Guest (10:24:35 05/03/2013):
What is the spelling of the letter "fita"?
lover of Russian literature and lawyer-criminologist (15:18:34 30/10/2013):
Hmmm ... If schoolchildren are taught in this way, then for sure ... we will slide "to nowhere", that is, in modern terms, "to nowhere." In the Russian language, initially all signs carried an important semantic and speech load. Take, for example, the same example with the word "world": thanks to the vowels, already on paper and without explanation, you can distinguish what kind of world we are talking about: about a private "world" - peace, a universal "peace" - "universal", i.e. the world of people, society or the "world" of a cult - about incense, to which now you have to add either "o" or "r" to make it "understandable")) Philology without logic, like any science - is out-of-thinking. In Russian, "IZ" means "obsolete". For example, "outcast" is "alien", i.e. "not ours" (the Jews have nothing to do with it))
lover of Russian literature and lawyer-criminologist (15:47:53 30/10/2013):
Regarding the letter "fita" - pay attention to the spelling of the transcription in English - there "fita" is still written and "read" and pronounced the same way)) When will philologists realize that all the languages of the world originated from one - one that they themselves have not yet learned to understand, and even interpret to others like this ...
??? (20:35:26 01/09/2014):
And yet, if the letters now excluded from the alphabet remained in it, half of today's USE honors students would not have passed it: so many spelling rules cannot fit in the head of an ordinary person.
Margosha (19:41:17 03/12/2014):
completely agree with the lover of Russian literature. a couple more reforms and you and I will only mumble and poke and our convolutions will straighten out so as not to load us
YanaR (15:30:28 03/19/2015):
"Sit down from the IMAGE of the technical language and you will be able to manage this people" ... Yat-image showing the connection between the earthly and heavenly, Izhitsa-Image of divine movement (Mvra - in temples, for example, it was written through Izhitsa), Feta - the image of the natural, higher component in all worlds, Reveal, Navi, rule and glory, and not every word carries it ... So, children, stay children with your eyes closed ..
Catherine (11:56:17 16/07/2015):
I would like to contact the author of the article. Your message is that the letters yat, fita, er and izhitsa are not needed. It seems to me that this is not entirely true. For example, "yat" and "E" in the roots of similar-sounding words make it possible to distinguish their meanings. If children still spelled these words differently, they would have a finer sense of the language and a deeper understanding of it. "Er" is not an extra letter, by no means. It denoted a semi-vowel sound, o-short. In church singing, this is still widely used in practice: when we add this semivowel at the ends of words when we sing, it is easier for listeners to understand the text. In addition, in English, the duration of vowels still matters: [i] -, [a] -, [u] -.
Strunnikov Mikhail Evgenievich (08:08:31 23/10/2015):
It is precisely to perverts of every kind and every orientation that the ideas of such a "revival" come to the head. They cannot use modern spelling, but give them "ery-yat, ery-yus." Shushera!
Denis (11:23:44 21/11/2015):
Many do not know why the letters in the Russian alphabet go in this sequence. Secrets of the Russian alphabet... In the first line: - I know God, I speak kindly, so I exist. In the second line: - Life is abundant on Earth when the universal truth is in the community from God. In the third line: - For all thinking people, only He (God) pronounces peace. In the fourth line: - The word, approved from above, calls to confidently hold on to the foundations of the wisdom of goodness to complete the path, to come into harmony for a new beginning. In the fifth line: - The protection of the borders of our earth and growth ensure God's protection and our unity. In the sixth line: - The harmonious development and growth potential of my family and me, as a part of it, depends on the Supreme source and the history of the family. In the seventh line: - The meaning of life is in the desire to perfect the spirit and soul until it fully matures into a perfect personality in eternity. Vertically 1 column: - My life is like a thought clothed in sound, striving for harmony, the smallest particle of reason in the universe. Column 2: - God creates a solid border around people and directs them to self-improvement. 3rd column: - Knowledge of the Earth and reflection on it call for peace in the spirit of our kind (people). 4th column: - Telling the truth is our tradition, our protection, part of our soul. (What is the power of brother? - In Truth!) Column 5: - The blessing of the Universe is that God the Creator confidently and firmly creates the growth of everything, for the complete maturation of the seed. Column 6: - The essence of the existence of human society in peace, peace, balance, harmony, unity from the Supreme Source to the perfect soul. 7 column: - The existing heavenly Source brings to our world both the beginning of everything and the growth of everything, and the experience of people in time. Diagonal from top to bottom and from left to right: - I think a lot and the basis of my creativity is the supreme Source always.
