• A a(a)*
• Bb(b)
• c c- before "e", "i", "y", "ae", "oe" is pronounced (ts), in other cases - (k)

D d- (d)

• e e- (e)*
• F f- (f)
• G g- (G)

H h- (X)

• I i- (and); (d) - before vowels.
• Kk- (k) - rarely found in Greek borrowings.
• l l- (l)

M m- (m)

• N n- (n)
• O o- (about)
• Pp- (P)

Q q- (to)

• R r- (R)
• S s- (with); (h) - between vowels.
• T t- in combination "ti" + vowel is read (qi) + vowel, if "ti" is not preceded by "s", "t", "x".

U u- (y)

• Vv- (in)
• X x- (ks)
• Y y- (and) - in Greek borrowings.

Zz- (h) - in Greek borrowings.

Diphthongs, pronunciation features:

• ae- (uh)
• oh- (yo [yo]) - something like that

ch- (X)

• ph- (f) - words of Greek origin.
• th- (t) - words of Greek origin.
• rh- (p) - words of Greek origin.

Latin alphabet in human history

Human civilization has already reached a high level, and we practically do not think about where they came from, these or those things that we use every day, it seems that it has always been like this. Let's not talk about the latest technical progress now, let's think about more global things, such as language, writing. Every day on store signs, product packaging, price tags on things, we meet with inscriptions in foreign languages, most often it is English, which has rightfully earned itself international status. In the last decade, the prevalence in English erased all boundaries, it has become vital for those who want to make successful career. Even those who do not speak this language can easily read the names of popular brands, and all thanks to its incredible popularization. In Russian, the Cyrillic font is used for writing, it is also used by some other Slavic peoples, such as Bulgarians and Serbs. But, more than half of the European languages ​​​​use for writing Latin alphabet. These uncomplicated Latin letters seem to have been with us for ages. But both language and writing are always the result of centuries-old work of the people. It was the emergence of writing that made it possible for ancient civilizations to leave a memory to their descendants. Without writing, there would be no literature, scientific and technological progress would be impossible. How did writing originate? What prompted the ancient people to think about how to record the necessary information? Nomadic tribes, and the warring parties, there was no need for writing. Their main task was to conquer a large territory for their tribe. But when the tribe began to lead a settled way of life, then the need for writing appeared. Probably, it was in some of these moments of calm that the ancient Phoenicians thought about how to graphically display the necessary information. It is the Phoenicians who own the first alphabet in the history of mankind, which became the progenitor Latin alphabet. It was the Phoenician alphabet that gave the traditional letter order. On the basis of the Phoenician alphabet, the Greek alphabet developed, it is in it that vowels first appear, which were borrowed from the Semitic languages. For thousands of years, literacy was the privilege of the upper strata of society and the clergy, only a select few owned this science. But it was the Ancient Greeks who were able to bring schools closer to the people, bringing them out from under the influence of religious priests. And giving the opportunity to receive education from childhood. But the Greek civilization fell, under the onslaught of the Roman conquerors, who received the alphabet and writing as trophies. It was the Greek alphabet and the writing system that formed the basis of Latin, the language of the Ancient Roman Empire. For thousands of years, the alphabet has been transformed, for example, initially there were 23 letters in the Latin alphabet, only in the Middle Ages, three more new letters (J, U and W) were added, and the alphabet acquired such a familiar look. At the dawn of the birth of Latin writing, they wrote without separating words with spaces, and did not use punctuation marks yet. The militancy of the Romans expanded the expanses of the empire in all directions, in the end, even the north of Europe was conquered, and the Romans crossed the English Channel. The sites of the Roman legions are found in England, France, Syria and Judea, and even in Africa, near Tunisia and Algeria. The main base of the Roman Empire, of course, remained Italy. Many tribes that inhabited Europe at that time, in order to survive, tried to make an alliance with the Romans, such as the Germans and the Goths. Most of these alliances were long-term. Latin began to be used as the language of international communication. It is the emergence of Christianity, and its formation in Ancient Rome, strengthened the position of Latin. Latin became the official language of religion, which spread very quickly across Europe, displacing pagan cults. And when Christianity had already become the official religion of Rome, the role of Latin was strengthened, because now it is the official language of the church. And the role of the church in the state system in European countries cannot be underestimated. Latin is used for correspondence by diplomats and heads of state, it becomes the official language of science, it is in Latin that the works of scientific men and theological treatises are published. And the Renaissance, which, like a fresh spring wind, swept through Europe, exhausted by the Inquisition, also chose Latin as its language. The great Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei and Keppler wrote their works in Latin. In the spread of Latin writing, an important role was also played by the fact that many peoples chose the Latin alphabet to write their native languages, so as not to invent new letters, but to use those already familiar to everyone. In its development, Latin writing went through many stages, the font was transformed, how did architectural styles. In various historical periods minuscule Roman cursive and Roman capital letters, uncial and semi-uncial letters, Merovingian and Visigothic fonts, Old Italic and Gothic, rotunda and Swabian writing appear. Many of these fonts are still used for decorative purposes. This is how the evolution of writing took place, introducing new signs, styles, ways of writing. The theme of the emergence of writing is very interesting and multifaceted, it is closely related to the development of human civilization with historical and cultural events. It is on the example of writing that one can establish a historical connection, it would seem, of completely different peoples. The transformation of primitive rock paintings, first into drawn symbols, and then into individual letters, which corresponded to a certain sound. The pinnacle of this process was the invention of printing. That allowed science and culture to develop at a new level.

