What each letter in Cyrillic stood for. Letter Slavic numbers

Hello. In this episode of the TranslatorsCafe.com channel we will talk about numbers. We will look at different number systems and classifications of numbers, and also discuss interesting facts about numbers. A number is an abstract mathematical concept denoting quantity. and European colonization. In Europe, Arabic numerals were first used in monasteries and later in secular society. and Europe until about the 14th century. They are still used in some cases, such as on watch dials. You can also find them in the names of the Pope. Roman numerals are also often used in the names of recurring events, such as the Olympic Games. The Roman numeral system uses the seven letters of the Roman alphabet to represent all possible combinations of numbers: The order in which the numbers are written in the Roman numeral system matters. A larger number to the left of a smaller one means that both numbers must be added. On the other hand, the smaller number to the left of the larger one should be subtracted from the larger number. For example, this number is eleven, and this is 9. This rule is not universal and only applies to numbers of type: IV (4), IX (9), XL (40), XC (90), CD (400) and CM (900). In some cases these rules are not followed and the numbers are written in a row, such as this number meaning 50. The inscription in Latin using Roman numerals on Admiralty Arch in London reads: In the tenth year of the reign of King Edward VII to Queen Victoria from grateful citizens, 1910 Many cultures used number systems similar to Roman and Arabic. They used the signs for one and five, but with a different arrangement to show that the meaning of these numbers was different. To get the value of a number, we add up all the numbers obtained above, that is, the values ​​of the numbers in each digit. The Arabic system is decimal, that is, with a base of 10. It uses ten symbols that can express all possible numbers. the only difference is that instead of 10 they use 2. When adding, both numbers are written one under the other, as in decimal addition. The rules are as follows: 0+0=0 1+0=1 1+1=10. In this case, 0 is written in the right digit and 1 is transferred to the next digit. Now let's try adding 1-1-1-1-1 and 1-0-1-1. When adding in a column from right to left, we get: 1+1=0, and the unit is transferred to the next digit 1+1+1=1, and the unit is transferred to the next digit 1+1=0, the unit is transferred to the next digit 1+1+1 =1, and again we transfer the unit to the next digit 1+1=10 That is, we get 1-0-1-0-1-0. Subtraction is similar to addition, but instead of carrying, on the contrary, they “take” one from the higher digits. Multiplication is also similar to decimal. these are: 3, 5 and 11. 2^57,885,161−1 is the largest prime number known as of February 2013. It contains 17,425,170 digits. Prime numbers are used in public key cryptosystems. This type of coding is used in encrypting electronic information in cases where it is necessary to ensure information security, for example, on the websites of online stores, electronic wallets and banks. Now let's talk about some interesting features of numbers. In China, they use a separate form of recording numbers for business and financial transactions. The usual hieroglyphs used to name numbers are too simple. They are easy to counterfeit or alter, changing their denomination if you add just a few touches to them. Therefore, special, more complex hieroglyphs are usually used on bank checks and other financial documents. In the languages ​​of countries where the decimal number system is adopted, words are still preserved that indicate that a system with a different base was previously used there. For example, in English the word “dozen” is still used to mean twelve. In many English-speaking countries, eggs, flour products, wine and flowers are counted and sold in dozens. And in the Khmer language there are words for counting fruits based on the base-20 system. In the West, as well as in many countries where Christianity is practiced, 13 is considered an unlucky number. Historians believe it is related to Christianity and Judaism. According to the Bible, exactly thirteen disciples of Jesus were present at the Last Supper, and the thirteenth, Judas, later betrayed Christ. The Vikings also had a belief that when thirteen people get together, one of them will definitely die in the next year., but also the numbers containing it. For example, often 4, 14, 24, and other similar numbers are missed in the numbering of floors and apartments. In China they also don't like the number 7, due to the fact that the seventh month in the Chinese calendar is the month of spirits. It is believed that during this month the border between the human world and the spirit world disappears, and spirits come to visit people. The number 9 is considered unlucky in Japan because it connotes the word "suffering." Unlucky number in Italy it is 17 because its spelling in Roman numerals can be rewritten as "VIXI" by reversing the order of the letters. Often this phrase was written on the graves of the ancient Romans and meant “I lived”, therefore it is associated with the end of life and with death. 666 is a well-known unlucky number, also called the “number of the beast” in the Bible. Some believe that the actual number of the beast is 616, but references to 666 are more common. Many believe that this number will designate the Antichrist, that is, the deputy of the devil. Therefore, this number is sometimes associated with the devil himself.

Dozens

Hundreds Thousands(~ Main features of writing numbers in Cyrillic It should be remembered that the letters of the Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet had not only a sound, but also a numerical value. In cases where it was necessary to indicate a number in written monuments, letters with additional superscripts were used. A sign was placed above the letter title), and on both sides there are dots.

For example: B- 2+ ; MÅ - 45; JÎÃ - 773; # ÄFÏÈ - 4588. Particular attention should be paid to the transmission of numbers in ancient texts from eleven to nineteen. The very form of these words suggests that units should be written first, and then tens: one -on the- from eleven to nineteen. The very form of these words suggests that units should be written first, and then tens: twenty (one in ten) from eleven to nineteen. The very form of these words suggests that units should be written first, and then tens: two

(two by ten) ...

nine (nine by ten):, Ш, m, b, ы, b, h, у, ", @, \, #, > had no numerical value, since they were absent in the Byzantine uncial.

Task 3. Establish what numerical value the following letters and combinations of Cyrillic letters had: A, B, I, ², KV, ME, B², Ȳ, RLD, # ARLD, # VFNV.