Random guest (22:52:33 04/19/2016):
With such a hostile attitude towards everything that was before the revolution, our society will "go far", how! The letters that our ancestors used to write are the property of our language! How can you call them unnecessary and somehow "not so" ??? I can't understand at all!!! Our language was so complex that it causes only respect for its speakers!!! The Slavs, by the way, felt the sounds very subtly, Cyril and Methodius knowingly came up with several letters for some, at first glance, the same sounds. The old Slavs had a difference in speech. The simplest example for a modern person is that half of foreigners do not understand the difference between "sh" and "u". You look - what a beautiful spelling was with "yat", and decimal, etc.! And "b" after consonants at the end of words made our language unique! P.S. I think that only ignorant people can treat their language, the property of their people and their ancestors in this way! Ashamed!
Mikhail (08:25:59 09/16/2016):
They would study the history of the language and its modifications in Russian, give all the rules - even if it is cut down without forcing this memorization, those who are interested in themselves would go deeper and it is fashionable to organize such electives. Where are these teachers? From that Russian language who likes to learn?
Anna (19:34:15 11/14/2016):
Lord! Language is a living system that is constantly in motion. It is only natural that reforms take place. It enriches languages, makes them easier to understand. Our language is already complicated, and you, Mikhail, not understanding the specifics of teaching the Russian language at school, are trying to impose your a priori wrong opinion (from the point of view of linguistics): in no case should you "cut down" anything (especially the history of the language, historical grammar, Old Church Slavonic, etc.)! Otherwise, it will only scare away the children! Yes, some illustrations are acceptable (as small minute examples), but not a story about the system for the formation of certain grammar principles (the lesson will not be enough to explain at least one of them!). But after all, we all know how to teach and heal. That's what you should be ashamed of! And also to the question of the uniqueness of the language and human ignorance. Mainly, Random Guest, the ignorance of native speakers is manifested in their careless attitude towards it (which is massively observed here in the comments), and not in any way in the rational reform and simplification of a complex system. Without natural changes, the language will begin to "fail" and gradually "die", as it will become an inconvenient tool for communication. Many who have studied English and French will agree that the spelling system of these languages needs to be changed, otherwise it turns out that we write "Manchester" and read "Liverpool". It's a shame for "specialists of a wide profile", who in all areas will find where to insert their five kopecks.
Anastasia Yurievna (13:26:46 12/02/2017):
Language is a difficult science. The letters removed from the alphabet are needed so that the children would feel the language of their people. Now half of the words practically do not matter, and the letters Izhitsa, er should return to the alphabet. And in general, I think we need to start writing Cyrillic again as it was before.
Strunnikov Mikhail Evgenievich (09:10:21 03/17/2017):
For complete happiness, it is not enough to write these textbooks in pre-Petrine Cyrillic.
Svarog (21:50:11 20/03/2017):
Random Guest! No offense. I wanted to correct you. Cyril and Methodius did not come up with anything. They cut Bukovica from 49 beeches and left us 44, and then 43. So let's not praise them!
Strunnikov Mikhail Evgenievich (08:42:18 10/04/2017):
They, apparently, were afraid that the "pagan" Svarog (isn't Zevsych according to the father?) On forty-nine letters, he will earn a hernia. He could handle thirty-three. For the same purpose, the Wrights and Bleriot cut off one wing of the plane, which the "svarogs" bungled: otherwise, poor thing, he would get lost in the wings, like in three pines ... You can continue further, but why? Svarog Perunych will punish.
Dmitry (11:34:27 17/02/2019):
let's return of course, we will redo all the equipment - computers, etc. We are lagging behind the whole world in development (not in the brain) technologically. I read the article, it was interesting before, of course ... on this I think that whoever needs it, let them express their thoughts as they like! A matter of taste! and learn different alphabets.
Dmitry (11:41:10 17/02/2019):
In the direction of poets, rhymers, etc. These letters are like additional bonuses ... it's easier to convey a thought .. no barriers will interfere with real talent and these bonuses are not needed. From the "three" letters will write.
