Romanian Cyrillic alphabet

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Romanian Cyrillic
Type Alphabet
Spoken languages Romanian
Time period 14th–19th centuries
Parent systems Phoenician alphabet
 → Greek alphabet
  → Glagolitic alphabet
   → Cyrillic
    → Romanian Cyrillic
Sister systems Moldovan alphabet
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Romanian Cyrillic alphabet was used to write Romanian language before 1860–1862, when it was officially replaced by a Latin-based alphabet, although Cyrillic remained in occasional use until circa 1920. It is not the same as the Russian-based Moldovan alphabet used in Moldavian ASSR since 1926, and then in the Moldavian SSR between 1940 and 1989.

Between its discarding and the full adoption of the Latin alphabet, a so-called transitional alphabet, was in place for a few years (it combined Cyrillic and Latin letters, and included some of the Latin letters with diacritics which came to be used in Romanian spelling).

[edit] Table of correspondence

Letter Numerical
Value		 Romanian
Latin
Equivalent		 Transitional
Alphabet		 Phoneme Name in
Romanian[1]
А а 1 a A a /a/ Az
Б Б b Б Б /b/ Buche
В в 2 v В в /v/ Vede
Г г 3 g, gh G g /g/ Glagol
Д д 4 d D d /d/ Dobru
Є є, Е e[2] 5 e E e /e/ Est
Ж ж j Ж ж /ʒ/ Juvete
Ѕ ѕ 6 dz Ḑ ḑ /dz/ Zalu
З з 7 z Z z /z/ Zemle
И и 8 i I i /i/ Ije
Й й[3] i Ĭ ĭ /j/, /ʲ/
І і[4] 10 i I i /i/ I
К к 20 c, ch K k /k/ Kaku
Л л 30 l L l /l/ Liude
М м 40 m M m /m/ Mislete
N N 50 n N n /n/ Naş
Ѻ Ѻ, О o[2] 70 o O o /o̯/ On
П п 80 p П п /p/ Pocoi
Р р 100 r Р р /r/ Râţă
С с 200 s S s /s/ Slovă
Т т 300 t T t /t/ Tferdu
Ѹ ѹ, ОУ оу[2] 400 u У Ȣ /u/ Upsilon
Ѹ Ȣ, У Ȣ[2] u У Ȣ /u/ Ucu
Ф ф 500 f F f /f/ Fârta
Х х 600 h Х х /h/ Heru
Ѡ ѡ[5] 800 o O o /o/ Omega
Щ щ şt Щ щ /ʃt/ Ştea
Ц ц 900 ţ Ц ц /ʦ/ Ţi
Ч ч 90 c (before e, i) Ч ч /ʧ/ Cervu
Ш ш ş Ш ш /ʃ/ Şa
Ъ ъ ă, ŭ[6] Ъ ъ /ə/ Ier
Ы ы â, î, ĭ, ŭ[6] Î î /ɨ/ Ieri
Ь ь ă, ŭ, ĭ[6] — —
Ѣ ѣ ea Ea ea /æ/ Eati(u)
Ю ю iu Iɣ iɣ Ĭɣ ĭɣ /ju/ Io / Iu
Ѩ ѩ, IA[2] ia Ia ia /ja/ ia
Ѥ ѥ, IE[2] ie Ie ie /je/
Ѧ ѧ ĭa, ea[6] Ia ia, Ea ea /ja/, /æ/ Ia
Ѫ ѫ î Î î /ɨ/
Ѯ ѯ[7] 60 x Ks ks /ks/ Csi
Ѱ ѱ[7] 700 ps Пs пs /ps/ Psi
Ѳ ѳ[7] 9 th, ft T t, Ft ft /t/ and approx. /θ/ Thita
Ѵ ѵ[7] 400 i, u I i; У ɣ /i/, /y/, /v/
↑ ↑ în îm În în Îm îm /ɨn/, /ɨm/ În
Џ џ g (before e, i) Џ џ /ʤ/ Gea

Usual letter formats and Romanian equivalents

The oldest surviving document in Romanian: Neacşu's Letter, a trader from Câmpulung, sent to the mayor of Braşov (1521)

The Lord's Prayer, in an 1850s religious document

Transitional alphabet (fragment of Dimitrie Bolintineanu's Călătorii pe Dunăre şi în Bulgaria, 1858)

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ According to Costache Negruzzi, "Cum am învăţat româneşte", first published in Curier de Ambe Sexe, I, nr. 22, p.337–343
  2. ^ a b c d e f Initial vs. non-initial shapes: Є/Е, Ѻ/О, Ѹ/У, IA/Ѧ.
  3. ^ Й is hardly a separate letter of the alphabet; the letters Ю, Ȣ and Ѡ also accept a brevity sign.
  4. ^ In loanwords of Greek origin (or ones adopted through the Greek language), letters И and І correspond to eta and iota, respectively. In the words of Romanian origin and in Slavic loanwords, their usage follows pre-1917 Russian rules, namely, І before vowels, otherwise И.
  5. ^ The distinction of Ѡ and О is present not only in loanwords, but in Romanian words as well.
  6. ^ a b c d Letters ĭ and ŭ represent a barely spoken/heard i or u.
  7. ^ a b c d Letters Ѯ, Ѱ, Ѳ and Ѵ are used for copying Greek spelling of loanwords (especially for names and toponyms).
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