Bulgarian Alphabet: Follow the Transition From Glagolitic to Cyrillic
Source: Canva
The ancient Bulgarians used a system of signs and symbols called the "Bulgarian runic script" for their needs in construction, pottery, and other areas of their economic life.
Most of the signs were linear-geometric.
At the beginning of the 9th century, the brothers Cyril and Methodius developed the Glagolitic alphabet - a completely original graphic system in which each letter corresponds to a single sound.
Source: Canva
It was mainly used for state and religious documents and books, to spread Christianity to the Slavic people in Great Moravia (today's Czech Republic).
Glagolitic letters:
Source: Wikimedia
The name Glagolitic comes from the word glagol, meaning "word" (this is also the name of the letter G). Since glagolati means to speak (говоря), Glagolitic is poetically called:
"Тhe signs that speak"
After the death of Methodius (Cyril had died earlier) the educational work of the two brothers was destroyed, and their five disciples, who were supporting their mission, were expelled.
The Bulgarian ruler Boris-Mikhail invited the students of Methodius to settle in Bulgaria and assigned them to teach the next priests in the Old Bulgarian language.
Kliment Ohridski, one of the students, developed a simpler and more convenient Glagolitic font – the Cyrillic (though there are some discussions about whether it was him or not).
Source: Wikimedia
Gradually, the Glagolitic alphabet was replaced by the Cyrillic alphabet, created at the beginning of the 10th century in the Preslav School of Literature (Preslav is a city in Bulgaria that keeps this name even today).
For a long time, the two alphabets were used side by side, but towards the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th century, the easier-to-write Cyrillic replaced the Glagolitic.
Among the earliest written monuments in Cyrillic is from 921.
Although it also contains Greek letters, it follows the Glagolitic model and conforms to the most perfect writing principle, according to which each sound corresponds to a separate letter.
Cyrillic is the third official alphabet of the European Union. Along with the accession of Bulgaria to the EU in 2007, Bulgarian was adopted as the official language of the EU and Cyrillic as the third official alphabet after the Latin and Greek alphabets.
May 24th is the official holiday of letters in Bulgaria – a deeply respected and loved by the Bulgarians day.
Nowadays, the Cyrillic alphabet is widespread both among the southern and eastern Slavic and non-Slavic people.
Cyrillic is used in Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, etc.
BULGARIAN ALPHABET - transliteration of Modern Bulgarian Cyrillic with Latin
Source: Reneta - OLS Community Manager
Reneta, OLS Community Manager – Bulgarian
Reneta, OLS Community Manager – Bulgarian