A. Kharitonov (09:50:52 01/05/2019):
How, after all, humanity is rapidly degrading! This is very noticeable if you compare the reviews of 2013-17 with the masterpiece of illiteracy and nonsense from Dmitry 2019.
podovinnikov nikita (19:13:31 15/09/2019):
podovinnikov nikita (19:14:54 09/15/2019):
The Russian alphabet has repeatedly changed over the centuries: some letters have sunk into time, gone out of use, others have been deleted by the decision of the Academy of Sciences and the decrees of the emperors. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, there were more letters in the Russian alphabet than now. Before the reform of 1917–1918, in addition to the 33 current letters, the alphabet included i (“and decimal”), ѣ (yat), ѳ (fita) and ѵ (izhitsa) and others. About which letter was considered a sign of difference between literate and illiterate, and why "fita" was called indecent, read the material SPB.AIF.RU.
Yat - Ѣ This letter was a real nightmare for schoolchildren for many years, as it was necessary to memorize the difficult rules for its use and a long list of words in which it was written. For this reason, at one time, 19th-century gymnasium students used the phrase “to learn to yat”, which meant “to learn something difficult well”
Compared to other letters crossed out of use, the yat stayed in the Russian alphabet for a long time. By the end of the 19th century, its pronunciation practically did not differ from the pronunciation of the vowel E (in most dialects - approx.). Despite this, yat could be found in books and documents until 1918, when another spelling reform took place.
For the first time, the Russian poet and philologist of the 18th century Vasily Trediakovsky proposed to abolish this letter. However, Mikhail Lomonosov entered into a controversy with him, who believed that "the letters E and Ѣ in common speech barely have a sensitive difference, which in reading is very clearly shared by the ear and requires corpulence in E, subtlety in Ѣ."
The fact that this letter is “a sign of difference between the literate and the illiterate” was said by the publicist Nikolai Grech to Emperor Nicholas I, who also considered abolishing it. At one time, Nicholas II also stood up to protect the yat. By his highest command, he mothballed the spelling reform project of 1911, developed by the Imperial Academy of Sciences.
But the Provisional Government did not intend to preserve such a literal "rudiment". In the summer of 1917, a spelling reform was announced, which was later supported by the Soviet government. As a result, in 1918, the press and office work were already transferred to a new spelling - without Ѣ.
By the way, yat can still be found in the Church Slavonic language.
The fate of this little-used letter is quite rich. She was removed and again returned to the ranks of the alphabet repeatedly. "Granddaughter" of the Greek letter "upsilon" in Russian was used to denote the vowel sound "i".
The first time it was crossed out as unnecessary by Peter I. In 1708, he introduced a simplified script for the Russian language, depriving it of a number of letters. He boldly replaced Izhitsu with I or B, depending on the pronunciation. True, it was banned for only two years: in 1710 the letter was restored. In 1735, at the same time when the “green” disappeared, it was again canceled for the next 23 years. A series of cancellations and restorations continued until the 19th century. By that time, in the alphabet, it most often stood in brackets as rarely used.
During the years of the revolution, it was possible to meet Izhitsa in the words “mѵro”, “snod” and “postas”. There are two versions of the final elimination of this letter. According to the first of them, it simply gradually fell out of use in the civil alphabet, along with words and texts on religious topics. According to the second, it was canceled along with the decimal і, yat and fita during the spelling reform of 1917-1918. This version is reflected in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
Omega - Ѡ One of the interesting letters that you will not find now in any alphabet that uses the civil Cyrillic alphabet.
In terms of sound in the Old Slavonic language, it did not differ from the usual letter O. Quite early, a tradition was developed to write through the omega combination from at the beginning of the word, while putting the letters on top of each other. It is curious that often the use of one or another of these letters was determined not only by aesthetic considerations, but also by free space in the line.
As for the Church Slavonic alphabet, omega has several forms there, which can be related to each other and to other letters in different ways. There are about 5 forms of omega inscriptions: regular, "wide", ligature "from", omega with a title, and omega with a great apostrophe. So, according to one of the rules, the “wide” omega is used for exclamation words “Oh!” and “Ole!”, while above it only in this case is the used superscript sign - the great apostrophe. According to another rule, the prepositions about and about and the corresponding prefixes are written through the usual omega.