For the most part, these records were made in Western Russian written language. In fact, East Slavic speech was written using the rules of Polish orthography (see, for example, the chronicle of Bykhovets, whose Cyrillic original was rewritten in the 17th century using the Polish Latin alphabet). In the 17th century, a fashion appeared in the Muscovite state to make short notes in Russian using the letters of the Latin alphabet. This practice spread especially widely in the 1680s - 1690s. .

Recordings of Russian speech by foreign travelers are known: a French phrasebook of the 16th century in the Latin alphabet and a dictionary-diary of Richard James, mainly in Latin graphics (with the influence of the spelling of various Western European languages), but interspersed with letters of the Greek and Russian alphabets.

Individual projects of the 19th century

see also

Notes

1. Alekseev M.P. Dictionaries foreign languages in the Russian alphabet book of the 17th century: Research, texts and comments. L.: Nauka, 1968. S. 69-71; Shamin S. M. Russian records in Latin on books, icons and other objects (XVII - beginning of the XVIII century) // Ancient Russia. Medieval Questions. 2007. No. 3 (29). pp. 122-123.
2. New Improved Letters for the Russian Alphabet, or The Most Convenient Means to Learn Reading and Writing Russian Even for Foreigners, Adapted Together for the Study of All European Alphabets, with the Application of Some Historical Notes on the Use of Letters by Ancient and New Nations. - M.: type. Augusta Seeds, 1833.
3. Kodinskiy K. M. Simplification of Russian grammar. Upproscenie ruscoi grammatichi. - St. Petersburg. , 1842.

Latin alphabet (table), diphthongs, stress in words, letter combinations, pronunciation in Latin.

The Latin alphabet has changed its composition throughout the history of the development of the Latin language. The very first alphabet consisted of 21 letters, then in different eras began adding new letters. Some of them have fallen into disuse, others have remained. As a result, the classical Latin alphabet appeared, consisting of 23 letters (some of which were given by the Greek language).

After the disappearance of the Roman Empire as a state, the Latin alphabet remained the basis for almost all the languages ​​of Europe, but in each of the options there were some changes (the closest to classic version Latin alphabet were Romance languages: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French).

The modern Latin alphabet consists of 25 letters (if with the letter W, then 26). The letters of the Latin alphabet can be found in the table below:

uppercase	Lowercase	Name	Pronunciation
			[G]*
			[l]**
			[to]***

In Latin capital letters are:

1. proper names;
2. names of nationalities and months of the year;
3. adjectives formed from proper names, as well as adverbs: Graecia Antiqua - Ancient Greece, Craece scribere - write in Greek

Diphthongs, letter combinations and pronunciation in Latin

The following diphthongs exist in Latin:

ae - pronunciation is similar to Russian sound [e]

oe - pronounced like German ö umlaut or French diphthong, for example, in the word peur

au - similar to a combination of Russian sounds [au]

ei - reads like [hey]

eu - similar to the sound of Russian sounds [eu]

