Moldovan Cyrillic
Script type
Time period
1924–1932
1938–present
LanguagesRomanian in the Moldavian SSR and other parts of the former Soviet Union (known there as Moldovan)
Related scripts
Parent systems
Sister systems
Romanian Cyrillic alphabet
Welcome (Bine ați venit!) sign in Moldovan Cyrillic in Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria, in 2012

The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet is a Cyrillic alphabet designed for the Romanian language spoken in the Soviet Union (Moldovan) and was in official use from 1924 to 1932 and 1938 to 1989 (and still in use today in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria).

History

Until the 19th century, Romanian was usually written using a local variant of the Cyrillic alphabet. A variant based on the reformed Russian civil script, first introduced in the late 18th century, became widespread in Bessarabia after its annexation to the Russian Empire, while the rest of the Principality of Moldavia gradually switched to a Latin-based alphabet, adopted officially after its union with Wallachia that resulted in the creation of Romania.[1] Grammars and dictionaries published in Bessarabia before 1917, both those that used the label "Moldovan" and the few that used "Romanian", used a version of the Cyrillic alphabet, with its use continuing in Bessarabia even after the 1918 union, in order to make the publications more accessible to peasant readers.[2] The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet was officially introduced in the early 1920s, in the Soviet bid to standardise the orthography of Romanian in the Moldavian ASSR; at the same time furthering political objectives by marking a clear distinction from the Latin-based Romanian orthography introduced in Romania in the 1860s. As was the case with other Cyrillic-based languages in the Soviet Union, such as Russian, Ukrainian or Belarusian, obsolete and redundant characters were dropped in an effort to simplify orthography and boost literacy. It was abandoned for a Latin-based alphabet during the Union-wide Latinisation campaign in 1932. Its re-introduction was decided by the Central Executive Committee of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on May 19, 1938, albeit with an orthography more similar to standard Russian. Following the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, it was established as the official alphabet of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic until 1989, when a law returned to the standard, Latin-based, Romanian alphabet.

There were several requests to switch back to the Latin alphabet, which was seen "more suitable for the Romance core of the language", in the Moldavian SSR. In 1965, the demands of the 3rd Congress of Writers of Soviet Moldavia were rejected by the leadership of the Communist Party, the replacement being deemed "contrary to the interests of the Moldavian people and not reflecting its aspirations and hopes".[3]

The Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet is still the official and the only accepted alphabet in Transnistria for this language.

Moldovan Cyrillic spellings are also used in the media and in governmental publications in the Republic of Moldova for the names of settlements when writing in Russian, as opposed to using their Russian forms (e.g. Кишинэу is used in place of Кишинёв for the name of the city of Chișinău).[4]

Description

All but one of the letters of this alphabet can be found in the modern Russian alphabet, the exception being the zhe with breve: Ӂ ӂ (U+04C1, U+04C2). The Russian letters Ё, Щ, and Ъ are absent from the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet.

The following chart shows the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet compared with the Latin alphabet currently in use. IPA values are given for the post-1957 literary standard.

Cyrillic letter: Equates to Latin letter: Name As employed in this context: IPA Example
А а a а (a)   /a/
Б б b бе (be)   /b/
В в v ве (ve)   /v/
Г г g, gh ге (ghe) gh used before i or e, elsewhere g /ɡ/ Ghidul = Гидул, Gheorghe = Георге
Д д d де (de)   /d/
Е е e, ie е (e) ie after a vowel or if it alternates with ia, elsewhere e /e/, /je/ Sovietică = Советикэ (alternated with ia), Moșie = Мошие, șuierătoare = шуерэтоаре
Ж ж j же (je)   /ʒ/
Ӂ ӂ g, ge, gi ӂе (ge) g before i and e, ge before a, gi elsewhere /dʒ/ fulgerele = фулӂереле, geanta = ӂянта
З з z зе (ze)   /z/
И и i, ii и (i) ii used at end of word, i elsewhere /i/ Codrii = Кодрий
Й й i и скурт (i scurt) before and after vowels /j/ Doina = Дойна
К к c, ch ка (ka) ch before i and e, c elsewhere /k/ Chirilice = Кириличе, Cherestea = Керестя
Л л l ле (le)   /l/
М м m ме (me)   /m/
Н н n не (ne)   /n/
О о o о (o)   /o/
П п p пе (pe)   /p/
Р р r ре (re)   /r/
С с s се (se)   /s/
Т т t те (te)   /t/
У у u у (u)   /u/
Ф ф f фе (fe)   /f/
Х х h ха (ha)   /h/
Ц ц ț це (țe)   /ts/
Ч ч c, ce, ci че (ce) c before i and e, ce before a, ci elsewhere /tʃ/ ce = че, ceasuri = чясурь, Socialistă = Сочиалистэ, zbuciumul = збучумул
Ш ш ș ше (șe)   /ʃ/
Ы ы â, î ы (î) â and î /ɨ/
Ь ь i семнул моале (semnul moale) At end of word (usually) /ʲ/ (i.e. palatalization of preceding consonant) veșnici = вешничь
Э э ă э (ă)   /ə/
Ю ю iu ю (iu)   /ju/, /ʲu/
Я я ea, ia я (ia) ea after a consonant or е, ia elsewhere /ja/, /ʲa/ Neaga = Няга, Piatră = Пятрэ

Sample text

This text is from Limba noastră.