During the introduction of the civil font, the omega was excluded, although the corresponding trial letters were made by order of Peter I.
Fita - Ѳ Thanks to Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, fita gained a reputation as the most indecent letter of the alphabet. In the poem “Dead Souls”, the landowner Nozdrev, having raged, calls the main character, the former collegiate adviser Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, a fetuk (fetyuk). The author explains this by the fact that "the word fetyuk, offensive to a man, comes from Ѳ, a letter considered by some to be indecent."
The fact is that in those years there was a playful saying "fita yes zhitsa, the rod is approaching the backside." Her humor consisted in the fact that the letter of the izhitsa, in its outline, looks like a bunch of rods, and the fita - on the buttocks.
Until the middle of the 17th century, Ѳ was read as f and was used as a variant of the letter F - firth. Interestingly, the rivalry between fita and fert has been traced for centuries. So, for example, in the 13th century, in birch bark letters, phyta is the only means of transmitting the sound f, but in the 14th-15th century the situation changes radically and the fort takes the first place in birch bark writing.
The reform of Peter I did not pass fitu. That's just in a positive way. First, he canceled the firth, leaving the fitu as the only way to express the sound "f". But three years later - in 1710 - the differences were again restored, as was the competition of letters.
Over time, "phyta" was used in a limited list of words of Greek origin - in those places where the letter "theta" (θ) was in Greek: Athens, Akathist, Timothy, Thoma, rhyme, etc.
The I was dotted by the spelling reform of 1917-1918. During these years, fita was finally abolished with its widespread replacement with F.
Zelo - S The twin of the Latin S - Russian "zelo" - was in use in Cyrillic in pre-Petrine times. It is no coincidence that these letters are similar in appearance: they have close Greek roots. The fact is that Latin originated from the well-known sigma (Σ), and the 8th letter of the Old Slavonic alphabet was born from the Greek ligature (combinations of letters - approx.) Stigma (Ϛ, ϛ). If the Greeks often pronounced "st", then the Slavs sounded like "dz".
Throughout history in Cyrillic "zelo" has had several forms. It is interesting that the sign in the form of S was used to denote the number 6, and a modified version of the letter Z, looking like a “crossed-out Z” was used in writing words.
The reform touched this letter in the 18th century. The civic font of Peter I indicated the letter Ѕ to represent the sound "z". For this reason, Z was abolished in 1708. But soon a second version of the font was released. In it, just Z returned to its place, thereby displacing S. The “green” was finally canceled in 1735 by the decision of the Academy of Sciences. Nevertheless, in Russian business documentation, the letter was preserved until the middle of the 18th century, disappearing only in the 1760s.
On October 10, 1918, a decree of the Council of People's Commissars and a resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the National Economy "On the withdrawal from circulation of the common letters of the Russian language" (i decimal, fita and yat) were adopted.
On October 10, 1918, a reform took place in Russia, as a result of which a new spelling was officially introduced, the website of the Presidential Library reports. The reform was discussed and prepared long before its practical implementation. So, in 1904, the spelling subcommittee at the Imperial Academy of Sciences, headed by A.A. Shakhmatov, issued a “Preliminary Communication”, and in 1911, at a special meeting of the organization, after the approval of the work of the commission, a resolution was passed: to develop in detail the main parts of the reform. The corresponding decree was published in 1912.
Since that time, single editions appeared, printed according to the new spelling. The reform was officially announced on (11) May 24, 1917 in the form of “Resolutions of the meeting on the issue of simplifying Russian spelling”, and (17) on May 30, on the basis of these materials, the Ministry of Public Education of the Provisional Government ordered the trustees of the districts to immediately reform Russian spelling; another circular came out (22 June) on 5 July.
However, the reform then began only at school, which was confirmed by a decree of the Soviet People's Commissariat of Education dated December 23, 1917, January 5, 1918. For the press and paperwork, only the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of October 10, 1918, published in Izvestia on October 13, became mandatory.
In accordance with the reform, the letters yat, fita, i (“and decimal”); instead of them should be used, respectively, e, f, and; the solid sign (ъ) at the end of words and parts of compound words was excluded, but remained as a separating sign (rise, adjutant).