It should be noted that if one of the letters in a combination of diphthongs has two dots or a quantity sign, then the sounds in this combination will be pronounced separately: po ë ta, poēta

The letter "c" in Latin reads like [k]: crocodilus, cultura, colonia (knees)

The letter "c" + e, i, y, ae, eu, oe reads like a sound [c]: Cicero, Cyprus, caelum (tselum)

* The letter h is similar in pronunciation to the Ukrainian sound [g]: humus (humus)

"J" - reads like [th]: major. If words begin with this letter, then it usually merges with the next vowel and is pronounced as one sound: Januarius, Juppiter.

** The letter "l" is similar in pronunciation to [la, l]: Latinus (latinus), luna (moon).

l + i gives the sound [li], for example: liber (liber).

*** The letter "q"Always occurs in combination qu + consonant and reads like [kv]: quadratus (quadratus). The exception is the word quum (godfather). In many publications, you can find the spelling of this word as cum.

The letter " s"In Latin, it reads like: universitas (universitas), if the letter" s"Stands between two vowels, then it is pronounced like [z]: Asia (Asia).

Please note that the combination of letters ti + vowel is read as [qi]: constitution (constitution). Exceptions are: the word totius (totius), as well as s, x, t + ti, for example: ostium (ostium), Bruttium (bruttium), in Greek words, for example: Boeotia (boeotia).

Pronunciation of letter combinations: ngu and su:

ngu + vowel reads like [ngv]: lingua (lingua)

su + vowel reads like [sv], for example: suadeo (swadeo)

Stress in Latin

In words that consist of two syllables, the stress falls on the second syllable from the end: r about sa. In words that consist of more than two syllables, the stress falls on the second syllable from the end if it is long: nat u ra. If it is short - to the third from the end: f a brica.

Word + particles que , ve , ne shift the stress to the last syllable given word, for example: r about sa, but ros a que. If que is part of a word, then the stress is placed on general rule: it a que.

In the next article, we will look at pronouns in Latin.

November 11th, 2013

Numerous reforms Russian language with early XVIII centuries and up to the present day have never allowed the possibility of replacing the Cyrillic alphabet with the Latin alphabet.

Peter introduced the civil alphabet, had a major quarrel with the church, brought guest workers into the country, but did not encroach on Slavic letters.

AT late XVIII - early XIX century, when - according to c. L. Tolstoy - the court and high society spoke exclusively French, and the vast majority of the population was illiterate, the moment was exceptionally convenient. However, the important issue of transformation was not even considered. The nobles preferred to riot on the Senate.

In 1918, during the last major reform, the Bolsheviks abolished several letters, but they did not introduce a foreign alphabet even in the light of the approaching world revolution.

The need to use the Latin alphabet grew every year, but the position of the Soviet leadership on this issue remained unshakable. It was influenced neither by the accession of the Baltic republics and part of Romania to the USSR, nor by the creation of a socialist bloc in Eastern Europe, nor by relations with distant Cuba and close Finland.

Then the presidents missed their chance one by one:
- Gorbachev (after the fall of the Berlin Wall);
- Yeltsin (after completion of privatization);
- Medvedev (after meeting with Jobs).

The current head of state started small but important, marking the upcoming Olympiad with the mysterious words sochi zoich (or hioz upside down), but was not understood by his compatriots.

As a result, we are forced to spend millions of rubles on infographics in cities, duplicating all the names in Latin letters. And who counted the number of man-hours spent on switching the language in keyboards across the country?

However, enough words. The following is a new alphabet for Russia, integrated into the sparkling Western world. Apparently, this is the least painful path for a country in which Chinese characters or Arabic calligraphy are about to triumph.

BUT	A
B	B
AT	V
G	G
D	D
E	E
Yo	Yo
F	ZH
W	Z
And	I
Y	J
To	K
L	L
M	M
H	N
O	O
P	P
R	R
With	S
T	T
At	U
F	F
X	H
C	C
H	CH
W	SH
SCH	SCH
Kommersant	-
S	Y
b	"
E	JE
YU	JU
I	JA

The letters Q, W and X disappear. However, the first can be used in such words as isqusstvo, ququshka. W is two ve in a row or in with a soft sign. X will work for words that begin with X. We leave yo, because the monument has already been built and the yo-mobile is about to appear.