Exercise4. Translate an excerpt from the Zograf Gospel (XI century), pay attention to the transfer of numerical values ​​using counting words and Cyrillic letters:

Chlovhk eter bh rich. Even if your guardian was slandered, he was slandered and wasted, take him away. i invite and speak to him. What have I heard about you? Give me an answer about the appointment of the housekeeper. the steward of the house spoke to himself. Why did my lord take away the building of the house from me? I couldn't dig @. xl@pati shame@ s#///. wow, what's the matter? always removed from the building. pri@nt m# to your own houses. and calling one debtor to his master. The verb is pr'voumou. How many duties are you, master of yours? he also speaks rm mhr olha. he also spoke in other words. I will soon write n in the same way to another speech. You have a lot of duties. He also said to eat wheat bark. verb emou. accept your letter and write about .

I praise the lord domou ikonom of the unrighteous. hko m$$$$@drh create hko son this.

Phonetics Basic patterns of the Old Church Slavonic language

The main features of the structure of the syllable of the Old Church Slavonic language reflect the features of the Proto-Slavic syllable, which, according to most researchers, was the main phonetic unit along with the phoneme. Law of the open syllable

h-ti (grind)

Sound processes associated with the action of the open syllable law:

1) the disappearance of final consonants in the word form: st.-sl. guest, *gostis.

2) development of prosthetic consonants: Art.-Sl. otter, other ind. udráh.

5) change of diphthongs: st.-sl. dht# - doiti, kovati - kou\.

change in diphthong combinations: v.-sl. im# - name, klati - count\.

Law of syllabic synharmony assumes that the sounds in a syllable should be homogeneous in articulation, close in place of formation:

Sound processes associated with the action of the law of syllabic synharmonism:

1) palatalization of back-lingual consonants: st.-sl. soushiti, trotsi, about #zati.

2) change of consonant groups before front vowels: st.-sl. remi (*re kti), moshti (*mo gti), color (* kvě tъ).

3) combination of consonants with *j: (see table on page 15)

Task 5. Divide the given words into syllables, prove their compliance or non-compliance with the basic laws of the Proto-Slavic language:

resurrected, scratched, sent, liturgists", lawyer, genvar, Lord.

Task 6. Divide the words below into syllables, prove the presence or absence of smooth syllables in the words. Indicate the number of letters and sounds in each word, characterize them:

sorry, scream, cry (full), zrno, cry, long, zlt, blah, prv, worm, lie, cry, blood, lie, tear, tremble, drozst, lie, region, enmity.

Sample assignment: trag, blah. In order to prove the syllabic-forming nature of a sonorant smooth, it is necessary to select the appropriate word form of the Russian language. So, comparing the spelling of Art.-Sl. T ръ g and Russian. Top G, we observe a discrepancy in the order of the letters: the Old Slavonic combination -ръ- corresponds to the combination - op- in the Russian language (the vowel sounds before the smooth one), which indicates the syllabic nature of the smooth [r] in the Old Church Slavonic word trъгъ, the letter ъ in this case does not indicate a sound, but serves only as an indicator of the syllabicity of the smooth one and the boundary of the syllable - trъ-гъ. Thus, this word has 5 letters and 4 sounds. In word forms b l ha and blo Ha Old Church Slavonic and Russian languages ​​we observe the same order of letters (smooth + vowel: - lъ- and - lo-), which indicates the non-syllabic nature of the smooth [l] in the Old Slavonic word, the ability of the letter ъ to denote a sound and form the syllable - bl-ha. This word has 5 letters and 5 sounds.

Task 7. Comparing the words below, indicate in which modern Slavic languages smooth syllabic formations have been preserved:

other Russian Garlo, Czech hrdlo, Serbohorvian g``r lo, Polish. gardło; Russian death, Czech smrt; Russian bargaining, Czech trh, Serbohorvian t``r g; Russian wave, Czech vlna; Russian hump, Czech hrb, Slovenian grb; Russian wolf, Czech vlk, Serbohorv. wuk (from vlk), Polish. wilk.

The main prerequisite for all mathematical knowledge is numbering, which had different forms among different ancient peoples.

Apparently, all nations initially marked numbers with notches on sticks, which the Russians called tags. This method of recording debt obligations or taxes was used by the illiterate population of different countries. The stick had cuts corresponding to the amount of debt or tax. The stick was split in half: one half was left with the debtor or payer, the other was kept with the lender or in the treasury. When paying, both halves checked the folding.

With the advent of writing, numbers appeared to record numbers. At first these numbers resembled notches on sticks, then special signs appeared for some numbers, such as 5 and 10. At that time, almost all numberings were not positional, but similar to Roman numbering. However, several centuries before new era invented new way

recording numbers, in which the letters of the ordinary alphabet served as numbers.

In one of the Russian manuscripts of the 17th century we read the following: “...know this that there is a hundred and that there is a thousand, and that there is darkness, and that there is a legion, and that there is a leodr...”, “... a hundred is ten ten, and a thousand is ten hundred, and darkness is ten thousand, and a legion is ten ten, and a leoder is ten legions...” While in countries Western Europe used Roman numbering in ancient Russia, which was located like other Slavic countries

in close cultural communication with Byzantium, alphabetical numbering, similar to Greek, became widespread.

In Old Russian numbering, numbers from 1 to 9, then tens and hundreds were depicted in successive letters of the Slavic alphabet (namely, the so-called Cyrillic alphabet, introduced in the 9th century). From this there were some exceptions: 2 was designated not by the second letter “buki”, but by the third “vedi”, since the letter 3 (ancient beta, Byzantine vita) was rendered in Old Russian with the sound “v”. "Phyta", standing at the end of the Slavic alphabet, denoted the Greek 0 (ancient theta, Byzantine fita), the number 9, and 90 was denoted by the letter "worm" (the Greeks used the letter "copia" for this purpose, which was not in the living Greek alphabet ). No individual letters were used. To indicate that the sign is not a letter, but a number, a special sign “~”, called a title, was placed above it. Here, for example, is how the first nine numbers were written:

Tens of thousands were called “darkness”, they were designated by circling the unit signs, for example, the numbers 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 were respectively written as follows:

This is where the name “Darkness to the People” came from, i.e. a lot of people.