A number of other changes were introduced regarding the rules for writing prefixes on z / s, as well as some endings. The reform did not say anything about the fate of the letter Izhitsa, which was rare and out of practical use even before 1917; in practice, after the reform, it also completely disappeared from the alphabet.
As a result, the reform reduced the number of spelling rules that had no support in pronunciation, for example, the difference in gender in the plural or the need to memorize a long list of words written with “yat” (moreover, there were disputes among linguists regarding the composition of this list, and various spelling guides contradicted in places each other).
The reform also led to some savings in writing and typographical typesetting, excluding Ъ at the end of words (according to the estimates of the writer L.V. Uspensky, the text in the new spelling becomes about 1/30 shorter).
However, most domestic linguists rejected this reform. Some believed that it impoverishes the language, others believed that it was not radical enough. The reform also aroused considerable resistance in society. The first steps towards the practical implementation of spelling changes took place after the revolution, which determined the sharply critical attitude towards it on the part of the political opponents of Bolshevism. That is why the innovations did not affect most of the publications printed in the territories controlled by the whites, and then in exile.
In recent decades, the issue of the spelling of the Russian language has again become relevant, primarily in connection with the revival of Orthodox culture, for which pre-revolutionary spelling has a sacred meaning.
To correctly write texts in the old orthography, you need to know not only which one to write from the letters denoting the same sound - and or i, f or ѳ, e or ѣ - and be able to place eps at the ends of words; but also to know a bunch of other things. For example, to distinguish the words “her” and “her”, “they” and “he”; end of th ( expensive, one, whom) and -ago/-iago ( separate, samago, bluego); know when to end with an e ( voiced and deaf), and when - I ( lowercase and uppercase).
But nevertheless, Lebedev was right that it is most difficult to learn when it is written ѣ (yat).
The correct use of the letter yat was available only to those who knew all such words by heart. Of course, there were all sorts of rules. For example: if you put the desired word in the plural with an emphasis on e and get e, then you don’t need to write it (oar - oars, broom - brooms).Knowing all the words by heart, perhaps, is impossible. Generally speaking, even a dictionary at hand will not save: the words there go in their initial form, and the letter e or ѣ can appear in a word only in some tricky forms: the end - at the end. Even if the spelling is in the root, and the single-root word was found in the dictionary, you should not forget that there are roots in which the spelling is not stable: dress, but clothes. In addition, the word can be written through e or ѣ, depending on the meaning: there and ѣ is, blue and blue.
To write a word correctly, you often need to understand its morphology.
I tried to compile a kind of "checklist", which will allow you to quickly check a significant part of the spellings for e and ѣ without referring to the dictionary.
Noun declension
The easiest thing to remember is that in the endings of indirect cases of nouns, the last letter is always written ѣ: table - about table.If we approach the issue formally, then ѣ is written:
- In the endings of the prepositional case of nouns of the first declension: stump - about the stump, custom - about the custom, field - about the field.
- In the endings of the dative and prepositional cases of nouns of the second declension: fish - fish - about fish.
In case endings of words, the so-called. the fourth declension (in -mya) ѣ is not written: time - time-eni, seed - seed-eni. Here the spelling does not fall on the last letter.
Noun suffixes
In noun suffixes, ѣ is never written:witness-tel-b, zhn-ets-b, barrel-enok, fire-ek-b, letter-ets-o, uncle-enk-a, time-echk-o, hut-enk-aYou need to be careful with this rule: not every suffix that occurs in a noun is noun suffix:
Your HolinessOn the other hand, this rule applies not only to nouns, because adjectives can also have these suffixes:
delight-tel-ny, Mash-enk-in
Adjectives
Adjective suffixes in which e is written: -ev- (cherry), -enny, -enniy (vital, morning), -evat- (reddish), -en-sky (presnensky).Adjectives in magnifying, diminutive and caressing forms end in -echonek, -eshenek, -ohonek, -oshenek, -evaty, -enkiy; in these parts ѣ is not written: small - malekhonek, wet - wet.
Adjectives in the comparative degree end in ѣе, ѣй, and in the superlative - in the most, most, most, most:
white - whiter - whitestIf one sound e is heard at the end of the comparative degree, then e is written: Words like more, me, used instead of full forms more, less, are excluded.
