Credited to Bulgaria. Britannica places the creation in the First Bulgarian Empire, in what are now Bulgaria and North Macedonia, and notes that Saints Naum and Clement of Ohrid are sometimes credited. The earliest datable Cyrillic inscriptions come from the Preslav area in present-day Bulgaria.
How it began
Cyrillic was developed in the 9th to 10th century in the First Bulgarian Empire. Boris I established a literary school at Pliska in 886, and in 893 Simeon I moved its seat to Veliki Preslav. Scholars there, who depended on Greek models, soon abandoned the Glagolitic script and adapted the Greek uncial hand to the needs of Slavic. The earliest datable Cyrillic inscriptions have been found in the Preslav area, including the medieval city, the Patleina and Ravna monasteries and a monastery near Varna. Naum of Preslav, Constantine of Preslav, John the Exarch and Chernorizets Hrabar worked at the school.
Before it existed
The script was an indirect result of the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the 9th century Apostles of the Slavs, to Moravia. That mission lasted only a few decades. Their disciples then went to South Slavic regions of the First Bulgarian Empire. The Slavic writing they brought was Glagolitic. The newer script, built on Greek capitals, drew on the name of Cyril and so became known as Cyrillic, which Britannica calls confusing since Cyril did not devise it.
How it works
Cyrillic is based on capital Greek letters with additions. Because the Slavic languages were richer in sounds than Greek, 43 letters were originally provided. The added letters were modifications or combinations of Greek letters, and the letters for ts, sh and ch were based on Hebrew. The earliest literature written in it consisted of translations of parts of the Bible and various church texts.
How it spread
A body of 10th century Cyrillic inscriptions, including lead pendants, has been found between Preslav and Varna and north into what is now southeastern Romania, where a scriptorium worked at Murfatlar. The script became the writing system of Slavic-speaking peoples of the Eastern Orthodox faith. In modern times Russian Cyrillic was also adapted to many non-Slavic languages, sometimes with special letters added.
Where it stands today
Cyrillic is used exclusively or as one of several alphabets for more than 50 languages, among them Belarusian, Bulgarian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Tajik, Turkmen, Ukrainian and Uzbek. The modern alphabets have dropped some of the original letters. Modern Russian has 32 letters, or 33 with the soft sign, Bulgarian 30, Serbian 30 and Ukrainian 32 or 33.
