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Romanian Cyrillic alphabet

1500s–1860s alphabet used to write Romanian

Summary

1500s–1860s alphabet used to write Romanian

Field	Value
name	Romanian Cyrillic
type	Alphabet
time	14th–19th centuries
languages	Romanian
fam1	Phoenician alphabet
fam2	Greek alphabet
fam3	Glagolitic alphabet
fam4	Cyrillic
sisters	Early Cyrillic alphabet
sample	File:Romanian Cyrillic alphabet chart.svg
imagesize	300px

The Romanian Cyrillic alphabet is the Cyrillic alphabet that was used to write the Romanian language and Church Slavonic from the 14th century until the 1830s, when it began to be gradually replaced by a Latin-based Romanian alphabet. Cyrillic remained in occasional use until the 1920s, mostly in Russian-ruled Bessarabia.

From the 1830s until the full adoption of the Latin alphabet, the Romanian transitional alphabet was in place, combining Cyrillic and Latin letters, and including some of the Latin letters with diacritics that remain in the modern Romanian alphabet. The Romanian Orthodox Church continued using the alphabet in its publications until 1881.

The Romanian Cyrillic alphabet is not the same as the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet (which is based on the modern Russian alphabet) that was used in the Moldavian SSR for most of the Soviet era and that is still used in Transnistria.

Rules

The orthographic rules for the Romanian Cyrillic script were relatively inconsistent, especially differing from region to region.

Some of the more common (especially in the late 18th century) standards include:

'ь' is placed at the end of words ending in a consonant. It represents the archaic Romanian "short asyllabic final u sound", which was denoted with 'ꙋ' or 'ꙋ꙼' in some older texts. 'ь' was eventually dropped to reduce printing cost.
The breve mark is used to mark a vowel as short, such as with 'й' and 'Ꙋ꙼' which are not considered separate from 'и' and 'ꙋ' respectively.
Є, Ѻ, Оу and Ꙗ are the initial variants of Е, О, Ꙋ, Ѧ respectively.
Ї is the equivalent of И before a vowel. It is also used in Greek loanwords and proper names.
Ꙟ serves as the word initial equivalent of ѫ. It can represent the sounds /ɨn/ and /ɨm/ as well.
Ѯ Ѱ Ѳ Ѵ are only used in Greek loanwords.
Ѵ usually represents the sounds /i/ when proceeding a consonant and /v/ when proceeding a vowel. Although educated speakers likely pronounced it as /y/.
'їꙋ' or iotated ꙋ may be used in place of 'ю' in proper names.
'ꙍ' can be used as a variation of 'ѻ' as well as replacing 'o' when stressed. It also appears in the endings of words in the genitive and dative. It rarely represents the diphthong /o̯a/ more often representing the diphthong /ŭə/.

Table of correspondence

The Romanian Cyrillic alphabet was close to the contemporary version of the Early Cyrillic alphabet of the Church Slavonic liturgical language.

