The History of Cyrillic

The Cyrillic script is one of the most widely used writing systems in the world, with around 250 million people living in countries that use Cyrillic. Examining the history of this script reveals some interesting linguistic insights about medieval Eastern Europe.

The Cyrillic script owes much inspiration to the Glagolitic script. The Glagolitic script was created by a pair of Greek brothers, Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius. In 863, they were sent by the Byzantine Emperor to convert the West Slavs to Christianity. To achieve this goal, the brothers translated liturgical books to the Slavic language, and Saint Cyril developed the Glagolitic script to go along with the language. The brothers and their students were eventually forced to move to the First Bulgarian Empire in 885, as the Pope issued a restriction on the spreading of Christianity in languages other than Latin and Greek. There, students of Cyril and Methodius founded the Preslav Literary School, the birthplace of Cyrillic.

At Preslav, students of Cyril and Methodius, such as the Saints Naum, Clement, Angelar, and Sava worked to develop a script that was more practical for religious purposes. They derived the script from Greek letters and incorporated Glagolitic letters for sounds not found in Greek. The name "Cyrillic" was given to the new writing system, paying homage to the teacher of the creators of the script. The Cyrillic script spread rapidly through the lands of southeast Europe, under the control of the First Bulgarian Empire. This is owed to the writing system's Greek basis, for at the time, the Greek Byzantine Empire held powerful influence in the area. Additionally, the adaptability of Cyrillic made it very popular among the Slavic people of Eastern Europe.

Throughout its long history, the Cyrillic script has undergone vast changes, and there are great variations in the script across the countries it is used in. Interestingly enough, the Church Slavonic language used in Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches remains extremely similar to the original Cyrillic script written in Preslav.