Hundreds of thousands were called “legions”; they were designated by circling the signs of units with circles of dots. For example, the numbers 100,000 and 200,000 respectively had the designation

The millions were called "leodres". They were designated by circling the unit signs with circles of rays or commas. Thus, the numbers 106 and 2,106 were designated respectively

Hundreds of millions were called "decks". The “deck” had a special designation: square brackets were placed above and below the letter.

Numbers from 11 to 19 were designated as follows:

The remaining numbers were written in letters from left to right, for example, the numbers 544 and 1135 had the designations respectively When recording large numbers

than thousands, in practical activities (accounting, trading, etc.) often instead of “circles” the sign “≠” was placed in front of the letters denoting tens and hundreds, for example, the entry

means the numbers 500,044 and 540,004, respectively.

In the above system, the designation of numbers did not go further than thousands of millions. This account was called a “small account.”
They had a separate letter corresponding to each number (from 1 to 9), each ten (from 10 to 90) and each hundred (from 100 to 900). Numerals were written and pronounced from left to right, with the exception of numerals from 11 to 19 (for example, 17 - seven-ten).
In order for the reader to understand that there are numbers in front of him, a special sign is used - title. It was depicted as a wavy line and placed above the letter. Example:

This sign is called “az under title” and means one.
It is worth noting that not all letters of the alphabet could be used as numbers. For example, “B” and “F” were not used as numbers, because they were not in the ancient Greek alphabet, which was the basis of the digital system. In addition, the numbers were letters that are not in our modern alphabet- “xi” and “psi”. For modern man It may also seem unusual that the counting row did not have the familiar zero.

If it was necessary to write a number greater than 1000, a special thousand sign was written in front of it in the form of an oblique line crossed out in two places. An example of writing the numbers 2000 and 200,000:

To obtain even larger values, other methods were used:

Az in the circle is darkness, or 10,000.
Az in the dotted circle is legion, or 100,000.
Az in a circle of commas is Leodor, or 1,000,000.

Dates on Peter's coins

On the gold coins of Peter the Great, dates in the Slavic account appeared in 1701 and were affixed until 1707 inclusive.
On silver ones - from 1699 to 1722.
On copper ones - from 1700 to 1721.
Even after Peter I introduced Arabic numerals on coins, dates under the title were still minted for a long time. Sometimes engravers mixed Arabic and Slavic numerals in the date. For example, on coins of 1721 you can find the following date options: 17KA and 17K1.

Indication of dates by letters on old Russian coins.

An article dedicated to the mystery of the Slavic alphabet invites you to plunge into the world of our ancestors and get acquainted with the message embedded in the alphabet. Your attitude towards the ancient message may be ambiguous, but we can confidently say that after reading the article you will look at the alphabet with different eyes.

The Old Church Slavonic alphabet got its name from the combination of two letters “az” and “buki”, which designated the first letters of the alphabet A and B. The most interesting fact is that the ancient Slavic alphabet was graffiti, i.e. messages scrawled on the walls. The first Old Slavonic letters appeared on the walls of churches in Pereslavl around the 9th century. And by the 11th century, ancient graffiti appeared in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. It was on these walls that the letters of the alphabet were indicated in several styles, and below was the interpretation of the letter-word.

In 1574, a most important event occurred that contributed to a new round of development of Slavic writing. The first printed “ABC” appeared in Lvov, which was seen by Ivan Fedorov, the man who printed it.

ABC structure

If you look back, you will see that Cyril and Methodius did not just create an alphabet, they discovered to the Slavic people new way, leading to the perfection of man on earth and the triumph of a new faith. If you look at historical events, the difference between which is only 125 years, you will understand that in fact the path to establishing Christianity on our land is directly related to the creation of the Slavic alphabet. After all, literally in one century, the Slavic people eradicated archaic cults and adopted a new faith. The connection between the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet and the adoption of Christianity today does not raise any doubts. The Cyrillic alphabet was created in 863, and already in 988, Prince Vladimir officially announced the introduction of Christianity and the overthrow of primitive cults.

Studying the Old Church Slavonic alphabet, many scientists come to the conclusion that in fact the first “ABC” is a secret writing that has a deep religious and philosophical meaning, and most importantly, that it is constructed in such a way that it represents a complex logical-mathematical organism. In addition, by comparing many finds, the researchers came to the conclusion that the first Slavic alphabet was created as a complete invention, and not as a creation that was created in parts by adding new letter forms. It is also interesting that most of the letters of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet are number letters. Moreover, if you look at the entire alphabet, you will see that it can be conditionally divided into two parts, which are fundamentally different from each other. In this case, we will conditionally call the first half of the alphabet the “higher” part, and the second “lower”. The highest part includes the letters from A to F, i.e. from “az” to “fert” and is a list of letter-words that carry a meaning understandable to a Slav. The lower part of the alphabet begins with the letter “sha” and ends with “izhitsa”. The letters of the lower part of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet do not have a numerical value, unlike the letters of the higher part, and carry a negative connotation.

In order to understand the secret writing of the Slavic alphabet, it is necessary not just to skim through it, but to read carefully into each letter-word. After all, each letter-word contains a semantic core that Konstantin put into it.