Letter	Numerical
value	Romanian
Latin
equivalent	Transitional
alphabet	Moldovan
Cyrillic
equivalent	Phoneme	Romanian
name	Slavonic
equiv.
name
А а	1	a	A a	а		az	азъ (azŭ)
Б		b	Б	б		buche	бꙋкꙑ (buky)
В в	2	v	В в	в		vede	вѣдѣ (vĕdĕ)
Г г	3	gh (before e, i)
g (elsewhere)		G g	г		glagol	глаголи (glagoli)
Д д	4	d	D d	д		dobru	добро (dobro)
Є є, Е е	5	e	E e	е		est	єстъ (estŭ)
Ж ж		j	Ж ж	ж		juvete	живѣтє (živěte)
Ѕ ѕ	6	dz	Ḑ ḑ	дз		zalu	ꙃѣло (dzělo)
З з	7	z	Z z	з		zemle	зємл҄ꙗ (zemlja)
И и	8	i	I i	и		ije	ижє (iže)
Й й		i	Ĭ ĭ	й
І і	10	i	I i	и		i	и (i)
К к	20	ch (before e, i)
c (elsewhere)	К к
or
K k	к		kaku	како (kako)
Л л	30	l	Л л	л		liude	людиѥ (ljudije)
М м	40	m	M m	м		mislete	мꙑслитє (myslite)
Н н	50	n	N n	н		naș	нашь (našĭ)
Ѻ ѻ, О о	70	o	O o	о		on	онъ (onŭ)
П п	80	p	П п	п		pocoi	покои (pokoi)
Р р	100	r	Р р	р		râță	рьци (rĭci)
С с	200	s	S s	с		slovă	слово (slovo)
Т т	300	t	T t	т		tferdu	тврьдо (tvrĭdo)
ОУ оу	400	u	Ꙋ ꙋ (Ȣ, ȣ, ɣ)	у		upsilon	ꙋкъ (ukŭ)
Оу Ȣ, У Ȣ		ucu
Ф ф	500	f	F f	ф		fârta	фрьтъ (frĭtŭ)
Х х	600	h	Х х	х		heru	хѣръ (xěrŭ)
Ѡ ѡ	800	o	O o	о		omega	отъ (otŭ)
Щ щ		șt	Щ щ	шт		ștea	ща (šta)
Ц ц	900	ț	Ц ц	ц		ți	ци
Ч ч	90	c (before e, i)
ci (elsewhere)	Ч ч	ч		cervu	чрьвь (črĭvĭ)
Ш ш		ș	Ш ш	ш		șa	ша (ša)
Ъ ъ		ă, ŭ	Ъ ъ	э		ier	ѥръ (jerŭ)
Ы ы, Ꙑ ꙑ		â, î	Î î	ы		ierî	ѥрꙑ (jery)
Ь ь		ă, ŭ, ĭ	Ꙋ̆ ꙋ̆	ь	—	ieri	ѥрь (jerĭ)
Ѣ ѣ		ea	Ea ea	я		eati(u)	ѣть (ětĭ)
Ю ю		iu	Ĭꙋ ĭꙋ	ю		io / iu	ю (ju)
Ꙗ ꙗ		ia	Ĭa ĭa	я		ia	ꙗ (ja)
Ѥ ѥ		ie	Ĭe ĭe	ие			ѥ (je)
Ѧ ѧ		ĭa, ea	Ĭa ĭa, Ea ea	я		ia	ѧсъ (ęsŭ)
Ѫ ѫ		î	Î î	ы		ius	ѫсъ (ǫsŭ)
Ѯ ѯ	60	x	Ks ks	кс		csi	ѯи (ksi)
Ѱ ѱ	700	ps	Пs пs	пс		psi	ѱи (psi)
Ѳ ѳ	9	th, ft	T t, Ft ft	т, фт	and approx. or	thita	фита (fita)
Ѵ ѵ	400	i, u	I i; Ꙋ ꙋ	и, у		ijița	ижица (ižica)
Ꙟ ꙟ, ↑ ↑		în îm	În în Îm îm	ын, ым	,	în
Џ џ		g (before e, i)
gi (elsewhere)	Џ џ	ӂ		gea

Unregulated transitional alphabets

Main article: Romanian transitional alphabet

Starting with the 1830s and ending with the official adoption of the Latin alphabet, there were no regulations for writing Romanian, and various alphabets using Cyrillic and Latin letters, besides the mid-transitional version in the table above, were used, sometimes two or more of them in a single book. The following table shows some of the many alphabets used in print.

