Foppery on the old rules of Russian spelling. "Ъ" and "ѣ" as signs of the elite. Foppishness on the old rules of Russian spelling Food with a hard sign

The famous Soviet-era linguist Lev Uspensky calls it the most expensive letter in the world. In his work on the origin of words, one can see how he relates to it. In his words, “she absolutely does nothing, helps nothing, expresses nothing.” A pertinent question arises: how did the letter Ъ appear in the Russian language, and what role did its creators assign to it?

The history of the appearance of the letter Ъ

The authorship of the first Russian alphabet is attributed to Cyril and Mythodius. The so-called Cyrillic alphabet, which was based on Greek language, appeared in 863 after the birth of Christ. In their alphabet, the hard sign was number 29 and sounded like ER. (before the reform of 1917-1918 - 27th in a row). The letter Ъ was a short semi-vowel sound without pronunciation. It was placed at the end of a word after a hard consonant.

What then is the meaning of this letter? There are two tractable versions of this explanation.

The first option concerned the Old Church Slavonic writing. Since the familiar spaces at that time simply did not exist, it was she who helped to correctly divide the line into words. As an example: “to God’s chosen king.”

The second explanation is associated with the Church Slavonic pronunciation of words. It was ER that did not muffle the voiced consonant when reading a word, as we see in modern Russian.

We pronounce the words flu and mushroom, which have different meanings, the same way – (flu). There was no such sound phonetics in the Old Church Slavonic language. All words were both written and pronounced. For example: slave, friend, bread. This was explained by the fact that the division of syllables in the Old Church Slavonic language was subject to one law, which sounded like this:

“In the Old Church Slavonic language, the ending of a word cannot have consonants. Otherwise the syllable will be closed. What cannot happen according to this law.”

In view of the above, we decided to assign ERb (Ъ) at the end of words where there are consonants. So it turns out: Deli, Tavern, Pawnshop or Address.

In addition to the above two reasons, there is also a third. It turns out that the letter Ъ was used to denote the masculine gender. For example, in nouns: Alexander, wizard, forehead. They also inserted it into verbs, for example: put, sat, (past tense masculine).

Over time, the letter Ъ performed the function of a word separator less and less often. But the “useless” Kommersant at the end of the words still held its position. According to the aforementioned linguist L.V. Uspensky. this small “squiggle” could take up up to 4% of the entire text. And these are millions and millions of pages every year.

18th century reforms

Anyone who believes that the Bolsheviks fired a control shot at the “head” of the ill-fated letter Kommersant and thereby cleansed the Russian language of church prejudices is a little mistaken. The Bolsheviks simply “finished off” her in 1917. It all started much earlier!

Peter himself thought about language reform, especially about Russian writing. An experimenter in life, Peter had long dreamed of inhaling new life in "decrepit" Old Slavonic language. Unfortunately, his plans only remained plans. But the fact that he got this issue off the ground is his merit.

The reforms that Peter began from 1708 to 1710 primarily affected the church script. The filigree “squiggles” of church letters were replaced by common civilian ones. Letters such as “Omega”, “Psi” or “Yusy” have disappeared into oblivion. The familiar letters E and Z appeared.

IN Russian Academy Scientists began to think about the rationality of using certain letters. So the idea of ​​​​excluding “Izhitsy” from the alphabet arose among academicians already in 1735. And in one of the printing publications of the same academy, a few years later an article was published without the notorious letter B at the end.

Control shot for the letter Ъ

In 1917, there were two shots - one on the cruiser Aurora, the other at the Academy of Sciences. Some people believe that the reform of Russian writing is the merit of the Bolsheviks exclusively. But historical documents confirm that in this matter, tsarist Russia also moved forward.

In the first years of the 20th century, Moscow and Kazan linguists were already talking about the reform of the Russian language. 1904 was the first step in this direction. A special commission was created at the Academy of Sciences, the purpose of which was to simplify the Russian language. One of the questions at the commission was the notorious letter B. Then the Russian alphabet lost “Fita” and “Yat”. New spelling rules were introduced in 1912, but, unfortunately, they were never censored then.

