Church Slavonic language

The Church Slavonic language (Bulgarian: ????????????????? ????, tsarkovnoslavyanski ezik; {{lang-ru|??????????????????? ?????, tserkovnoslavyánskiy yazík}}) is the liturgical language of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church and other Slavic Orthodox Churches. Historically, this language is derived from the Old Church Slavonic language by adapting pronunciation and orthography and replacing some old and obscure words and expressions by their vernacular counterparts (for example from the Old Russian language).

Grammar and style

Although the various recensions of Church Slavonic differ in minor points, they share the tendency of approximating the original Old Church Slavonic language to the local Slavic speech.

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Inflexion tends to follow the ancient patterns with few simplifications. The original six verbal tenses, seven nominal cases, and three numbers are intact.

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The fall of the yers is fully reflected, more or less to the Russian pattern, although the terminal ъ continues to be written. The yuses are often replaced or altered in usage to the sixteenth- or seventeenth-century Russian pattern. The yat continues to be applied with greater attention to the ancient etymology than it was in nineteenth-century Russian. The letters ksi, psi, omega, ot, and izhitsa are kept, as are the letter-based denotation of numerical values, the use of stress accents, and the abbreviations or titla for words that would otherwise be capitalised.

Related Topics:
Yer - Russia - Yus - Yat

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The syntax, whether in scripture, liturgy, or church missives, is generally somewhat modernised in an attempt to increase comprehension. In particular, some of the ancient pronouns have been eliminated from the scripture (such as етеръ {{IPA|/jeter/}} "a certain (person, etc)" > {{IPA|нѣкій}} in the Russian recension). Many, but not all, occurrences of the imperfect tense have been replaced with the perfect.

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Miscellaneous other modernisations of classical formulae have taken place from time to time. For example, the opening of the Gospel of John, by tradition the first words written down by Saints Cyril and Methodius, {{IPA|искони бѣаше слово}} "In the beginning was the Word", were set down as {{IPA|въ началѣ бѣ слово}} in the Elizabethan Bible of 1755.

Related Topics:
Gospel of John - Saints Cyril and Methodius

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