 1, line 2

зꙁ ():

• Иоанъ, editor (1076), “раздаваи [раӡдɑвɑʜ]”, in Изборник 1076 года [Izbornik of 1076]‎, page 31 (16), line 5
• Capital?: “Земьна [ӡємьɴɑ]”, in Psalterium Tolstoianum [Tolstoy psalter] (in Old Church Slavonic), 1100±100, page 4, line 6

ѕꙃ ( ):

• “ѕвѣрие [ɀ̶вѣриє]”, in Enina Apostle‎ (in Old Church Slavonic), 1051±50, page 36, line 10
• “поꙥьꙃѣ (ɀ/ȥ/ӡ)”, in Fragmenta Chilandarensia (in Old Church Slavonic), 1051±50, page (leaf) 2.5, line 9

ѕ "6":

• Григории, editor (1057), “въ лѣт ·ѕ҃·ф҃·ѯ҃д· (leaf 294, line -5)”, in Еуглие‎ (in Old Church Slavonic), page 294
• Иоанъ, editor (1076), “въ лѣт :ѕ҃·ф҃??”, in Изборник 1076 года [Izbornik of 1076]‎, page 551 (276), line -5
• Tmutarakan stone (1084±16): въ лѣто ·ѕ҃·ф҃о҃ іні ѕ҃ (vŭ lěto ·dz:·f:o: ini dz:, “in year 6570 indiction 6 ”)

Djerv (glag. ⰼ):

• cu:ангел-: -Supr -Sav -En -Und -Hil (glag: ±Mar +Zogr +Ass +Евх +Cloz +Боян +Kiev +Ryl -Sin)
  • Ретъко, editor (1025±50?), “г҄еѡна”, in Codex Suprasliensis‎ (in Old Church Slavonic), page (leaf) 240, line 18
• cu:еванг-: -Supr -Sav -En -Und (glag: +Mar +Zogr +Ass +Евх +Cloz +Служ ?Боян ?Охр)

Further reading

• Andreev, Aleksandr, Shardt, Yuri, Simmons, Nikita (2015 November 4) “Church Slavonic Typography in Unicode”, in Unicode Technical Notes: “2.1. Church Slavonic Letters”
• Script styles: uncial, ustav, poluustav, skoropis, civil
  • Greek uncial: Regius (801±100), Campianus (851±50), Petropolitanus (851±50), Cyprius (851±50), Porphyrius (862?), НБКМ Gr. 1 (901±100), НБКМ Gr. 2 (951±50), Trebizond (951±50)
  • Greek minuscule: Minuscule 268 (1101±100)
• Appendix:Church Slavonic manuscripts

References

• Lunt, Horace G. Old Church Slavonic Grammar, Seventh Edition, 2001.
• Peter T. Daniels and William Bright, eds. (1996). The World's Writing Systems. Oxford University Press. →ISBN.