Thunder struck on December 23, 1917 (01/05/18). On this day, People's Commissar of Education Lunacharsky A.V. signed a decree on the transition to a new spelling. The letter Kommersant, as a symbol of resistance to the Bolsheviks, breathed its last.

In order to speed up the funeral of everything that was associated with the “tsarist regime,” on November 4, 1918, the Bolsheviks issued a decree on the removal of the matrix and letters of the letter Kommersant from printing houses. As a result of this, a spelling miscarriage of the Bolsheviks appeared - the apostrophe. The function of the separator was now played by a comma (lifting, moving).

One era has ended and another has begun. Who would have thought that the small letter B would become so big and important in the confrontation between two worlds, white and red, old and new, before the shot and after!

But the letter Ъ remained. It remains simply as the 28th letter of the alphabet. In modern Russian it plays a different role. But that's a completely different story.

LETTER J: PRESENT AND PAST

Yuzhannikov Vladislav

5 A class, MBOU "Secondary School No. 31"

Kanifatova Alena Alexandrovna

scientific supervisor, teacher of Russian language and literature,Novokuznetsk

There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet. Most of these letters have their own sound designation, and sometimes not one, but two. So, for example, in the word CONFERENCE, the letter E is present in both the second and third syllables, but in the second syllable in a weak position without stress, we pronounce the vowel sound I, and in the third syllable, with stress, the sound E. A special place among all letters is occupied by soft and solid signs, since they do not produce sounds. These letters have their own special roles in words. So we know that the letter b (soft sign) serves to indicate the softness of a consonant sound (salt, coat), and also performs a separate function (blizzard, ants). In contrast to this letter, the role of the solid sign is assigned a small one. It serves as a separation. The only letters that can be preceded by a hard sign are E, Ё, Yu and I (rasЪ e roam, sb e mka, raz I remove, lift Yu bnik). However, Lately In Russia, attempts are being made to use this letter for other purposes.

More and more often on the streets of our city we see signs with the names of some institutions, at the end of which there is a solid sign. For example, real estate agencies “Variant”, “Adres”, store “Lombard”, coffee “Petr”, magazine “Gatronom”, taxi “Yamshchik”, etc.

In this regard, the problem of this work is to find out: why in modern proper names the letter Ъ appears at the end of the names, what is the history of this letter.

The purpose of this study: trace the use of the letter Ъ in modern names from the point of view of its validity and significance.

In order to introduce children to letters, in modern alphabet books, for each letter, to make it easier for the child, not only a drawing, but also a short poem is offered. What can you write about a solid sign? Let's look through a few of these books.

1. We know that there is both an entrance and an exit,

There is a rise, and there is an entrance,

We can't live without them,

Very important... (firm sign)

2. Announces Kommersant:

The beast is my enemy and the bird is my enemy!

I'd rather hide in the entrance

And no one will eat me!

3. I can’t find it in any way

There is a solid sign at the zoo.

I don't know these animals.

Help me, friends!

In the poem by Danish K. about the solid sign, the stanza caught my attention:

Used to be an important person

He was held in high esteem under the king,

He's in almost every word

I visited and served.

The question arises: what service did the solid sign perform previously?

Having turned to various sources, I found three main functions of this letter in the Old Russian language.

Thus, in the first Russian alphabet, created by the enlighteners, the brothers Cyril and Methodius, the letter Ъ (hard sign) was called EP and was the 29th letter, denoting an ultra-short vowel sound that is not pronounced. However, in writing, the use of this unpronounceable letter was quite useful: it helped to correctly break the line into words (before moving on to using spaces): For example: to God's chosen king.

