One of the most interesting dead languages is Old Church Slavonic. 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 take a look at what kind of language it is, when and how it originated, and whether it is used today and in what areas.
We will also talk about why it is studied at universities, and we will also mention the most famous and significant works on Cyrillic and Old Church Slavonic grammar. Let us also remember Cyril and Methodius, the world-famous Thessalonica brothers.
General information
Despite the fact that scientists have been paying attention to this language for more than one century, studying the Old Slavonic alphabet and the history of its development, there is not so 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.
GuiltyThis is because the creators of writing themselves either did not keep records of their work, or these records were completely lost over 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 became 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 on the territory of Russia for several centuries.
It is also worth noting that in some sources you can find a synonymous name for the language - Church Slavonic. This is due to the fact that the birth of literature in Russia is connected directly with the church. At first, literature was churchly: books, prayers, parables were translated, and original scriptures were also created. In addition, in the main, only people serving the church spoke this language.
Later, with the development of language and culture, Old Slavonic was replaced by the Old Russian language, which largely relied on its predecessor. It happened around the 12th century.
Nevertheless, the Old Slavonic initial letter has come down to us practically unchanged, and we use it to this day. We also use the grammatical system, which began to emerge even before the emergence of the Old Russian language.
Creation Versions
It is believed that the Old Church Slavonic language owes its appearance to Cyril and Methodius. And it is this information that we find in all textbooks on the history of language and writing.
The brothers created on the basis of one of the Thessalonica dialects of the Slavs a newwriting. This was done primarily in order to translate biblical texts and church prayers into Slavonic.
But there are other versions of the origin of the language. So, I. Yagich believed that one of the dialects of the Macedonian language became the basis of Old Church Slavonic.
There is also a theory according to which the Bulgarian language was the basis of the new writing. She will be nominated by P. Safarik. He also believed that this language should be called Old Bulgarian, and not Old Slavonic. Until now, some researchers are arguing about this issue.
By the way, Bulgarian linguists still believe that the language we are considering is precisely Old Bulgarian, not Slavic.
We can even assume that there are other, less well-known theories of the origin of the language, but they have either not been considered in scientific circles, or their complete failure has been proven.
In any case, Old Church Slavonic words can be found not only in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian, but also in Polish, Macedonian, Bulgarian and other Slavic dialects. Therefore, discussions about which of the languages is closest to Old Church Slavonic are unlikely to ever be completed.
Thessalonica brothers
The creators of the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets - Cyril and Methodius - come from the city of Thessalonica, in Greece. The brothers were born into a fairly we althy family, so they were able to get an excellent education.
The older brother - Michael - was born around 815. When he was ordained a monk, he received the name Methodius.
Konstantin was the youngestinto a family and was born around 826. He knew foreign languages, understood the exact sciences. Despite the fact that many predicted success and a great future for him, Konstantin decided to follow in the footsteps of his older brother and also became a monk, receiving the name Cyril. He died in 869.
The brothers were actively involved in the spread of Christianity and the sacred writings. They visited different countries, trying to convey the word of God to people. But nevertheless, it was the Old Slavonic alphabet that brought them world fame.
Both brothers were canonized. In some Slavic countries, May 24 is celebrated as the day of Slavic writing and culture (Russia and Bulgaria). In Macedonia, Cyril and Methodius are venerated on this day. Two more Slavic countries - the Czech Republic and Slovakia - moved this holiday to July 5.
Two alphabets
It is believed that the Old Slavonic initial letter was created precisely by the Greek enlighteners. In addition, initially there were two alphabets - Glagolitic and Cyrillic. Let's look at them briefly.
The first is Glagolitic. It is believed that Cyril and Methodius were its creator. It is believed that this alphabet has no basis and was created from scratch. In Old Russia, it was used quite rarely, in some cases.
Second - Cyrillic. Its creation is also attributed to the Thessalonica brothers. It is believed that the statutory Byzantine letter was taken as the basis of the alphabet. At the moment, the Eastern Slavs - Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians - use the letters of the Old Slavonic alphabet, or rather, the Cyrillic alphabet.
As for the question of which of the alphabets is older, then onThere is also no definitive answer to it. In any case, if we proceed from the fact that both Cyrillic and Glagolitic were created by the Thessalonica brothers, then the difference between the time of their creation is unlikely to have exceeded ten or fifteen years.
Was there a written language before Cyrillic?
It is also interesting that some researchers of the history of the language believe that there was writing in Russia even before Cyril and Methodius. A confirmation of this theory is considered to be the Book of Veles, which was written by the ancient Russian magi even before the adoption of Christianity. At the same time, it has not been proven in which century this literary monument was created.
In addition, scientists claim that in various records of ancient Greek travelers and scientists there are references to the presence of writing among the Slavs. It also mentions the contracts that the princes signed with the Byzantine merchants.
Unfortunately, it is still not exactly established whether this is true, and if so, what kind of writing was in Russia before the spread of Christianity.
Learning Old Church Slavonic
Regarding the study of the Old Church Slavonic language, it was of interest not only to scientists studying the history of the language, dialectology, but also to Slavic scientists.
It began to be studied in the 19th century with the development of the comparative historical method. We will not dwell on this issue in detail, since, in fact, a person who is not closely familiar with linguistics will not be interested and familiar with the names and surnames of scientists. Let's just say that on the basis of research wasmore than one textbook has been compiled, many of them are used to study the history of the language and dialectology.