Latin scriptMoldovan Cyrillic script

Limba noastră-i o comoară
În adîncuri înfundată
Un șirag de piatră rară
Pe moșie revărsată.

Limba noastră-i foc ce arde
Într-un neam, ce fără veste
S-a trezit din somn de moarte
Ca viteazul din poveste.

Limba noastră-i numai cîntec,
Doina dorurilor noastre,
Roi de fulgere, ce spintec
Nouri negri, zări albastre.

Limba noastră-i graiul pîinii,
Cînd de vînt se mișcă vara;
În rostirea ei bătrînii
Cu sudori sfințit-au țara.

Limba noastră-i frunză verde,
Zbuciumul din codrii veșnici,
Nistrul lin, ce-n valuri pierde
Ai luceferilor sfeșnici.

Nu veți plînge-atunci amarnic,
Că vi-i limba prea săracă,
Și-ți vedea, cît îi de darnic
Graiul țării noastre dragă.

Limba noastră-i vechi izvoade.
Povestiri din alte vremuri;
Și citindu-le 'nșirate,
Te-nfiori adînc și tremuri.

Limba noastră îi aleasă
Să ridice slava-n ceruri,
Să ne spuie-n hram și-acasă
Veșnicele adevăruri.

Limba noastră-i limbă sfîntă,
Limba vechilor cazanii,
Care o plîng și care o cîntă
Pe la vatra lor țăranii.

Înviați-vă dar graiul,
Ruginit de multă vreme,
Stergeți slinul, mucegaiul
Al uitării 'n care geme.

Strîngeți piatra lucitoare
Ce din soare se aprinde
Și-ți avea în revărsare
Un potop nou de cuvinte.

Răsări-va o comoară
În adîncuri înfundată,
Un șirag de piatră rară
Pe moșie revărsată.

Лимба ноастрэ-й о комоарэ
Ын адынкурь ынфундатэ,
Ун шираг де пятрэ рарэ
Пе мошие ревэрсатэ.

Лимба ноастрэ-й фок, че арде
Ынтр-ун ням, че фэрэ весте
С-а трезит дин сомн де моарте,
Ка витязул дин повесте.

Лимба ноастрэ-й нумай кынтек,
Дойна дорурилор ноастре,
Рой де фулӂере, че спинтек
Ноурь негри, зэрь албастре.

Лимба ноастрэ-й граюл пыний,
Кынд де вынт се мишкэ вара;
Ын ростиря ей бэтрыний
Ку судорь сфинцит-ау цара.

Лимба ноастрэ-й фрунзэ верде,
Збучумул дин кодрий вешничь,
Ниструл лин, че-н валурь пьерде
Ай лучеферилор сфешничь.

Ну вець плынӂе-атунч амарник,
Кэ ви-й лимба пря сэракэ,
Ши-ць ведя, кыт ый де дарник
Граюл цэрий ноастре драгэ.

Лимба ноастрэ-й векь извоаде,
Повестирь дин алте времурь;
Ши читинду-ле-нширате,
Те-нфиорь адынк ши тремурь.

Лимба ноастрэ ый алясэ
Сэ ридиче славэ-н черурь,
Сэ не спуе-н храм ши-акасэ
Вешничеле адевэрурь.

Лимба ноастрэ-й лимбэ сфынтэ,
Лимба векилор казаний,
Каре-о плынг ши каре-о кынтэ
Пе ла ватра лор цэраний.

Ынвияци-вэ дар граюл,
Руӂинит де мултэ време,
Штерӂець слинул, мучегаюл
Ал уйтэрий-н каре ӂеме.

Стрынӂець пятра лучитоаре,
Че дин соаре се апринде
Ши-ць авя ын ревэрсаре
Ун потоп ноу де кувинте.

Рэсэри-ва о комоарэ
Ын адынкурь ынфундатэ,
Ун шираг де пятрэ рарэ
Пе мошие ревэрсатэ.

See also

References

  • King, Charles (2000). The Moldovans: Romania, Russia and the Politics of Culture. Hoover Institution Press. ISBN 0-8179-9792-X.
  • Chinn, Jeffrey (1993). "The Politics of Language in Moldova" (PDF). Demokratizatsya. 2 (2): 309–315. Retrieved August 22, 2011.

Notes

  1. ↑ Denis Deletant, Slavonic letters in Moldova, Wallachia and Transylvania from the tenth to the seventeenth centuries, Ed. Enciclopedicӑ, Bucharest 1991
  2. ↑ King, Charles (1999). "The Ambivalence of Authenticity, or How the Moldovan Language Was Made". Slavic Review. 58 (1): 117–142. doi:10.2307/2672992. JSTOR 2672992. S2CID 147578687.
  3. ↑ Michael Bruchis. The Language Policy of the CPSU and the Linguistic Situation in Soviet Moldavia, in Soviet Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1. (January 1984), pp. 118-119.
  4. ↑ "Кишинев или Кишинэу? Кто прав в споре о названиях городов Молдовы" [Kishinev or Chișinău? Who is right in the dispute over the names of Moldovan cities]. newsmaker.md (in Russian). August 22, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
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