Literal truth, the highest part of the alphabet

Az is the initial letter of the Slavic alphabet, which denotes the pronoun I. However, its root meaning is the word “initially”, “begin” or “beginning”, although in everyday life the Slavs most often used Az in the context of a pronoun. Nevertheless, in some Old Church Slavonic letters one can find Az, which meant “alone,” for example, “I’ll go to Vladimir.” Or “starting from scratch” meant “starting from the beginning.” Thus, the Slavs denoted with the beginning of the alphabet the entire philosophical meaning of existence, where without beginning there is no end, without darkness there is no light, and without good there is no evil. At the same time, the main emphasis in this is placed on the duality of the structure of the world. Actually, the alphabet itself is built on the principle of duality, where it is conventionally divided into two parts: higher and lower, positive and negative, the part located at the beginning and the part that is at the end. In addition, do not forget that Az has a numerical value, which is expressed by the number 1. Among the ancient Slavs, the number 1 was the beginning of everything beautiful. Today, studying Slavic numerology, we can say that the Slavs, like other peoples, divided all numbers into even and odd. Moreover, odd numbers were the embodiment of everything positive, good and bright. Even numbers, in turn, represented darkness and evil. At the same time, the unit was considered the beginning of all beginnings and was highly revered Slavic tribes. From the point of view of erotic numerology, it is believed that 1 represents the phallic symbol from which procreation begins. This number has several synonyms: 1 is one, 1 is one, 1 is times.

Buki (Buki)- the second letter-word in the alphabet. It has no digital meaning, but has no less deep philosophical significance than Az. Beeches- means “to be”, “will be” was most often used when using phrases in the future form. For example, “boudi” means “let it be,” and “boudous,” as you probably already guessed, means “future, upcoming.” In this word, our ancestors expressed the future as an inevitability, which could be either good and rosy or gloomy and terrible. It is still not known for certain why Bukam Constantine did not give a numerical value, but many scholars suggest that this is due to the duality of this letter. Indeed, by and large, it denotes the future, which every person imagines for himself in a rosy light, but on the other hand, this word also denotes the inevitability of punishment for committed low deeds.

Lead- an interesting letter of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet, which has a numerical value of 2. This letter has several meanings: to know, to know and to own. When Konstantin invested in Lead this meaning, it implied intimate knowledge, knowledge as the highest divine gift. If you fold Az, Beeches And Lead into one phrase, you get a phrase that means “I will know!” Thus, Constantine showed that a person who discovered the alphabet he created would subsequently possess some kind of knowledge. The numerical load of this letter is no less important. After all, 2 - deuce, two, pair were not just numbers among the Slavs, they took an active part in magical rituals and in general were symbols of the duality of everything earthly and heavenly. The number 2 among the Slavs meant the unity of heaven and earth, the duality of human nature, good and evil, etc. In a word, the deuce was a symbol of the confrontation between two sides, heavenly and earthly balance. Moreover, it is worth noting that the Slavs considered two to be a devilish number and attributed a lot of negative properties to it, believing that it was two that opened the numerical series of negative numbers that bring death to a person. That is why the birth of twins in Old Slavic families was considered bad sign who brought illness and misfortune to the family. In addition, the Slavs considered it a bad sign for two people to rock a cradle, for two people to dry themselves with the same towel, and generally to perform any action together. Despite such a negative attitude towards the number 2, the Slavs recognized it magical power. For example, many exorcism rituals were performed using two identical objects or with the participation of twins.

Verb- a letter whose meaning is the performance of some action or the pronunciation of speech. Synonyms of letters and words Verb are: verb, speak, conversation, speech, and in some contexts the word verb was used in the meaning of “write.” For example, the phrase “May the verb give us the word, the thought, and the action” means that “rational speech gives us words, thoughts, and actions.” Verb was always used only in a positive context, and its numerical value was the number 3 - three. Three or triad, as our ancestors often called it, was considered a divine number.

Firstly, the troika is a symbol of spirituality and the unity of the soul with the Holy Trinity.
Secondly, the three/triad was an expression of the unity of heaven, earth and underground kingdom.
Third, the triad symbolizes the completion of a logical sequence: beginning - middle - end.

Finally, the triad symbolizes the past, present and future.

If you look at most Slavic rituals and magical actions, you will see that they all ended with a three-time repetition of a ritual. The simplest example is triple baptism after prayer.

Good- the fifth letter in the Slavic alphabet, which is a symbol of purity and goodness. The true meaning of this word is “good, virtue.” At the same time, in a letter Good Constantine invested not only purely human character traits, but also virtue, which all people should adhere to, loving Father heavenly. Under Good Scientists, first of all, see virtue from the point of view of a person’s maintenance of religious canons, which symbolize the Commandments of the Lord. For example, the Old Slavonic phrase: “Be diligent in virtue and in living truly” carries the meaning that a person must maintain virtue in real life.

Numerical value of the letter Good denoted by the number 4, i.e. four. What did the Slavs put into this number? First of all, the four symbolized the four elements: fire, water, earth and air, the four ends of the holy cross, the four cardinal directions and the four corners of the room. Thus, the four was a symbol of stability and even inviolability. Despite the fact that this is an even number, the Slavs did not treat it negatively, because it was it, together with the three, that gave the divine number 7.

One of the most multifaceted words of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet is Eat. This word is denoted by words such as “is”, “sufficiency”, “presence”, “essence”, “being”, “nature”, “nature” and other synonyms that express the meaning of these words. Surely, having heard this letter-word, many of us will immediately remember the phrase from the movie “Ivan Vasilyevich is changing his profession,” which has already become popular: “I am the king!” With such a clear example, it is easy to understand that the person who said this phrase positions himself as a king, that is, the king is his real essence. Number letter puzzle Eat hiding in the top five. Five is one of the most controversial numbers in Slavic numerology. After all, it is both a positive and a negative number, like, probably, the number that consists of the “divine” triad and the “satanic” two.

