Education, Languages
Old Slavic words. Old Slavonic language. Old Slavic letter
One of the most interesting dead languages is the Old Slavonic language. The words that were part of his vocabulary, grammar rules, even some phonetic features and the alphabet became the basis of the modern Russian language. Let's analyze what kind of language, when and how it originated, and whether it is used today and in what areas.
We will also talk about why it is studied in universities, and also mention the most famous and significant works devoted to Cyrillic and Old Slavic grammar. We will also recall Cyril and Methodius, known throughout the world as the brother of Solun.
General information
Despite the fact that scientists have been paying attention to this language for centuries, they study the Old Slavonic alphabet and the history of its development, there is not much information about it. If the grammatical and phonetic structure of the language, the lexical composition is more or less studied, then everything related to its origin is still in question.
The reason for this is that the writers themselves did not record their work, or they were lost with time. A detailed study of the writing itself began only a few centuries later, when no one could say with certainty what kind of dialect was the basis of this writing.
It is believed that this language was artificially created on the basis of dialects of the Bulgarian language in the IX century and was used in the territory of Russia for several centuries.
It is also worth noting that in some sources one can find the synonymous name of the language - Church Slavonic. This is due to the fact that the origin of literature in Russia is directly connected with the church. At first the literature was ecclesiastical: books, prayers, parables were translated, and original scriptures were created. In addition, mainly this language was owned only by people who serve the church.
Later, with the development of language and culture, the Old Russian language was replaced by the Old Russian language, which relied heavily on its predecessor. It happened around the XII century.
Nevertheless, the Old Slavic letter has reached us practically unchanged, and we use it to this day. We also use the grammar system, which began to emerge before the emergence of Old Russian.
Creation Versions
It is believed that the Old Slavonic language owes its appearance to Cyril and Methodius. And it is this information that we find in all the textbooks on the history of language and writing.
The brothers created a new writing on the basis of one of the Solon dialects of the Slavs. This was done in the first place in order to translate Bible texts and church prayers into the Slavonic language.
But there are other versions of the origin of the language. Thus, I. Yagich believed that the basis of the Old Slavonic was one of the dialects of the Macedonian language.
There is also a theory according to which the basis of the new writing was the Bulgarian language. She put forward P. Safarik. He also believed that this language should be called Old Bulgarian, and not Old Slavonic. So far, some researchers are arguing about this issue.
By the way, until now Bulgarian linguists believe that the language we are considering is exactly Old Bulgarian, and not Slavic.
We can even assume that there are other, less well-known theories of the origin of language, but they either were not examined in scientific circles, or their complete inadequacy was proven.
In any case, Old Slavonic words can be found not only in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian languages, but also in Polish, Macedonian, Bulgarian and other Slavic dialects. Therefore, the debate about which of the languages closest to the Old Slavonic language is unlikely to ever be completed.
The Solun Brothers
The creators of the Cyrillic alphabet and the Glagolitic alphabet - Cyril and Methodius - came from the city of Soluni, which is in Greece. The brothers were born in a rather rich family, so they could get an excellent education.
The elder brother, Mikhail, was born around 815. At the initiation into the monks received the name Methodius.
Constantine was the youngest in the family and was born around 826. I knew foreign languages, I knew the exact sciences. Despite the fact that many predicted his success and a great future, Constantine decided to follow in the footsteps of his elder brother and also became a monk, having received the name Cyril. He died in 869.
The brothers actively engaged in the dissemination of Christianity and scriptures. They were in different countries, trying to convey to people the word of God. But still they were brought to the world by the Old Slavonic alphabet.
Both brothers were canonized. In some Slavic countries May 24 mark the day of Slavic writing and culture (Russia and Bulgaria). In Macedonia, this day honored Cyril and Methodius. Two more Slavic countries - the Czech Republic and Slovakia - moved this holiday to July 5th.
Two alphabets
It is believed that the Old Slavic letter was created precisely by Greek enlighteners. In addition, there were originally two alphabets - Glagolitic and Cyrillic. Let us briefly consider them.
The first is the Glagolitic. It is believed that its creator was Cyril and Methodius. It is believed that this alphabet has no basis and was created from scratch. In ancient times, Russia was used rarely, in some cases.
The second one is Cyrillic. Her creation is also attributed to the brother of Solun. It is believed that the charter was based on the Byzantine script. At the moment, the eastern Slavs - Russians, Ukrainians and Byelorussians - use the letters of the Old Slavonic alphabet, or rather Cyrillic alphabet.
As for the question of which of the alphabets is older, there is also no unambiguous answer to it. In any case, if we assume that both the Cyrillic and the Glagolitic were created by the brothers of Solun, the difference between the time of their creation hardly exceeded ten to fifteen years.
Was there a written language before the Cyrillic alphabet?
It is also interesting that some researchers of the history of the language believe that there was a written language in Russia even before Cyril and Methodius. Confirmation of this theory is considered "Velesovuyu book, which was written by Old Russian Magi even before the adoption of Christianity. At the same time, it is not proven in which century this literary monument was created.
In addition, scientists argue that in various records of ancient Greek travelers and scholars there are references to the availability of writing in the Slavs. Also mentioned is the treaties that the princes signed with the Byzantine merchants.
Unfortunately, it has not been determined until now whether this is true, and if so, what kind of writing was in Russia before the spread of Christianity.
Studying the Old Slavonic language
Concerning the study of the Old Slavonic language, it was of interest not only for scholars who study the history of language, dialectology, but also Slavic scholars.