In the course of research, theories of the development of the Old Church Slavonic language were developed, dictionaries of Old Church Slavonic vocabulary were compiled, grammar and phonetics were studied. But at the same time, there are still unsolved mysteries and mysteries of the Old Church Slavonic dialect.
Also let us give a list of the most famous dictionaries and textbooks of the Old Church 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, Remneva, Elkina. All three textbooks are called "Old Church Slavonic".
A rather impressive scientific work was released by A. Selishchev. He prepared a textbook, consisting of two parts and covering the entire system of the Old Slavonic language, containing not only theoretical material, but also texts, a dictionary, as well as some articles on the morphology of the language.
The materials devoted to the Thessalonica brothers and the history of the origin of the alphabet are also interesting. So, in 1930, the work "Materials on the history of the emergence of the most ancient Slavic writing" was published, written by P. Lavrov.
No less valuable is the work of A. Shakhmatov, which was published in Berlin in 1908 - "The Legend of the Translation of Books into Slovenian". In 1855, O. Bodiansky's monograph "On the time of origin of Slavic writings" saw the light of day.
Also, an "Old Church Slavonic Dictionary" was compiled, based on manuscripts X - XIcenturies, which was edited by R. Zeitlin and R. Vecherka.
All these books are widely known. On their basis, not only write essays and reports on the history of the language, but also prepare more serious work.
Old Church Slavonic vocabulary
A rather large layer of Old Church Slavonic vocabulary was inherited by the Russian language. Old Slavonic words are quite firmly entrenched in our dialect, and today we will not even be able to distinguish them from native Russian words.
Let's look at a few examples so that you understand how deeply Old Church Slavonicism has penetrated into our language.
Such church terms as "priest", "sacrifice", "rod" came to us precisely from the Old Slavonic language, abstract concepts such as "power", "disaster", "consent" also belong here.
Of course, there are much more Old Slavonicisms themselves. Here are a few signs that indicate that the word is Old Church Slavonicism.
1. The presence of prefixes in and through. For example: return, excessive.
2. Compound lexemes with the words god-, good-, sin-, evil- and others. For example: malevolence, fall into sin.
2. The presence of suffixes -stv-, -zn-, -usch-, -yushch-, -asch- -yashch-. For example: burning, melting.
It would seem that we have listed only a few signs by which you can identify Old Slavonicisms, but you probably already remembered more than one word that came to us from Old Slavonic.
If you want to know the meaning of Old Church Slavonic words, thenwe can advise you to look into any explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. Almost all of them have retained their original meaning, despite the fact that more than one decade has passed.
Current use
At the moment, the Old Church Slavonic language is being studied at universities in certain faculties and speci alties, and is also used in churches.
This 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 the fact that the first scriptures were translated into the Old Slavonic language and are still used by the church in the same form as centuries ago.
Regarding the world of science, we note the fact that Old Church Slavonic words and their individual forms are often found in dialects. This attracts the attention of dialectologists, allowing them to study the development of the language, its individual forms and dialects.
Researchers of culture and history also know this language, as their work is directly related to the study of ancient memos.
Despite this, at this stage this language is considered dead, since no one has been communicating in it for a long time, and only a few know it.
Church use
This language is most widely used in the church. So, Old Slavonic prayers can be heard in any Orthodox church. In addition, passages from church books, the Bible are also read on it.
At the same time, we notealso the fact that church employees, young seminarians also study this dialect, its features, phonetics and graphics. Today, Old Church Slavonic is rightfully 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 known. You can find them in any old prayer book, or you can hear them by visiting the same church.
Study in universities
Old Church Slavonic today is widely studied at universities. Pass it at the philological faculties, historical, legal. In some universities, it is also possible to study for philosophy students.
The program includes the history of origin, the Old Slavonic alphabet, features of phonetics, vocabulary, grammar. Syntax basics.
Students not only study the rules, learn how to decline words, parse them as part of speech, but also read texts written in this language, try to translate them and understand the meaning.
All this is done so that philologists can further apply their knowledge to study ancient literary memoirs, features of the development of the Russian language, its dialects.
It is worth noting that it is quite difficult to learn Old Church Slavonic. The text written on it is difficult to read, since it contains not only many archaisms, but also the very rules for reading the letters "yat", "er" and "er" are difficult to remember at first.
History students, thanks to the acquired knowledge, will be able to study ancientmonuments of culture and writing, to read historical documents and annals, to understand their essence.
The same applies to those who study at the faculties of philosophy, law.
Despite the fact that today Old Church Slavonic is a dead language, interest in it has not subsided so far.
Conclusions
It was Old Church Slavonic that became the basis of the Old Russian language, which, in turn, replaced the Russian language. Words of Old Slavonic origin are perceived by us as primordially Russian.
A significant layer of vocabulary, phonetic features, grammar of the East Slavic languages - all this was laid down during the development and use of the Old Church Slavonic language.
Old Church Slavonic is a formally dead language, which is currently spoken only by church ministers. It was created back in the 9th century by the brothers Cyril and Methodius and was originally used to translate and record church literature. In fact, Old Church Slavonic has always been a written language that was not spoken among the people.
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 Church Slavonic words and this ancient language can be heard by attending a service in a church, since all prayers in Orthodox churches are read in it.