If speak about positive aspects five, which is the numerical value of the letter Eat, then, first of all, it should be noted that this number carries great religious potential: in the Holy Scriptures, five is a symbol of grace and mercy. The oil for sacred anointing consisted of 5 parts, which included 5 ingredients, and when performing the “smudging” ritual, 5 different ingredients are also used, such as: incense, stakt, onykh, lebanon and halvan.

Other philosophical thinkers argue that the five is an identification with the five human senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. There are in the top five and negative qualities, which were found by some researchers of Old Slavic culture. In their opinion, among the ancient Slavs, the number five was a symbol of risk and war. A clear indication of this is the conduct of battles by the Slavs mainly on Fridays. Friday among the Slavs was a symbol of the number five. However, there are some contradictions here, as other numerology researchers believe that the Slavs preferred to conduct battles and battles on Fridays solely because they considered five a lucky number and thanks to this they hoped to win the battle.

live- letter-word, which is designated today as a letter AND. The meaning of this letter is quite simple and clear and is expressed by words such as “living”, “life” and “living”. In this letter, the wise Constantine put a word that everyone understood, which denoted the existence of all life on the planet, as well as the creation of new life. In many of his works, Constantine showed that life is a great gift that a person possesses, and this gift should be aimed at doing good deeds. If you combine the meaning of the letter live with the meaning of the previous letters, then you will get the phrase conveyed by Constantine to posterity: “I will know and say that goodness is inherent in all living things...” The letter Livete is not endowed with a numerical characteristic, and this remains another mystery that the great scientist left behind, philosopher, speaker and linguist Konstantin.

Zelo- a letter that is a combination of two sounds [d] and [z]. The main meaning of this letter for the Slavs was the words “strong” and “strong”. The letter itself is a word Zelo was used in Old Slavonic writings as “zelo”, which meant strongly, firmly, very, very, and it could also often be found in a sentence as “green”, i.e. strong, strong or abundant. If we consider this letter in the context of the word “very,” then we can cite as an example the lines of the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, who wrote: “Now I must deeply apologize to you for the long silence.” In this expression, “apologize very much” can easily be rephrased into the phrase “apologize very much.” Although the expression “to change a lot” would also be appropriate here.

• the sixth paragraph of the Lord's Prayer speaks of sin;
• The sixth commandment speaks about terrible sin a person - murder;
• the line of Cain ended with the sixth generation;
• the notorious mythical snake had 6 names;
• The devil's number is presented in all sources as three sixes "666".

The list of unpleasant associations associated with the number 6 among the Slavs goes on. However, we can conclude that in some Old Slavonic sources, philosophers also noticed the mystical appeal of the six. So the love that arises between a man and a woman was also associated with the six, which is a combination of two triads.

Earth- the ninth letter of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet, the meaning of which is represented as “land” or “country”. Sometimes in sentences the letter is a word Earth was used in such meanings as “region”, “country”, “people”, “land”, or this word meant the human body. Why did Konstantin name the letter this way? Everything is very simple! After all, we all live on earth, in our own country, and belong to some nationality. Therefore the word is a letter Earth represents a concept behind which the community of the people is hidden. Moreover, everything starts small and ends with something big and immense. That is, Constantine in this letter embodied the following phenomenon: each person is part of a family, each family belongs to a community, and each community together represents a people who live in a certain territory called their native land. And these patches of land, which we call our native land, are united into a huge country where there is one God. However, apart from deeply philosophical meaning in letter Earth a number is hidden that is directly related to the life of Constantine himself. This number 7 is seven, seven, week. What can modern youth know about the number 7? The only thing is that seven brings good luck. However, for the ancient Slavs and in particular for Constantine, seven was a very significant number.

Firstly, Konstantin was the seventh child in the family.
Secondly, it was at the age of seven that Konstantin dreamed of the Beautiful Sofia. If you delve a little deeper into history, you would like to talk about this dream. Sophia the Wise in the beliefs of the Byzantines was a deity like Athena among the ancient Greeks. Sophia was considered a symbol of Divine Wisdom and was revered as the supreme deity. And then one day seven-year-old Konstantin had a dream in which the Lord turned to him and said: “Choose any girl to be your wife.” At the same time, Konstantin looked at all the girls in the city and saw Sofia, who in his dream appeared as a beautiful pink-cheeked girl. He approached her, took her by the hand and led her to the Lord. Having told his father this dream in the morning, he heard in response the following words: “Keep, son, the law of your father and do not reject punishment from the hand of your mother, then you will speak wise words...” This parting word was given to Constantine by his father, as young man who takes the righteous path. However, Constantine understood that in life there is not only the righteous or the right way, but also the path that awaits those who do not honor the Divine commandments.

The number seven for the Slavs and Constantine in particular meant the number of spiritual perfection, upon which God’s seal lay. Moreover, we can see the seven almost everywhere in Everyday life: a week consists of seven days, a musical alphabet of seven notes, etc. Religious books and scriptures also cannot do without mentioning the number seven.

Izhe- a letter whose meaning can be expressed by the words “if”, “if” and “when”. The meaning of these words has not changed to this day, it’s just that in everyday life modern Slavs use synonyms Izhe: if and when. Konstantin was more fascinated not by the verbal decoding of this letter-word, but by the numerical one. After all Izhe The number 10 corresponds to ten, ten, decade, as we call this number today. Among the Slavs, the number ten is considered the third number, which denotes divine perfection and orderly completeness. If you look at history and various sources, you will see that the ten has a deep religious and philosophical meaning:

• The 10 commandments are God's completed code, which reveals to us the basic rules of virtue;
• 10 generations represent full cycle family or nation;
• in the prayer “Our Father!” contains 10 moments that represent a completed cycle of acceptance of God, reverence for the Almighty, a plea for deliverance, and the logical final moment is the recognition of His eternity.