His study began in the nineteenth century with the establishment of a comparative-historical method. We will not dwell on this issue in detail, since, in fact, a person who is not very familiar with linguistics, the names and surnames of scientists will not be interesting and familiar. Let's just say that on the basis of research, not one textbook was compiled, many of them are used for studying the history of language and dialectology.
During the research, theories of the development of the Old Slavonic language were developed, dictionaries of the Old Slavic vocabulary were compiled, grammar and phonetics were studied. But at the same time there are still unsolved mysteries and riddles of the Old Slavonic dialect.
We also allow ourselves to list the most famous dictionaries and textbooks of the Old Slavonic language. Perhaps these books will be of interest to you and help you delve into the history of our culture and writing.
The most famous textbooks were published by such scientists as Khabugraev, Remnev, Elkin. All three textbooks are called "Old Slavonic language."
A rather impressive scientific work was published by A. Selishchev. He prepared a training manual consisting of two parts and covering the whole system of Old Slavonic language, containing not only theoretical material, but also texts, a dictionary, and also some articles on the morphology of the language.
Also interesting are the materials devoted to the brothers of Salon, the history of the origin of the alphabet. Thus, in 1930 the work "Materials on the History of the Origin of the Oldest Slavic Writing" was published by P. Lavrov.
No less valuable is the work of A. Shakhmatov, who saw the light in Berlin in 1908 - "The Legend of the Prescription of Books in Slovenian." In 1855, O. Bodiansky's monograph On the Time of the Origin of the Slavic Writes saw the light.
Also, the "Old Slavic Dictionary" was compiled, based on manuscripts of the 10th-11th centuries, which was edited by R. Zeitlin and R. Vecherki.
All these books are widely known. On their basis, they not only write abstracts and reports on the history of the language, but also prepare more serious works.
Old Slavic layer of vocabulary
Let's look at a few examples, in order that you will understand how deeply the Old Slavs penetrated into our language.
Such church terms as "priest", "sacrifice", "wand" came to us precisely from the Old Slavonic language, abstract concepts such as "power", "disaster", "consent" also apply here.
Of course, the old Slavs themselves are much more numerous. Here are some signs that indicate that the word is Old Slavism.
1. Presence of attachments. For example: return, excessive.
2. Compound lexemes with the words of God, good, sin, evil, and others. For example: evil, sin.
2. Presence of the suffixes -st-, -sign-, -us-, -yush-, -asch- -sche-. For example: burning, melting.
It would seem that we listed only a few signs on which we can identify Old Slavs, but you probably remembered not one word that came to us from the Old Slavonic.
If you want to know the meaning of Old Slavonic words, then we can advise you to look into any explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. Virtually all of them have retained their original significance, despite the fact that more than one decade has passed.
Current use
At the moment the Old Slavonic language is studied in universities in separate faculties and specialties, and is also used in churches.
It is due to the fact that at this stage of development this language is considered dead. Its use is possible only in the church, since many prayers are written in this language. In addition, it is worth noting and the fact that the first scriptures were translated specifically into the Old Slavonic language and are still used by the church in the form that centuries ago.
Concerning the world of science, let us note the fact that Old Slavonic words and their individual forms are often found in dialects. This attracts the attention of dialectologists, allowing to study the development of the language, its individual forms and dialects.
Researchers of culture and history also know this language, since their work is directly related to the study of ancient memoirs.
Despite this, at this stage, this language is considered dead, since on it, like in Latin, ancient Greek, has long been no one communicates, and only a few know it.
Church use
The most widely used language is used in the church. Thus, Old Slavonic prayers can be heard in any Orthodox church. In addition, it also reads excerpts from church books, the Bible.
At the same time, we also note that church employees, young seminarians also study this dialect, its features, phonetics and graphics. Today the Old Slavonic language is rightly considered the language of the Orthodox Church.
The most famous prayer, which is often read in this dialect, is "Our Father". But there are still many prayers in the Old Slavonic language, which are less well known. You can find them in any old prayer book or hear it by visiting the same church.
Studying at universities
The Old Slavonic language is now widely studied in universities. Pass it on the philological faculties, historical, legal. In some universities it is possible to study for students-philosophers.
The program includes the history of origin, the Old Slavic alphabet, features of phonetics, vocabulary, grammar. Basics of syntax.
Students not only learn the rules, learn to incline words, disassemble them as part of speech, but also read texts written in a given language, try to translate them and understand the meaning.
All this is done so that philologists can further apply their knowledge to study the old literary notes, the features of the development of the Russian language, its dialects.
It is worth noting that it is rather difficult to study the Old Slavonic language. The text written on it is difficult to read, since it contains not only many archaisms, but the rules for reading the letters yat, yer and yer are difficult to remember at first.
Students-historians, thanks to their knowledge, will be able to study the ancient monuments of culture and writing, read historical documents and chronicles, understand their essence.
The same applies to those who study at the Faculty of Philosophy, law.
Despite the fact that today the Old Slavonic language is a dead language, interest to it has not abated until now.
conclusions
It was the Old Slavonic language that became the basis of the Old Russian language, which, in turn, changed the Russian language. The words of Old Slavonic origin are perceived by us as primordially Russian.
A significant layer of vocabulary, phonetic features, grammar of the Eastern Slavic languages - all this was laid down even during the development and use of the Old Slavonic language.
The Old Church Slavonic is a formally dead language, at which only the ministers of the church are currently communicating. It was created in the IX century by the brothers Cyril and Methodius and was originally used for translation and recording of church literature. In fact, the Old Slavonic was always a written language, on which people did not speak.
Today we no longer use it, but at the same time it is widely studied at the philological and historical faculties, as well as in theological seminaries. Today Old Slavonic words and this old language can be heard by visiting the service in the church, since all prayers in Orthodox churches are read on it.
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