The Russian language is spread all over the world. By the way, it is the most widespread among all the languages of the Slavic group. It is spoken by about 258 million people. Weighty, isn't it? The history of the Russian language is truly rich and unique. It spans a thousand years and boasts significant milestones.
In today's article, let us guide you through the corners of the history of the great and mighty Russian language.
Chronology of the development of the Russian language
Ancient Slavic languages
Scholars of philology call the ancestor language the Proto-Slavic language. It was spoken in the Central, Eastern and Southern parts of Europe. According to some sources, words such as "head" and "swamp" have been preserved for us since then. Time passed, and the tribes inhabiting this land developed new areas. New sounds, uncharacteristic dialects appeared. The language began to develop.
The VI-VII centuries are marked by the emergence of a common East Slavic language. You may have heard the phrase "Old Russian language". This is it. The language of worship and church writing.
Russian language in the period of Polish-Lithuanian conquests
XIII century and the collapse of the Old Russian state. Some territories are conquered by Mongol-Tatars, the state breaks up into principalities, fierce battles are fought with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for territories. The period when from the Asian invaders in the Russian language come such words as "deniga", "zagolustye", "gelding". At the end of the XIV-beginning of the XV centuries, three main ethno-linguistic groups emerged from the Old Russian language: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. The first is spoken in the northwest, the other two in the western and southern part of the principalities.
The unified Russian state with the center in Moscow emerges at the end of the XV century. It is characteristic that during this period the dialects of the population are determined. Thus, in Moscow "akali". That is, they pronounced the sound [a] in the stressless positions: m[a]l[a]k[o'], k[a]r[o']v[a]. In the north, on the contrary, "okali". This peculiarity has been preserved to this day.
In this century the language of the church is still Church Slavonic. While words denoting offices and ranks appear in common usage: "sovereign", "zemsky".
Development of the Russian language under Peter the Great
The first All-Russian Emperor Peter the Great carried out a significant reform in improving the Russian alphabet. A civil script appears, which simplifies the use of the language for citizens. Church Slavonic remains for the church. The reform affected the number and spelling of letters. Many letters in the Cyrillic alphabet were doubles. They were essential for worship services, but inappropriate for ordinary people.
History of Russian writing
It is no secret that the history of the Russian alphabet begins with brothers from Thessaloniki (now Greece) Cyril and Methodius. The dialect of this city formed the basis of Russian writing. It is a well-known fact: on behalf of the Byzantine emperor, the brothers brought the first church books to Great Moravia, and then the books spread throughout the southern and eastern parts of Europe.
The first books in Old Slavonic appeared after the adoption of Christianity, in the 10th century. In Russia such a term as bilingualism appears. Church books are written in Old Slavonic, and services are conducted in it. Old Russian is the language of governmental orders and household. Gradually words from Old Russian begin to penetrate into Old Slavonic. No more than the human factor. Scribes copying books included familiar everyday words. This is how the Church Slavonic language was born. Services are still conducted in it today.
Contribution of M. V. Lomonosov to the development of the Russian language
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov, a great scientist in physics, chemistry, and history, made a significant contribution to the development of the modern Russian language. His scientific work "Russian Grammar" in 1755 became the first fundamental guide to the study of the Russian language for ordinary people. Lomonosov approved the norms of use of Russian words, the rules of their spelling and relegated to the category of archaisms that were no longer used. He parsed orthography, defined parts of speech, verb tenses, and parsed the case forms of the language.
The 18th century is still the century of the Church Slavonic language for services and church books. Russian is the language of everyday people. Lomonosov's poetry combines both these languages into a single whole. Here Church Slavonic is a high language, denoting higher matters. The Russian language is meant to describe everyday situations, objects and phenomena.
Interesting facts from the history of the Russian language
- There used to be not six, but thirteen cases in the Russian language.
- Before Peter the Great, all numbers were written in letters.
- The Old Slavonic language had a dual number. In addition to singular and plural, there was dual number, which denoted identical objects.
- Until the sixteenth century, grammar was recognized as heresy. Its study was "anti-spiritual".
- Absolutely all F-words are borrowed.
The Russian language is still developing. New rules and words appear. Most of the borrowings come from English: deadline, file, show, basketball and many, many others.
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