Adjectives in -ov, -ev, -yn, -in (and the same with the letter o instead of ъ) end in the prepositional case of the singular masculine and neuter in ѣ when they are used in the meaning of proper names: Ivanov - about Ivanov, Tsaritsyno - in Tsaritsyn.
Pronouns
Ѣ is written in the endings of personal pronouns I am, you, myself in the dative and prepositional cases:me, you, myselfAlso ѣ is written in pronouns:
about me, about you, about myself
- everything (and when declining: everyone, everything, everyone ...);
- all, all - only in the instrumental case: all (in the feminine form, “all”, even in the instrumental case, it is written e: all);
- tѣ (and when declining: tѣh, tѣm ...);
- oni (plural of she);
- that, that - in the instrumental case: tѣm;
- who, what, nobody, nothing - only in the instrumental case: who, what, nobody, nothing (unlike the genitive and dative cases: what, what, nothing, nothing);
- someone, something, some, some, a few.
In the pronoun "whose" in all forms, e is written.
Verbs, participles
Before the end of the indefinite mood, ѣ is written: to see, to hang. Exceptions: rub, shove, measure, stretch.Verbs with this ѣ retain it in all forms derived from the stem of the indefinite mood, including other parts of speech:
see, saw, seen, seen, visionIf such ѣ from the indefinite form is preserved in the 1st person of the present or future tense, then it is also preserved in the remaining persons of the singular and the plural, as well as in the imperative mood:
warm - warm,If the preceding consonant d or t in the past participle is replaced by zh or h, then the suffix н is attached with the vowel e:
warm, warm, warm
offend - offended, twirl - twirledIn the forms of the verb to be written e: I am; you are; he, she, it is; we are; you are (they, he are).
In the verb ѣst (in the sense of eating food) it is written ѣ: I ѣm; you eat; he, she, it is; we eat; you eat; they, they eat. The word ѣda is also written with ѣ.
It can be seen here that in the verb ending -te of the second person plural, e is written: you read, share, dress. The same is in the imperative mood: read, share, dress.
Participles of the middle gender have the ending -her: reading-her, dividing-her, dressing-her-sya; reading it, sharing it, dressing it. In the passive form, the ending -th appears: read-th, read-th.
numerals
Ѣ is written in feminine numerals: two, both, one. At the same time, the letter ѣ is preserved when words are changed by cases: both, one. Also: twelve, two hundred.Ѣ and ё
In general, if when changing a word, where e was heard, ё is heard, ѣ is not written - Lebedev mentioned this rule in his paragraph. There are many exceptions to this rule:nests, stars, bear, saddle, bent, sweep, vdzhka, veshka, found, blossomed, yawn, put on, imprinted.I note, at the same time, that the old rules regarding the letter ё were stricter than modern ones, and sounded like this: “Where [yo] is heard, one should write e.” In the case of the words “all” and “all”, there was not even any discrepancy: in the word where e is heard, the letter ѣ was written.
True, in the book of 1901 that fell into my hands, the letter e was nevertheless printed in proper names: Goethe, Koerner.
Other vowel changes
In addition to checking for the occurrence of ё in other forms of the word, there are other checks.It is written e if, when changing the word:
- the sound drops out / appears: father - father, merchant - merchant, take - take;
- the sound is reduced to b: sick - sick, animal - animal;
- the sound is reduced to th: loan - loan, taiga - taiga;
- the sound turns into and: shine - shine, die - die.
The alternation of e and ѣ is observed in the following cases: dress - clothes, put on - hope, adverb - saying.
Consonants followed by e
After the consonants g, k, x, w, h, w, u in the roots words are written e: tin, wool. The exception is the word fuck.conclusions
If you systematize all the rules about the letter ѣ, then they cease to seem quite unbearably complex. Some of these rules, for example, about prepositional endings of nouns or degrees of comparison of adjectives, are extremely simple, and are remembered from the first time.This allows you not to wonder about the correct spelling in a significant part of the cases.
By the way, it is not harmful to know that “yat” is a masculine word, that is, yat is he, not she.
In January 2018, the 100th anniversary of the Russian language reform was celebrated. Exactly a century ago, People's Commissar Lunacharsky approved a decree on the introduction of an updated spelling, and the letter "er" or "b" lost its privileged status. But before that, the letter could rightly be called the most popular in the Russian alphabet - it was attributed to all words that ended in a consonant.