But it should be noted that this hypothesis in no way justifies the appearance of this letter in modern names. Since, according to my observations, this sign is found in proper names consisting of only one word (“Admiral”, “Tavern”, “Gastronom”). In addition, as already mentioned, this letter played the role of an ultra-short vowel sound. In Russian, the vowel sound is the syllable-forming sound, so there are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels: aria(3 syllables), lighthouse(2 syllables), flight(1 syllable). Syllables can be open (end with a vowel) or closed (end with a consonant). For example, in the word ko-ro-na all syllables are open, but in the word ar-buz both syllables are closed.

A characteristic feature of syllable division in the Old Russian language was that it obeyed the law of the open syllable, as a result of which all syllables were open, that is, they ended in a vowel sound. The law of the open syllable determined the fact that in the Old Russian language there could not be consonants at the end of the word, since in this case the syllable would be closed. Therefore, at the end of words ending in consonants they wrote b (er).

Let us trace this on the material under study. “Traktir”, coffee “Admiral”, store “Lombard”, coffee “Peter”, magazine “Gastronom”, taxi “Yamshchik”, real estate agencies “Variant” and “Adres”... Indeed, in all cases this letter is written at the end of the word , after a consonant sound, in this case the modern closed syllable turns into an open one.

The famous Russian linguist Lev Vasilyevich Uspensky (1900-1978) in his book “A Word about Words” calls the hard sign “the most expensive letter in the world.” Since, in his opinion, “he did not help anything, did not express anything, did absolutely nothing.” And in some texts this sign was used more often than other vowels. Let us trace this in an excerpt from the ancient Russian chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years.”

In total, this text contains 144 words, which account for 31 er; practically, this sign is written in every fourth word, and in some words it appears twice. For example: asked, entered, sorcerer.

The Soviet government also noticed the meaningless use of this sign, which greatly increased the text and, accordingly, printing costs. Therefore, according to the Decree “On the introduction of a new spelling” (1918), the letter Ъ (er) was excluded from the Russian alphabet. There is no longer anything to mean for the “dividing er” in the middle of words. They came up with a replacement for it: in its place they began to put an apostrophe (superscript comma) or quotation marks after the preceding letter. In August 1928, the government recognized the use of an apostrophe in the middle of a word instead of the letter “hard sign” as unusual for Russian grammar. In modern Russian spelling, Ъ (hard sign) is used only as a separator between a consonant and a vowel. Most often used at the junction of a prefix and a root (announcement, entrance), as well as in some borrowed words (adjutant, injection) and in two adjacent full (not abbreviated!) stems in difficult words(three-tier).

It should be noted that in the Old Russian language, in addition to two functions (space and syllable formation), the letter Ъ (er) had a third function - a masculine indicator. It was written after consonants at the end of nouns (Oleg, kudesnik, lob), in masculine past tense verbs (put, died), and also in short adjectives masculine (lob gol, prince is beautiful). When he disappeared from this position, the masculine gender began to be defined by a graphic zero in contrast to the feminine (book - table).

Does it fulfill this functionЪ (hard sign) in modern names? “Traktir”, coffee “Admiral”, store “Lombard”, coffee “Peter”, magazine “Gastronom”, taxi “Yamshchik”, real estate agencies “Variant” and “Adres”... Indeed, all these are masculine nouns.

Consequently, based on the material studied, the appearance of the letter Ъ (a hard sign) in the modern names of various institutions can be justified from the point of view of the history of this letter. Firstly, as a super-short vowel sound that converts a closed syllable into an open one. Secondly, in all these words the hard sign is also an indicator of the masculine gender, according to the laws of the Old Russian language.

But did the entrepreneurs who added this letter to the names of their companies know these facts? I addressed this question to entrepreneurs and employees of these institutions. A total of 14 people were interviewed. Of these, only 3 people know that this was once a vowel letter, 12 people know that this letter was written at the end of masculine nouns. When asked what they were guided by when adding Ъ (hard sign) after hard consonants, they unanimously answered that these are commercial ploys that serve to create a certain image of a product or institution, which is intended to emphasize the good quality of the enterprise, using a stable idea: “pre-revolutionary (old) " = "good".