A couple of excerpts for practice:

1. Ne lepo li ny bjashet-, bratie,
nachjati starymi slovesy
trudnyh- povestij o p-lku Igoreve,
Igorja Svjat-slavlicha?
Nachati zhe sja t-j pesni
po bylinam- sego vremeni,
a ne po zamyshleniju Bojanju!
Bojan-bo veschij,
asche komu xotyashe pesn" tvoriti,
to rastekashetsja mysliju po drevu,
serym v-lkom po zemli,
shizym orlom- pod- oblaky.

2. Ja pomnju chudnoe mgnoven "e:
Peredo mnoj javilas" ty,
How mimoletnoe viden "e,
How genij chistoj krasoty.

I heart b "etsja v upoen" e,
I dlja nego voznikli vnov"
I bozhestvo, i vdohnoven "e,
I zhizn", i slezy, i ljubov".

The last stanza should also be given in another tradition, where the soft sign is replaced by a doubled consonant, "vy" by "w", and "ё" is retained where possible.

I heart bёtsja v upoenne,
I dlja nego voznikli vnow
I bozhestvo, i vdohnovenne,
I zhiznn, i slezy, i ljubow.

Anyway, as an unbiased reader can see, it turns out clumsily. It can be seen that the Russian language is such that the text, even being written by the most foreign letters, retains its wild Eurasian identity, contradictory essence and unwillingness to integrate into world culture and civilization. What can we say about its carriers?

Below is a table of correspondence between the letters of the Russian alphabet and the letters of the Latin alphabet.

Correspondence table of Russian letters to Latin letters
Russian	Latin	Russian	Latin
A	A	P	P
B	B	R	R
AT	V, W	With	S
G	G	T	T
D	D	At	U, OU
E	E	F	F, PH
Yo	YO	X	KH, H
F	ZH	C	TS
W	Z	H	CH, TCH
And	I	W	SH
Y	Y	SCH	SCH
To	K	S	Y
L	L	E	E
M	M	YU	YU, IU
H	N	I	YA, JA
O	O

The table of correspondence of Russian letters to Latin letters can be useful when choosing a domain name, if the domain name should be read in Russian. The table is useful when creating file names that are intended for publication on the Internet. The correct Latin spelling of file names will undoubtedly tell the user that he is going to download from one link or another.

It does not hurt to remember the abbreviation "CHPU" (human-understandable URL) or the foreign expression "Friendly URL" (URL - Uniform Resource Locator, a unique page address on the Internet). These concepts mean the same thing, about readable and understandable addresses on WEB pages on the Internet. A friendly URL gives the user more confidence when he or she is considering whether or not to follow the given link.

It should also be noted that search engines are well able to read, as well as translate the names of the site pages and use them when responding to a search query. If a the page name contains the word from the user's query, then it is highlighted in bold in the search engine results. Little is known to what extent page names affect the relevance of a particular site when a search engine responds to a user query. One thing is for sure, "CNC" is useful for visitors to your site, which means they should be used. The table of correspondence to Russian letters of Latin analogues will help you with this.

A couple of CNC examples:

http://avto.ru/prodazha/bu_avtomobili/bmw_x5_2007.html
Reading this URL, it becomes clear that on the page it represents, there is an advertisement for the sale of a 2007 BMW X5 car.

http://lib.ru/arhiv/statya-kak-kormit-sobaku.html
Looking at this URL, you can tell that the link is an article that talks about how to feed a dog.

The examples show that the words in the page titles are separated by dashes and underscores. Folder names tell the user which group the page located at a particular address can be assigned to. Domain names make it clear what can be located on the expanses of sites that are linked to them.

Before as create a website page with a readable address, you can try to type the name of the page in Latin in the search for Yandex or Google. If the search engine tries to tell you how to write a query in Russian correctly, it means that the title of your page does not contain errors. Remember to remove all underscores and dashes from the page name before making a search query.