And this is only an incomplete cycle of references to the number 10 in various sources.

Kako- a letter-word of the Slavic alphabet that means “like” or “like.” A simple example of the use of this word “like him” today is simply “like him.” In this word, Constantine tried to express the similarity of man with God. After all, God created man in his own image and likeness. The numerical characteristic of this letter corresponds to twenty.

People- a letter of the Slavic alphabet, which speaks for itself about the meaning that is inherent in it. The true meaning of the letter People used to refer to people of any class, gender and gender. From this letter came such expressions as the human race, to live like humans. But perhaps the most famous phrase, which we still use today, is “to go out into the people,” which meant going out into the square for meetings and celebrations. Thus, our ancestors worked for a whole week, and on Sunday, which was the only day off, they dressed up and went out to the square to “look at others and show themselves off.” Letter-word People The number 30 corresponds to thirty.

Myslete- a very important letter-word, the true meaning of which means “to think”, “thinking”, “to think”, “to reflect” or, as our ancestors said, “to think with the mind”. For the Slavs, the word “think” did not just mean sitting and thinking about eternity, this word included spiritual communication with God. Myslete is the letter that corresponds to the number 40 - forty. In Slavic thinking, the number 40 had a special meaning, because when the Slavs said “very much,” they meant 40. Apparently, in ancient times this was the highest number. For example, remember the phrase “forty forty.” She says that the Slavs represented the number 40, as we do today, for example, the number 100 is one hundred. If we turn to the Sacred Writings, then it is worth noting that the Slavs considered 40 to be another divine number, which designates a certain period of time that the human soul goes through from the moment of temptation to the moment of punishment. Hence the tradition of commemorating the deceased on the 40th day after death.

Letter-word Our also speaks for itself. Konstantin the Philosopher put into it two meanings: “our” and “brother”. That is, this word expresses kinship or closeness in spirit. Synonyms for the true meaning of the letter were words such as “our own”, “native”, “close” and “belonging to our family”. Thus, the ancient Slavs divided all people into two castes: “their own” and “theirs.” Letter-word Our has its own numerical value, which, as you probably already guessed, is equal to 50 - fifty.

The next word in the alphabet is presented modern letter ABOUT, which in the Old Church Slavonic alphabet is designated by the word He. The true meaning of this letter is "face". Besides that He denoted a personal pronoun, it was used to designate a person, personality or person. The number that corresponds to this word is 70 - seventy.

Peace- the letter of the spirituality of the Slavic people. True meaning Peace is about peace and quiet. Constantine the Philosopher invested special peace of mind or spiritual harmony in this letter. In various works, he often focused people’s attention on the fact that only by having grace in the soul can one find peace of mind. Agree, he's right! Man committing good deeds having pure thoughts and he who respects the commandments lives in harmony with himself. He doesn't need to pretend to anyone because he is at peace with himself. Number corresponding to letter Peace equals 80 - eighty.

Rtsy- is an ancient Slavic letter that we know today as the letter R. Of course, if you ask a simple modern person whether he knows what this word means, you are unlikely to hear an answer. However, the letter-word Rtsy was well known to those who held in their hands or saw the first Slavic alphabet on the walls of churches. True meaning Rtsy consists in words such as “you will utter”, “you will say”, “you will express” and other words that are close in meaning. For example, the expression “talks of wisdom” means “speak wise words.” This word was often used in ancient writings, but today its meaning has lost its significance for modern people. The numerical value of Rtsy is 100 - one hundred.

Word- a letter about which we can say that it gives the name to all our speech. Since man came up with the word, surrounding objects have received their own names, and people have ceased to be a faceless mass and have received names. In the Slavic alphabet Word has many synonyms: legend, speech, sermon. All these synonyms were often used when composing both official letters and writing scholarly treatises. IN colloquial speech this letter is also widely used. Numerical analogue of a letter Word is 200 - two hundred.

The next letter of the alphabet is known to us today as the letter T, however, the ancient Slavs knew it as a letter-word Firmly. As you understand, the true meaning of this letter speaks for itself, and it means “solid” or “true.” It was from this letter that it came famous expression“I stand firm on my word.” This means that a person clearly understands what he is saying and asserts the correctness of his thoughts and words. Such hardness is destiny or very wise people or complete fools. However, the letter Firmly indicated that the person who says something or does something feels right. If we talk about the numerical self-affirmation of the letter Firmly, then it is worth saying that it corresponds to the number 300 - three hundred.

Oak- another letter in the alphabet, which today has been transformed into the letter U. It is, of course, difficult for an ignorant person to understand what this word means, but the Slavs knew it as “law.” Oak often used in the meaning of “decree”, “to fasten”, “lawyer”, “to indicate”, “to fasten”, etc. Most often, this letter was used to denote government decrees, laws adopted by officials and was rarely used in a spiritual context.

Completes the galaxy of “higher” letters of the alphabet Firth. This unusual letter-word means nothing more than glory, pinnacle, top. But this concept is not addressed to human glory, which denotes the fame of a person, but gives glory to eternity. note that Firth is the logical ending of the “higher” part of the alphabet and represents a conditional end. But this end gives us food for thought that there is still eternity that we must glorify. Numeric value Ferta is 500 - five hundred.

Having examined the highest part of the alphabet, we can state the fact that it is Constantine’s secret message to his descendants. “Where is this visible?” - you ask. Now try to read all the letters, knowing their true meaning. If you take several subsequent letters, then edifying phrases are formed:

• Vedi + Verb means “know the teaching”;
• Rtsy + Word + Firmly can be understood as the phrase “speak the true word”;
• Firmly + Oak can be interpreted as “strengthen the law.”