Pre-1830	1833	1838	1846 (1)	1846 (2)	1848	1858	1860
А а	А а	А а	А а	А а	А а	A a	A a
Б	Б	Б	Б	Б	Б	B b	Б
В в	В в	В в	В в	В в	В в	V v	В в
Г г	Г г	Г г	Г г	Г г	Г г	G g	Г г
Д д	Д д	Д д	D d	Д д	D d	D d	D d
Є є, Е e	Є є	Є є	E e	E ɛ	E e	E e	E e
Ж ж	Ж ж	Ж ж	Ж ж	Ж ж	Ж ж	J j	Ж ж
Ѕ ѕ	Ѕ ѕ	Дз дз	Ḑ ḑ	Дз дз	Dz dz	Dz dz	Dz dz
З з	З з	З з	Z z	З з	Z z	Z z	Z z
И и	И и	I i	I i	І і	I i	I i	I i
І і	Ї ї	I i	I i	І і	I i	I i	I i
К к	К к	К к	K k	К к	К к	K k	K k
Л л	Л л	Л л	Л л	Л л	Л л	L l	L l
М м	М м	М м	M m	М м	M m	M m	M m
Н н	Н н	Н н	N n	N ɴ	N n	N n	N n
Ѻ ѻ, О o	О о	О о	O o	О о	О о	О о	O о
П п	П п	П п	П п	П п	П п	П п	П п
Р р	Р р	Р р	Р р	Р р	Р р	R r	Р р
С с	С с	С с	S s	С с	С с	S s	S s
Т т	Т т	Т т	T t	Т т	Т т	T t	T t
Оу оу	У у (initial)
Ꙋ ꙋ (mid and final)	Ȣ ȣ	Ȣ ȣ	Ȣ ȣ	Ȣ ȣ	Ȣ ȣ	Ȣ ȣ
Ꙋ, ȣ
Ф ф	Ф ф	Ф ф	Ф ф	Ф ф	Ф ф	F f	Ф ф
Х х	Х х	Х х	Х х	Х х	Х х	Х х	Х х
Ѡ ѡ	Ѡ ѡ	О о	O o	О о	O o	О о	О о
Щ щ	Щ щ	Щ щ	Щ щ	Шт шт	Щ щ	Шt шt	Шt шt
Ц ц	Ц ц	Ц ц	Ц ц	Ц ц	Ц ц	Ц ц	Ц ц
Ч ч	Ч ч	Ч ч	Ч ч	Ч ч	Ч ч	Ч ч	Ч ч
Ш ш	Ш ш	Ш ш	Ш ш	Ш ш	Ш ш	Ш ш	Ш ш
Ъ ъ	Ъ ъ	Ъ ъ	Ъ ъ	Ъ ъ	Ъ ъ	Ъ ъ	Ъ ъ
Ы ы	Ꙟ ꙟ (initial)
Ѫ ѫ (mid and final)	Ꙟ ꙟ (initial)
Ѫ ѫ (mid and final)	Ꙟ ꙟ	Ꙟ ꙟ / Î î (transitional form)	Ꙟ ꙟ (initial)
Ѫ ѫ (mid and final)	Î î	Î î
Ѣ ѣ	Ѣ ѣ	Ѣ ѣ	Ea ea	Eа εа (ligature, small letter only)	Ea ea	Ea ea	Ea ea
Ю ю	Ю ю	IꙊ iꙋ (ligature)	IȢ Iȣ iȣ (ligature)	IȢ Iȣ іȣ (ligature, small letter only)	IȢ iȣ	IȢ iȣ (ligature)	ĬȢ ĭȣ
Ꙗ ꙗ	Ꙗ ꙗ (initial)
Ѧ ѧ (mid and final)	Ꙗ ꙗ	Ꙗ Iа (ligature) ꙗ	IА Iа ꙗ	Ia ia	Ĭa ĭa	Ĭa ĭa
Ѥ ѥ	Йє йє	Ĭe ĭe	Ĭe ĭe	Ĭε ĭε	Ie ie	Ĭe ĭe	Ĭe ĭe
Ѧ ѧ	Ꙗ ꙗ (initial)
Ѧ ѧ (mid and final)	Ꙗ ꙗ	Ꙗ Iа (ligature) ꙗ	IА Iа ꙗ	Ia ia	Ĭa ĭa	Ĭa ĭa
Ѫ ѫ	Ꙟ ꙟ (initial)
Ѫ ѫ (mid and final)	Ꙟ ꙟ (initial)
Ѫ ѫ (mid and final)	Ꙟ ꙟ	Ꙟ ꙟ / Î î (transitional form)	Ꙟ ꙟ (initial)
Ѫ ѫ (mid and final)	Î î	Î î
Ѯ ѯ	Кс кс	Кс кс	Ks ks	Кс кс	Кс кс	Ks ks	Ks ks
Ѱ ѱ	Пс пс	Пс пс	Пs пs	Пс пс	Пс пс	Пs пs	Пs пs
Ѳ ѳ	Т т	Т т	T t	Ѳ ѳ	Т т	T t	T t
Ѵ ѵ	И, Ꙋ	I, Ꙋ	I, ȣ	І, ȣ	І, ȣ	I, ȣ	I, ȣ
Ꙟ ꙟ	Ꙟн ꙟн Ꙟм ꙟм	Ꙟн ꙟн Ꙟм ꙟм	Ꙟн ꙟн Ꙟм ꙟм	Ꙟɴ ꙟɴ Ꙟм ꙟм	Ꙟn ꙟn Ꙟm ꙟm	În în Îm îm	În în Îm îm
Џ џ	Џ џ	Џ џ	Џ џ	Џ џ	Џ џ	Џ џ	Џ џ

Example of Romanian Cyrillic text

According to a document from the 1850s, this is how the Romanian Lord's Prayer looked in Cyrillic script. Transcriptional values correspond to the above table.

