Who invented the first dictionary? What types of dictionaries are there? What types of Russian language dictionaries are there? Pre-revolutionary spelling dictionaries in Russia

In ancient times, people passed information to each other different ways- for example, they used the so-called knot letter, drawing their messages on special tablets or fabric.


Various events were recorded by carving pictures on stone. Gradually, the need arose to make these images coherent, and a kind of alphabet was made from the drawings. But this was not very convenient, and over time, pictures began to be replaced with symbols.

Later, this method of transmitting information underwent changes, and symbols began to represent combinations of sounds. The so-called syllabic writing arose.

A look into history

The first alphabet of letters appeared about four thousand years ago. It is reliably known that letters were already used by the ancient Phoenicians, and after them by the ancient Greeks and Romans, who appeared two and a half thousand years ago.


About three and a half thousand years ago, the inhabitants of the Mediterranean coast began to use the same symbol to represent one sound in different combinations. The Egyptians created a unique alphabet of 24 symbols representing certain sounds. The Slavs began to use letters later - about a thousand years ago.

Today it is impossible to unequivocally answer the question of who first invented the letters. We only have the opportunity to analyze the emergence of writing in this or that country, among this or that people.

Writing was not invented overnight, and its author could not be one person. Although there are examples when the alphabet was born as a result of a creative process during a certain period of time. And we know for sure the names of the creators of the Slavic alphabet - their names are Cyril and Methodius. They are often called “Thessalonica Brothers.”

Cyril and Methodius

Emergence Slavic writing associated with the transition in Moravia in the 9th century to worship in the Slavic language. To do this, it was necessary to train priests and translate church books. This means that there was a need to create a literary Slavic language.


The translation mission was entrusted to two brothers from the city of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki) - Constantine and Michael, or Cyril and Methodius. Cyril knew many languages ​​and was a very educated man; Methodius was distinguished by his oratorical talent. Both brothers spoke Slavic perfectly.

It is believed that the Glagolitic alphabet was created by the brothers on the basis of Greek writing and some Hebrew characters even before leaving for Moravia. The first translations of church books were made into Old Church Slavonic, and the Glagolitic alphabet was used.

The Cyrillic alphabet was invented later in Bulgaria, and scientists are still arguing about its authorship. According to one version, the Cyrillic alphabet was created by a student of the Thessaloniki brothers, Kliment Ohridski, who named the alphabet after his teacher.

Glagolitic and Cyrillic: differences

In the study of any alphabet, substantive and formal approaches are used: the substantive approach studies the correspondence of a letter to a specific sound, and the formal one studies the history of the letter as a symbol. Glagolitic, from the point of view of scientists, is more interesting subject for research than Cyrillic.


In the Glagolitic alphabet, the number of letters corresponds to the number of sounds in Old Slavonic language. The symbolism of both alphabets is reminiscent of the Greek, but at the same time, the Glagolitic alphabet has features characteristic specifically of the Slavic alphabet. In the Cyrillic alphabet, some letters are a complete borrowing of Greek characters. In both the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet, each letter is not just a sound, but a concept.

In chapter Other to the question Who invented the first Russian dictionary? And when was it invented? given by the author Alexander Makhnovsky the best answer is The first Russian dictionaries appeared at the end of the 13th century and were small lists of incomprehensible words with their interpretation, found in monuments of ancient Russian writing.
Since the 16th century, dictionaries began to be compiled in alphabetical order, as a result of which they received the name “alphabet books”.
In 1596, the scientist Lavrentiy Zizaniy Tustanovsky published the first printed dictionary in Vilna, “Lexis, that is, speeches, briefly collected and interpreted from the Slovenian language into simple Russian and dialect,” which contained 1061 words.
The Dictionary of the Russian Academy is the first explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, containing 43,357 words in 6 parts. Work on the dictionary began in 1783 and took 11 years. The dictionary contained elements of an etymological dictionary: words were arranged according to a common root, forming branched semantic nests. Using a dictionary, it was possible to determine where the word came from; in addition, the publication included many new words in the Russian language - in particular, those introduced by M. V. Lomonosov into science scientific terms. The dictionary's expense, especially in terms of intricate botanical terminology, was criticized in the pages of " Explanatory dictionary"V. I. Dalya.

Spelling dictionaries, unlike explanatory dictionaries, consider words from the point of view of spelling. Such reference books exist to help schoolchildren, editors and specialists who use terminology in areas of professional activity.

Pre-revolutionary spelling dictionaries in Russia

The first attempt to create a reference book of Russian spelling was made by Y.K. Grotto. His work “Russian Spelling,” first published in 1885, was accompanied by an index containing about three thousand words. On its basis, already in the 20th century, spelling dictionaries, the editors and compilers of which were V. Kimental (1900), M. Altabaev (1913), V. Zelinsky (1914) and others.

With coming new government in Russia not only has changed political system, but also spelling standards. Accordingly, there is a need for reference and educational literature, explaining and summarizing the new rules.

The first of the dictionaries of the new regime was the manual “My Dictionary. A quick guide to the new spelling. For students." Its author was V. Flerov. First published in 1918, it went through nine editions. The spelling reference book by I. Ustinov, published in 1921, supplemented with exercises for speech development, as well as a dictionary for students, were reprinted many times high school(1933) edited by D.N. Ushakova and S.E. Kryuchkova and other publications for primary and secondary schools.

In addition to publications for schoolchildren, a manual for journalists, editors and proofreaders of book publishing houses, written by Y. Khomutov in 1927, also appeared. It was approximately 100,000 words long. Proofreading reference books by various authors, published in the 1950s-1970s, were also supplied with voluminous spelling dictionaries in the form of appendices.

In 1945, a separate dictionary was published devoted to the rules for using the letter “e”. Its authors, K.I. Bylinsky, M.V. Svetlaev and S.E. Kryuchkov gave more than four and a half thousand examples of words using this letter.

Dictionaries edited by the famous linguist D.E. Rosenthal, which considers fused and separate writing words, as well as correct usage capitals and lowercase letters at the beginning of the word, appeared in the mid-80s of the twentieth century. They are still republished periodically.

Modern spelling dictionaries

After the breakup Soviet Union global changes the spelling standards did not follow, so the dictionaries published in Soviet period, are used along with newly created ones.

Directory of Russian spelling, authored by N.V. Soloviev, was published in 1997. In 1999, a spelling dictionary appeared under the editorship of V.V. Lopatina. It was prepared in connection with the planned but still unrealized reform of the Russian language. This huge work, containing more than 160,000 lexical units, was created in a hurry, however, according to the author, it is the most complete collection of orthographic material taking into account modern trends.

1999 was also marked by the release of a series of reference books from the AST-Press publishing house, prepared by a group of authors, explaining the combined and separate spelling of words, the use of capital and lowercase letters, and the use of single and double letters “N”.