Origin from 893
The Cyrillic script was developed in the ninth or tenth century in the First Bulgarian Empire, in the milieu of the disciples of Cyril and Methodius, adapting the Greek alphabet and adding letters for Slavic sounds the Greek alphabet lacked, partly drawing on the earlier Glagolitic script the two missionary brothers had devised. It is used today for Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian and several other Slavic and non-Slavic languages across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, with letterforms and letter inventories that differ somewhat from language to language.
Facts
Directionality In Use Since (Year)Traditional date associated with the First Bulgarian Empire's adoption of the script under Tsar Simeon I; the script's actual development by Cyril and Methodius's disciples spans the preceding decades and is not fixed to this single year. Cyrillic Script
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Connections
Descends From
Greek Script, Scripts By way of the Byzantine Greek uncial script adapted in the ninth century, traditionally credited to Saint Cyrils circle, with some letterforms carried over from the earlier Glagolitic script rather than from Greek directly.
Source The Cambridge Encyclopedia of LanguageDavid Crystal (editor)
Influenced By
Cyrillic was based mainly on Greek uncial script but retained a small number of Glagolitic-derived letters for Slavic sounds Greek lacked, so the relationship is a partial, selective inheritance rather than full descent.
Source Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
Script Of
Bulgarian, Languages Bulgaria is the country generally credited with adopting Cyrillic first and using it continuously since.
Source Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
Source Wikipedia: Evenki Language
Kazakh is standardly written in the Cyrillic alphabet in Kazakhstan (a Latin transition has been announced but Cyrillic remains standard in current use).
Kyrgyz is standardly written in the Cyrillic alphabet.
Macedonian is standardly written in the Cyrillic alphabet.
Source Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
Serbian is officially digraphic: Cyrillic and Latin (Gaj Latin alphabet) are both in standard use.
Tajik is standardly written in a Cyrillic-based alphabet.
Sources
1. Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
2. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
David Crystal (editor), Cambridge University Press, 2010
Wikipedia: Evenki Language
Wikimedia FoundationScript Of: Evenki, Infobox, writing system field, Cyrillic listed firstView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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