The Old Slavic Alphabet and Pronunciation

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Anyway, the script created by St. Cyril was one called glagolitic, used till the end of the 13th c. in Czechia, Croatia and Western Macedonia, while the Cyrillic alphabet appeared in the chancellery of the Bulgarian kingdom short after 865 AD. At this time the Bulgars, who were a people of Turkic origin, converted to Christianity and were gradually assimilated to the Slavic majority of their empire (thus being formed the modern Slavic-speaking Bulgarian nation). The Byzantine Greek was used for more than 150 years in the official documents of the government and finally in the second half of the 9th c. the Byzantine uncial alphabet was adapted to the Slavic speech in the Bulgarian kingdom by adding to its 24 pronounceable letters some 13 to represent sounds  that were specific to the Slavic tongue.

After the German invasion in Great Moravia in the 880s the disciples of Cyril and Methodius were expelled and fled to Bulgaria which they considered their fatherland. Their arrival here gave great impulsion to the Bulgarian literature. The glagolitic writings were merely transliterated into the amplified Byzantine character set in use already in Bulgaria and in memory to St. Cyril it was called Cyrillic and closely associated with him, especially in Bulgaria.

Some scholars believe that St. Cyril invented the Cyrillic alphabet also, but did not use it during his mission in Greater Moravia lest be accused in promoting the Byzantine influence in an area of enhanced Latin-German interests.

From Bulgaria the Cyrillic alphabet spread to Serbia, Russia and the Rumanian principalities (Wallachia and Moldova); in the latter two countries it was used till 1861, when the Latin alphabet was introduced.

The modern forms of the Cyrillic letters were established in the beginning of the 18th c. by Peter the Great in Russia and were inspired by the outlook of the Latin antiqua.
 

Old  Slavic Characters	Byzantine Uncial Characters	Names  of the  Letters	English Transcription of the Names	Letter Number  Value1	Letter  Phonetic  Value	Common  Latin Trans- literation
à	à	açú	azó	1	a	a
á2	-	áîóêÚ	bukÓ3	-	b	b
â	â	bÜäÜ	vÅdÅ	2	v	v
ã	ã	ãëàãîëè	glagoli	3	g	g
ä	ä	äîáðî	dobro	4	d	d
å	å	~ñòü	jestè	5	e	e
æ4	-	æèâÜòå	ZivÅte	-	J	Z
s	s5	sÜëî	dzÅlo	6	dz	dz
ç	ç	zåìëÿ	zemlja	7	z	z
_, È, i	_, È, i	ÈÎòà	iÎta	10	i, j	i
è	è	èæå	iZe	8	i	i
ê	ê	êàêî	kako	20	k	k
ë	ë	ëþäü~	ljudèje	30	l	l
ì	ì	ìÚñëèòå	mÓslite	40	m	m
í	í	íàøün	našó	50	n	n
î	î	oíú	onó	70	o	o
ï	ï	ïîêîè	pokoi	80	p	p
ð	ð	ðüöè	rèci	100	r	r
ñ	ñ	ñëîâî	slovo	200	s	s
ò	ò	òâðüäî	tvrèdo	300	t	t
îó, u	îó, u	îóêú	uk	400	u	u
ô9	ô	ôðüòú	frètó	500	f	f
õ	õ	õÜðú	chÅró	600	x	ch
Î	Î	wòú	otó	800	o	Î
ù	-	ùà	šta	-	St	št
ö6	-	öè	ci	900	ts	c
÷7	-	÷ðüâü	Örèvè	90	tS	Ö
ø8	-	øà	ša	-	S	š
ú	-	~ðú ãîëÜìú	jeró golÅmó	-	ó	ó
Ú, úè	-	~ðÚ	jerÓ	-	á	Ó
ü	-	~ðú ìàëúêú	jeró malókó	-	è	è
Ü	-	Üòü	Åtó	-	@	Å
þ	-	þ	ju	-	ju	ju
ÿ	-	ÿ	ja	-	ja	ja
~	-	~	je	-	je	je
Å	-	ìàëúêú þñú	malókó jusó	900	}	ü
Æ	-	ãîëÜìú þñú	golÅmu jusó	-	_	þ
ß	-	(no name)	(no name)	-	j}	jü
Þ	-	(no name)	(no name)	-	j_	jþ
Ê9	Ê	ÊÈ	ksi	60	ks	ks
Ï9	Ï	ÏÈ	psi	700	ps	ps
Ò9	Ò	Òèòà	tita	9	t	th
Ó, ó9	Ó, ó	Óæèöà	yZica	400	i	y

 
Notes to the Table:

1. Only the letters with equivalents in the Byzantine script has a numerical value.
2. á is simplified form of the Byzantine â that by the time was changed its pronunciation from [b] to [v].
3. From the names of the two first letters (azó and bukÓ) is derived the Old Slavic word for alphabet - azbuka.
4. The form of æ is quite similar to the equivalent sign in the glagolitic script.
5. In the contemporary Byzantine script Ç has only numerical value, while in the Slavic alphabet it is associated with a sound.
6. The form of the letter ö is obviously derived from the writing of the tzade in the Square Hebrew alphabet.
7. The form of the letter ÷ is obviously derived from the writing of the final tzade in the Square Hebrew alphabet.
8. The form of the letter ø is obviously derived from the writing of the shin in the Square Hebrew alphabet.
9. The letters ô, Ê, Ï, Ò and v (ó) were used in the Greeak loan words in Old Slavic.