#slavonic

Lexical similarities between Slavic languages

Ukrainian Fish Sellers on a Coastal Black Sea Beach, Southern Ukraine

Henryk Siemiradzki, Noc Iwana Kupały (Ivan Kupala Night)

Refrain, Slavonic: Честнейшую херувїмь, и славнейшую безь сравненїя серафїмь, безь истленїя Бога Слова рождшую, сущую Богородицу Тя величаемь.

Ukrainian: Чеснішу від херувимів і незрівнянно славнішу від серафимів, що без істління Бога Слово породила, дійсну Богородицю, Тебе величаємо.

The legacy of the Slavic languages being represented by the Greek alphabet go back very far. Traditionally Cyril and Methodius are given the attribution of inventing the Slavonic scripts to represent the languages instead of Greek which ill-represented the phonemes of Slavonic. Even so, there is a long history of Slavonic languages (mainly South Slavic) being represented by the Greek script. There are early examples of this (none that I have been able to find), but the more contemporary examples are well attested. Here, we will explore 3 scripts: the Konikovo Gospel, the Kulakiya Gospel, and the Pomak alphabet.

Konikovo Gospel (1852)

Ωἰτ Ιωάννα. Οὐτ πέρβȣ μπέσ̮ει ρὲτζ̮τα, ἡ ῥέτζ̮τα μπέσ̮ει σῶς Μπόγα, ἡ Μπὸγ μπέσ̮ε ῥέτζ̮τα· Βόα μπέσ̮ε ȣ̓τ πέρβȣ σῶς Μπόγα. Σῆτε ραμπώτη ζαρδὶ νεῖζ λακαρδίατα σὰ τζ̮εινήα, ἡ μπεῖζ νέγȣ νέ σα τζεινὴ νήκȣε ȣ̓τ κόλκȣ σὰ τζ̮εινία. (my transcription, I uploaded it onto wikipedia bc the previous version was not good) От Иоа́нна. Ут пе́рву бе́ши ре́чта, и ре́чта бе́ши со̂с Бо́га, и Бо́г бе́ше ре́чта. Во́а бе́ше утпе́рву со̂с Бо́га. Сѝте рабо́ти зарди́ нѝз лакарди́ата са́ чини́а, и бѝз не́гу не́ са чини́ ни́куе ут ко́лку са́ чини́а. (Source)

This document largely maintains how Greek is written, the main phonological difference is with /ʃ/ and /tʃ/ which are represented by a breve underneath the letter σ or ζ (σ̮ and .

Kulakiya Gospel (1863)

The transcription of this manuscript features a different type of transliteration, however. The author, Efstathios Kypriades, choses to represent sounds with different accents. Whereas the other manuscript uses μπ for /b/, Kypriades chose to represent it with π̈. Interestingly, the former represents /g/ and /d/ as γ and δ, but Kypriades makes a distinction between the Greek letters and the plosives of Slavonic (γ̈ and δ̈). The one similarity lies in the representation of /ʃ/ which uses the breve beneath. However, it is also used to represent palatalization (κ̮ for k'). The only other accent is a macron above the letter which represents the following /i/ sound becoming /i̥/.

Γ̈οσποδ̈νοβο ὶ σφετάγο Εὐαγγέλιο νὰ Π̈όγα νάσ̮αγο γ̈όλεμα Τσίκφα Χριστι̮άνοφ, ἰσκάρενο νὰ π̈ούγαρτσκο ἰζίκ̮, τουβάσ̮νο ζπόρ νὰ Βαρδ̈αρία, ζὰ οὐφ νεδ̈έλ̄ιτε σάτι, ζὰ γ̈ουδ̈ίνατα, ἰ ζὰ σάτι πραζν̄ίτσ̄ιτι γ̈ολέμιτε, ζὰ τσέλα γ̈οδ̈ίνα ζὰ λ̄ειτουργ̈ίατα. Σὰ πισάλο ὀυτ Ευστάθιο Κυπριάδη οὐφ σέλοτο Κολακία. Νὰ 30 Νοέμβριῳ μέσιτς 1863. Господново и сфетаго евангелио на бога нашаго голема црикфа христианоф, искарено на бугарцко изик тувашно збор на Вардариа за уф неделите сати за гудината и за сати празницити големите за цела година за литургиата. Са писало ут Евстатио Киприади уф селото Колакиа на 30 ноемврио месиц 1863.

Interesting side note, the use of σ̮ is interesting as σ̈ is a character used in Arvanite Albanian to represent /ʃ/ at the same time (source). I'm not sure if this was a conscious choice, but I wanted to make note of it nonetheless.

Pomak Language

For a modern example, the Pomak language used in Greece is sometimes attested with the Greek alphabet. There are different methodologies behind the representation of this, however. Some attestations use additional accents and others don't. For example, the word жаба /ʒaba/ could be written Ζζέμπα or Ζ̌έμπα. Other variations used are: /ʃ/ could be σσ or σ̌, /tʃ/ could be τσσ or τσ̌, /dʒ/ could be τζζ or τζ̌.