Та́тъль нѡ́стрꙋ	Tatăl nostru

Image:Early 19th century Romanian Cyrillic alphabet (Alecsandri, 1863).jpg|Early 19th century Romanian Cyrillic alphabet (Alecsandri, 1863) Scrisoarea-lui-neacsu-din-campulung.jpg|One of the oldest surviving documents in Romanian: Neacșu's Letter, a trader from Câmpulung, sent to the mayor of Brașov (1521) Image:Carte Românească de Învăţătură .jpg|Title page of Carte Romănească de Învățătură (Varlaam Moțoc, 1643) Image:Stavropoleos-evanghelie-1723-p02.png|A page of the Gospel Book printed in Bucharest (1723) Image:Tatal Nostru Acathist 1786.png|The Lord's Prayer, in a 1786 religious document Image:Legiuirea lui Caragea, title page, 1818.png|Title page of Legiuirea lui Caragea, a legal code of Wallachia (1818) Image:Gazeta de Transilvania, Nr. 1, Anul 1 (1838).pdf|First edition of Gazeta de Transilvania (1838) Image:Anton Pann - Bazul teoretic, title page.png|Title page of The Theoretical and Practical Basis of Church music or the Melodic Grammar (Anton Pann, 1845) Image:Alfbtranzitie.jpeg|Transitional alphabet (fragment of Dimitrie Bolintineanu's Călătorii pe Dunăre și în Bulgaria, 1858) Image:Bibliia adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a legei vechi şi a legei noao leage.jpg|alt=Pagina de titlu a Bibliei lui Șerban Cantacuzino (1688), prima traducere completă a Bibliei în limba română.|The title page of the Cantacuzino Bible, the first complete translation of the Bible into Romanian (1688).

Notes

References

Ileana-Stanca Desa, Dulciu Morărescu, Ioana Patriche, Adriana Raliade, Iliana Sulică, ''Publicațiile periodice românești (ziare, gazete, reviste). Vol. III: Catalog alfabetic 1919–1924'', pp. 235–236, 264, 368, 374, 575, 708, 1024. Bucharest: [[Editura Academiei]], 1987
George Baiculescu, Georgeta Răduică, Neonila Onofrei, ''Publicațiile periodice românești (ziare, gazete, reviste). Vol. II: Catalog alfabetic 1907–1918. Supliment 1790–1906'', pp. 763, 801, 810, 813, 832, 867. Bucharest: [[Editura Academiei]], 1969
Grigore Chiriță, ''Societatea din Principatele Unite Române în perioada constituirii statului național (1856-1866)'', p. 134. Bucharest: Editura Academiei Române, 2004, {{ISBN. 978-973-270-984-9
Romulus, Ionașcu. (1894). "Sisteme ortografice în scrierea limbei꙼ române".
(2016-03-03). "The Syntax of Old Romanian". OUP Academic.
According to {{lang. ro. [[Costache Negruzzi]], "Cum am învățat românește". ro. ''[[Curier de Ambe Sexe]]'', I, nr. 22,
[[:File:Călătorii pe Dunăre și în Bulgaria-p.p.16-17.jpg. Book written in the transitional alphabet showing various letter forms]]
(1833). ["Грамматикъ практїкъ романо-францозѧскъ [''modernised:'' Grammatică practică romano-franțozească]"]({{Google books).
Dimitrie, Țichindeal. (1838). ["Філософіче ші політіче прін fabule înвъцътꙋрĭ морале [modernised: Filosofice și politice prin fabule învățaturĭ morale]"]({{Google books).
"Treboniu A."-1; "Bălcescu"-2, "Laurian"-1; "Nicolae"-2. (1846). ["Magazinu istoriku пентрꙋ Dacia"]({{Google books).
(1846). ["Ноꙋл Тестамент ал Домнꙋлꙋі ші Мꙟнтꙋіторꙋлꙋі нострꙋ Іісꙋс Хрістос[modernised: "Noul Testament al Domnului și Mîntuitorului nostru Iisus hristos"]"]({{Google books).
G. Shakespeare, William. (1848). ["Біографа лꙋі Віліам Г. Шекспір дꙋпе le Fourneur [modernised: "Biografia lui Viliam G. Șecspir dupe Le Fourneur."]"]({{Google books).
Ioanid, George. (1858). ["Istoria Moldo-Romănieĭ"]({{Google books).
O. Dumitrescu. (1860). ["Cîntece naționale"]({{Google books).
[[:File:Romanian-kirilitza-tatal-nostru.jpg]]

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