If you look closely at other letters, you can also find the secret writing that Constantine the Philosopher left behind.

Have you ever wondered why the letters in the alphabet are in this particular order and not in any other? The order of the “highest” part of the Cyrillic letters can be considered from two positions.

Firstly, the fact that each letter-word forms a meaningful phrase with the next one may mean a non-random pattern that was invented to quickly memorize the alphabet.

Secondly, the Old Church Slavonic alphabet can be considered from the point of view of numbering. That is, each letter also represents a number. Moreover, all letter-numbers are arranged in ascending order. So, the letter A - “az” corresponds to one, B - 2, G - 3, D - 4, E - 5, and so on up to ten. Tens begin with the letter K, which are listed here similarly to units: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 70, 80 and 100.

In addition, many scientists have noticed that the outlines of the letters of the “higher” part of the alphabet are graphically simple, beautiful and convenient. They were perfect for cursive writing, and a person did not experience any difficulties in depicting these letters. And many philosophers see in the numerical arrangement of the alphabet the principle of the triad and spiritual harmony that a person achieves, striving for good, light and truth.

Literal truth, the “lowest” part of the alphabet

As an educated person who strives for truth, Constantine could not lose sight of the fact that good cannot exist without evil. Therefore, the “lowest” part of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet is the embodiment of everything base and evil that is in man. So, let's get acquainted with the letters of the “lower” part of the alphabet, which do not have a numerical value. By the way, pay attention, there are not many of them, not only 13!

The “lowest” part of the alphabet begins with the letter Sha. The true meaning of this letter can be expressed in words such as “trash”, “nonentity” or “liar”. Often in sentences they were used to indicate the entire baseness of a person who was called shabala, which means a liar and idle talker. Another word derived from the letter Sha, “shabendat”, which means fussing over trifles. And especially vile people were called the word “shaveren”, that is, trash or insignificant person.

Very similar to Sha the letter is the next letter Now. What associations do you have when you hear this letter? But our ancestors used this letter when they talked about vanity or mercy, but it is a root synonym for the letter Now You can only find one word: “mercilessly.” For example, a simple Old Church Slavonic phrase “betray without mercy.” Its modern meaning can be expressed in the phrase “mercilessly betrayed.”

Er. In ancient times, Erami were called thieves, swindlers and rogues. Today we know this letter as Ъ. Er is not endowed with any numerical value, like the other twelve letters of the lower part of the alphabet.

eras- this is a letter that has survived to this day and appears in our alphabet, like Y. As you understand, it also has an unpleasant meaning and means a drunkard, because in ancient times revelers and drunkards who hung around idle were called erigs. In fact, there were people who did not work, but only walked and drank intoxicating drinks. They were in great disfavour among the entire community and were often persecuted with stones.

Er represents b in the modern alphabet, but the meaning of this letter is unknown to many contemporaries. Er had several meanings: “heresy”, “heretic”, “enemy”, “sorcerer” and “renegade”. If this letter meant “renegade,” then the person was called “erik.” In other definitions, a person was called a “heretic.”

This word was perhaps the most terrible of all Slavic insults. After all, we all know very well from history what happened to heretics...

Yat- this is the letter to which the synonym “accept” is most suitable. In Old Church Slavonic texts it was most often used as “imat” and “yatny”. Amazing words, especially for modern people. Although I think that some of the slang words used by our teenagers would not have been understood by the ancient Slavs. “Have” was used in the context of catching or taking. “Yatny” was used in Old Slavonic texts when they talked about something accessible or an easily achievable goal.

YU[y] is the letter of grief and sadness. Its root meaning is a bitter lot and an unhappy fate. The Slavs called vale a bad fate. From the same letter comes the word holy fool, which means an ugly and insane person. Fools in Constantine's alphabet were designated exclusively from a negative point of view, but we should not forget who the holy fools were originally. After all, if you look at history, you will see that wandering monks and companions of Jesus who imitated the Son of God, accepting ridicule and mockery, were called holy fools.

[AND I- a letter that has no name, but it contains a deep and terrifying meaning. The true meaning of this letter is several concepts such as "exile", "outcast" or "torment". Both exile and outcast are synonyms for one concept that has deep ancient Russian roots. Behind this word was an unhappy person who had fallen out of the social environment and did not fit into the existing society. It's interesting that in ancient Russian state There was such a thing as a “rogue prince.” Rogue princes are people who lost their inheritance due to the premature death of relatives who did not have time to transfer their possessions to them.

[I]E- another letter of the “lower” part of the alphabet, which does not have a name. The ancient Slavs had completely unpleasant associations with this letter, because it meant “torment” and “suffering.” Often this letter was used in the context of eternal torment experienced by sinners who do not recognize the laws of God and do not keep the 10 commandments.

Two more interesting letters of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet Yus small And Yus big. They are very similar in form and meaning. Let's look at what their differences are.

Yus small resembles in shape tied hands. The most interesting thing is that the root meaning of this letter is “bonds”, “fetters”, “chains”, “knots” and words with similar meanings. Often Yus small was used in texts as a symbol of punishment and was denoted by the following words: bonds and knots.

Yus big was a symbol of a dungeon or prison, as a more severe punishment for atrocities committed by a person. It is interesting that the shape of this letter was similar to a dungeon. Most often in ancient Slavic texts you can find this letter in the form of the word uziliche, which meant a prison or prison. The derivatives of these two letters are the letters Iotov yus small And Iotov yus big. Graphic image Iotova Yusa small in Cyrillic is similar to the image Yusa small, however, in the Glagolitic alphabet these two letters have absolutely different shapes. The same can be said about Iotov Yus the Great and Yus the Great. What is the secret of such a striking difference? After all, the semantic meaning that we know about today is very similar for these letters and represents a logical chain. Let's look at each graphic image of these four letters in the Glagolitic alphabet.