In our city there are a number of stores whose names may have a solid sign at the end of the word: “Cosmos”, “Sapphire”, “Stimul”, “Comfort”, “Zenith”, “Visit”, “Phoenix”, “Topaz” . I hope that in the future, if entrepreneurs want to add the letter Ъ (firm sign) to the names of their companies and institutions, this will not be just a tribute to fashion or a commercial move, but a historically based decision.

Bibliography:

1. Gorshkov A.I. All the richness, strength and flexibility of our language. A.S. Pushkin in the history of the Russian language: A book for extracurricular reading students - M.: Education, 1993. - 176 p.: ill. - ISBN5-09-003452-4.
2. Gorbanevsky M.V. In the world of names and titles. - M.: Knowledge, 1983. - 192 p.
3. Russian language. Theoretical description. Tutorial for students of the specialty “Russian language and literature” Kuibyshev, 2012: pp. 35-38
4. Uspensky L.. A word about words. Essays on language, Children's literature, 1971 http://royallib.ru
5. [Electronic resource]. Access mode: URL: http://www.grafomanam.
6. [Electronic resource]. Access mode: URL: http://ja-rastu.ru/poeme/azbuka/
7. [Electronic resource]. Access mode: URL: http://ru.wikipedia
8. [Electronic resource]. Access mode: URL:

98 years ago, Russian spelling underwent significant changes: the letters “fita” (Ѳ), “and decimal” (I) and the now fashionable “yat” (ѣ) were deleted from the alphabet. Also, the proletarian reform changed the rules for using the hard sign or, as it was called under the emperor, “er”: the unpronounceable letter no longer needed to be placed at the end of words ending in a consonant: there was no point. However, as history has shown, entrepreneurs were and still are not in agreement with innovations.

According to SPARK-Interfax, more than 50 Russian companies used the word “yat” in their names, and another 219 organizations used a hard sign. In the overwhelming majority of cases, “ъ” and “ѣ” are used in trade (both retail and wholesale), and a little less often in the names of construction and law firms. As experts note, brands in the old style are an attempt to artificially instill history and traditions in a company.

The beer restaurant "Durdin", the restaurant "Cafe Pushkin", the bakery "Daily Bread", vodka "Ѣ", the newspaper "Kommersant", the mixed martial arts club "R.O.D.Ъ", St. - St. Petersburg restaurant "Restaurant". And dozens of such examples can be given.

The BQB company, which was developing the Yat vodka brand (the company logo looks like the now unused letter “ѣ”), notes on its official website that Nicholas I refused during his reign (the first half of the 19th century. - Note Life) to abolish the unpronounceable letter, arguing that it is - "a sign of distinction between literate gentlemen and illiterate ones." And therefore, as the agency states, the advertised alcohol is “a product for literate gentlemen who understand real Russian vodka.”

And the head of the mixed martial arts club "R.O.D.B." Ivan Ivanov said that with a strong sign in the name of the organization he wanted to emphasize that everyone who comes to study will go to the end and achieve their goals.

When we came up with the name, we decided to rely on the most important root in the Russian language - “rod”. It is with him that the most precious thing a person has is connected: parents, homeland, for example. This is something you can fight for, something to become better for. We also wanted to show the firmness of our intentions and those who would come to us, so we also added “ъ,” says Ivanov.

Professor of the Russian Language Department of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University Elena Galinskaya, in turn, said that the letter “ѣ” was abolished because over time it became clear that it duplicates “e” in its sound.

At one time the sounds were different, but over time both letters sounded like “e”. The only difference was in the writing. Children in gymnasiums had to memorize a list of words (in rhymes) in which the letter “yat” was used. Therefore, we can say that only very literate people could use “ѣ”, says Galinskaya. - The hard sign in the 11th century was considered a vowel letter (that is, in the word “bread” after the sound “p” there was something similar to a short “s.” - Note Life), then it became clear that we needed to get rid of redundancy in spelling.

