Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31745/s.69.2
ONCE AGAIN ON THE ORIGIN OF THE CYRILLIC LETTER »BACKWARDS E«: CYRILLIC, GLAGOLITIC, OR HEBREW SCRIPT?
Александр И. ГРИЩЕНКО
orcid.org/0000-0001-7170-365X
; Moscow State Pedagogical University; Institute for Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences; St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University; Russian State Library, Russia, Moscow
Abstract
The paper deals with the problem of the origin of the Cyrillic letter »backwards e« (Э) which appeared in the Serbian (less often in the Bulgarian) written monuments from the 13th–14th centuries; however, it was used overwhelmingly as the upper letter at the end of line. One of the most plausible hypotheses about the occurrence of this letter is its borrowing from the Glagolitic script, especially for its very early use in the East Slavic literature – in the Silvester’s Miscellany from the late 14th or the early 15th century. In this miscellany, it is used in the Semitic name of God »El«. Boris Uspenskij hypothesized that in the Silvester’s Miscellany and in the Slavonic-Russian Edited Pentateuch from the 15th century the letter »backwards e« had a sacral status and was derived from the Hebrew letter א »aleph«, in contrast to the usage of a similar letter in the 15th-century Slavonic literature of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (mainlyin the Old Ruthenian language). This article casts doubt on the Uspenskij’s hypothesis, since the author found other usages of the letter »backwards e« in the Edited Pentateuch in words with no sacral status.
Keywords
history of Slavic graphics; Cyrillic script; Glagolitic script; Edited Pentateuch; 15th century; Church Slavonic; Judaic-Christian relations; Slavic-Jews contacts
Hrčak ID:
231474
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2019.
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