“Fur coats were thrown off not only by the boyars ...”
The letter has long lost its meaning when written at the end of words and only took up space on paper. Once "ъ" had several functions. It was used as a word separator, similar to a space. In the distant past, the Russian language did not have closed syllables at the end of words, and this was against the rules and "er" was written in order not to break them.
In Church Slavonic, voiced consonants, which ended in many words, "er" did not make them more deaf. At the end of nouns, "b", indicated that they belong to the masculine gender. Over time, these functions were lost, but the spelling was preserved.
An interesting fact: the letter "er" was called "loafer" and "loafer".
In total, two reforms were carried out in the Russian alphabet aimed at changing it. The first changed the spelling by decree of Peter I. She set herself the task of simplifying the alphabet of the Russian language. It was then that the letters became uppercase and lowercase, some of them changed their style, the civil alphabet appeared.
As a result of that innovation, five letters disappeared. All this was done so that the wider masses of people could master the skill of reading and writing. Lomonosov wrote on this occasion that at that time not only the boyars threw off their fur coats, meaning the Old Slavonic letter.
Yat, Izhitsa, fita and er
The next reform took place in 1918. It was thanks to her that the spelling and pronunciation of some words changed, and were also removed from everyday life: yat, izhitsa, fita and er, or, as we would write now, er. As a result of the transformation, the alphabet was born, replacing the alphabet. The first Constitution of the USSR in 1924 came out not with solid characters in the text, but with apostrophes. Books before the beginning of the thirties also came out without "b".
Inexpensive typewriters were then produced without this sign, and therefore typewritten texts were full of apostrophes for a long time. “b” was canceled when writing not only at the end, but also in the middle of some words, such as “two-yard”, that is, earlier it was placed not only before an iotized vowel, as it is now: adjutant, courier, announcement, leaving behind the separating function of a solid sign.
Interesting fact: "Russian emigrants used the old spelling before 1950."
The fact that this letter is used too often when writing was noticed long before the innovations. It took eight percent of the time to print it on paper, in monetary terms it cost the Russian treasury four hundred thousand rubles a year, that is, it was the most expensive and it was not readable.
To better understand the scale, we can give the following example: in the old edition of War and Peace, which had 2080 pages, 115,000 of these unpronounceable signs were printed. Putting them together would make a 70-page brochure! Now multiply that by the entire circulation, which was 10,000 copies. It turns out that the workers of the printing house out of the hundred days spent on the release of this book, three and a half days were wasted. And this is just one book. And if you imagine how much paper was wasted.
Spending letter
Because of this, it was not used in Tsarist Russia on the telegraph, and even some books were printed without "er". The idea of modification did not belong to the Soviet government. In 1904, leading linguists were brought together by the Imperial Academy to revise spelling rules. The spelling commission proposed to remove er, i, yat, fita and izhitsa. Something prevented the implementation of this project, submitted for approval in 1912.
In May 1917, Kerensky ordered the introduction of these changes, but the Provisional Government did not find it possible to implement them. In 1918, the Bolshevik government by decree brought the progressive reforms to fruition and removed the extra letters from the printing sets. The White Guard did not recognize this reform and wrote with Izhitsa and er.
An interesting fact: Now "b" is used extremely rarely, in about 0.02% (rare letters "e", "c", "u" 0.2% each, "f" - 0.1%).
After the letters "b" were withdrawn from printing houses, there was nothing to print a dividing solid sign. Then they began to replace it with an apostrophe: "unification - unification." This spelling was regarded by many as a component of innovation, but this was not the case. The new spelling made it possible to more effectively combat illiteracy in the country, it became simpler and more understandable.
The apostrophe was used much earlier. In Church Slavonic writing, he was called "erok". It was put instead of "ъ" after multi-letter prepositions or prefixes. After single-letter ones, full-fledged "er" were written. In the dashing 90s, newly-minted businessmen began to open firms and companies, in the names of which they “entered” er to give weight and solidity. Even some literary and online publications could not resist the temptation to return to the origins of Russian grammar and ascribe to themselves an extra hard sign, an example of this is Kommersant.