Yus small, denoting bonds or shackles, is depicted in the Glagolitic alphabet in the form of a human body, whose hands and feet seem to be wearing shackles. Behind Yus small coming Iotov yus small, which means imprisonment, confinement of a person in a dungeon or prison. This letter in the Glagolitic alphabet is depicted as a certain substance similar to a cell. What happens next? And then it goes Yus big, which is a symbol of a prison and is depicted in Glagolitic as a crooked figure. It's amazing, but Yus big coming Iotov yus big, which means execution, and his graphic image in Glagolitic is nothing more than a gallows. Now let's look separately at the semantic meanings of these four letters and their graphic analogies. Their meaning can be reflected in a simple phrase that indicates a logical sequence: first they put shackles on a person, then they imprison them in prison, and finally the logical conclusion of the punishment is execution. What comes out of this simple example? But it turns out that Constantine, when creating the “lower” part of the alphabet, also put into it a certain hidden meaning and ordered all the signs according to a certain logical criterion. If you look at all thirteen letters of the lower row of the alphabet, you will see that they are a conditional edification for the Slavic people. Combining all thirteen letters according to their meaning, we get the following phrase: “Insignificant liars, thieves, swindlers, drunkards and heretics will accept a bitter fate - they will be tortured as outcasts, shackled, thrown into prison and executed!” Thus, Constantine the Philosopher gives the Slavs the admonition that all sinners will be punished.

In addition, graphically all the letters of the “lower” part are much more difficult to reproduce than the letters of the first half of the alphabet, and what immediately catches the eye is that many of them do not have a name or numerical identification.

And finally, about the second half of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet, we can say that most of the letter-words do not have the positive beginning that is inherent in the letters of the “higher” part. Almost all of them are expressed in hissing syllables. The letters of this part of the alphabet are tongue-tied and lack melody, unlike those located at the beginning of the table.

Divine part of the alphabet

Having studied the true meaning of the two parts of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet, we receive two pieces of advice from the sage. However, don’t think that the ABC secrets end there. After all, we have a few more letters that stand apart from all the others. These signs include letters Her, Omega, Tsy And Worm.

The most interesting thing is that the letters X - Dick And W - Omega stand in the center of the alphabet and are enclosed in a circle, which, you see, expresses their superiority over the other letters of the alphabet. The main features of these two letters are that they migrated into the Old Slavonic alphabet from the Greek alphabet and have a dual meaning. Look at them carefully. The right side of these letters is a reflection of the left side, thus emphasizing their polarity. Perhaps Constantine, not by accident, but deliberately borrowed these letters from the Greeks? Indeed, in the Greek sense, the letter X means the Universe, and even its numerical value 600 - six hundred corresponds to the word “space”. Constantine put in the letter X the unity of God and man.

Considering the letter W, which corresponds to the number 800 - eight hundred, I would like to focus on the fact that it means the word “faith”. Thus, these two letters circled symbolize faith in God and are an image of the fact that somewhere in the Universe there is a cosmic sphere where the Lord lives, who determined the fate of man from beginning to end.

In addition, Konstantin in the letter Her invested a special meaning, which can be reflected by the word “cherub” or “ancestor”. Cherubim were considered the highest angels who were closest to God and surrounded the Throne of the Lord. Slavic words, derived from the letter Her, have only positive meanings: cherub, heroism, which means heroism, heraldry (respectively, heraldry), etc.

In its turn, Omega on the contrary, it meant finality, end or death. This word has many derivatives, so “offensive” means eccentric, and disgusting means something very bad.

Thus, Her And Omega, enclosed in a circle, were the symbol of this circle. Look at their meanings: beginning and end. But a circle is a line that has neither beginning nor end. However, at the same time, it is both the beginning and the end.

There are two more letters in this “enchanted” circle, which we know in the Old Church Slavonic alphabet as Tsy And Worm. The most interesting thing is that these letters have a dual meaning in the Old Church Slavonic alphabet.

So positive meaning Tsy can be expressed in the words church, kingdom, king, Caesar, cycle and many more similar words-synonyms of these meanings. In this case the letter Tsy meant both the kingdom of earth and the kingdom of heaven. At the same time, it was used with a negative connotation. For example, “tsits!” - shut up, stop talking; “tsiryukat” - shouting, shouting and “tsyba”, which meant an unstable, thin-legged person and was considered an insult.

Letter Worm also has both positive features, and negative. From this letter came such words as monk, that is, monk; brow, cup, child, man, etc. All the negativity that could be thrown out with this letter can be expressed in words such as worm - a low-lying, reptile creature, womb - belly, devil - offspring and others.

Having studied the alphabet from the very beginning, we can come to the conclusion that Constantine left his descendants main value- a creation that encourages us to strive for self-improvement, learning, wisdom and love, crossing the dark paths of anger, envy and hostility.

Now, revealing the alphabet, you will know that the creation that was born thanks to the efforts of Constantine the Philosopher is not just a list of letters with which words begin that express our fear and indignation, love and tenderness, respect and delight.

Bibliography:

1. K. Titarenko “The Secret of the Slavic Alphabet”, 1995
2. A. Zinoviev “Cyrillic cryptography”, 1998
3. M. Krongauz “Where did Slavic writing come from”, journal “Russian Language” 1996, No. 3
4. E. Nemirovsky “In the footsteps of the first printer”, M.: Sovremennik, 1983.