According to the professor, entrepreneurs who use “yat” or a hard sign at the end in company names are dudes.

It's also good if used correctly. For example, the bakery near “Park Kultury” used to (now removed) called itself “HL "Daily fuck" (bakery chain Le Pain Quotidien. - Note Life), but this is incorrect. If you use “yat”, then you must fully follow the old spelling rules. According to them, it was necessary to write “Daily Bread” correctly.

Le Pain Quotidien bakery could not be reached for immediate comment.

As a market source explained, the outdated letter in the name is used to attract the attention of an adult audience (over 40 years old).

These people often perceive “yat” or even a hard sign at the end of a word as a symbol, so to speak, of “soft dissidence.” IN Soviet time“yat” was often used by those who did not want to put up with the power of the proletarians. After all, a whole era has passed with the old spelling rules, says the interlocutor. - We also tried to bring ourselves closer to the entrepreneurs of the 19th century: Grigory Eliseev, Savva Morozov. What if our brand is just as old? We appealed to consumers' supermemory. Still, they knew how to use “yat” correctly in Tsarist Russia not all, this is really a letter for intelligent people.

Life, in turn, asked readers about what associations the letter “yat” and the hard sign after a consonant evoke. It turned out that some Russians immediately imagine texts in Church Slavonic, while others react completely negatively to “ѣ”, calling such naming bad taste.

It is worth noting that the fashion for the old spelling has reached social networks. For example, on VKontakte there are groups “Pre-revolutionary Soviet” (more than 50 thousand people subscribed to it) and “Ub hedgehog in your native language. My home and my fortress" (more than 3 thousand subscribers). And a number of members of the first public (it is open to everyone) not only read the posts of admins, written in the old style, but in the same manner they comment on the posts: "Really, gentlemen, this young lady is a wonderful siren. Other gentlemen would lay down half the world at her feet."This is both laughter and sin." And judging by the high calm (without any sarcasm) Russians try to communicate on the public page, some find such groups funny (here " new language", and therefore one can recall the “drowning effect”), while others, perhaps, really feel like part of a special intelligent stratum.

Member of the Guild of Marketers Nicholas Corot emphasized that the letter itself cannot bring anything to the business; it must be an organic addition to the brand legend.

A deliberate manifestation of the archaic (that is, antiquity. - Note Life) in the form of letters lost from the alphabet is not associated with monarchical tendencies in business or some kind of nostalgia. This is a visual sign of the connection between times. A pseudo-legend is being created that says that the brand survived the Soviet era, that it follows traditions,” explains Koro. - Also, the use of “yat” or a solid sign can be a full-fledged address to the imperial trend. And he is.

At the same time, the marketer noted that there is nothing special in the choice of “ъ” and “ѣ”. Sooner or later, the disappearing letters will be used by entrepreneurs.

A good example is the letter "e". It is no longer printed anywhere with dots. Outwardly today it is exactly the same as “e”, and therefore it will probably disappear soon. That’s why today there are brands that deliberately display “e” with dots. After all, on the one hand, this letter has a certain slang component (rapper), on the other - lexical, including obscene, connotations.

The head of the PR agency Nota Bene, Natalya Bulanova, emphasized that “out of the blue” no one introduces “yat” or a hard sign at the end into the name of their company.

The brand must match. This is a direct reference to old Russian traditions. And it doesn’t matter how old the company is (even three years, for example). She wants to show the consumer that she can be trusted,” says Bulanova. - And the Russian buyer is not tired of this. This is not to say that this phenomenon occurs all the time. This “trick” with the birth of a legend works because few people will bother and search on the Internet to find out how old the company is and whether it has a history. Purely visually, this makes you believe in quality when it comes to small purchases (sausage, for example). If a person buys a car or an apartment, then, of course, he will not believe in any fairy tales.