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Every year, on 24 May, many countries in Eastern Europe and Northern/Central Asia celebrate the Day of the Cyrillic Alphabet. The Cyrillic alphabet is used by more than 250 million people across 50 languages and is the 6th most popular writing script on the planet.
This year, the EUI Library is organizing a book exhibition dedicated to contemporary Bulgarian literature. This book exhibition presents several contemporary Bulgarian writers whose books have been translated into English, Italian, French, and German.
Contemporary Bulgarian Literature
The year 2023 was significant for Contemporary Bulgarian Literature as Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov won the International Booker Prize.
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Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe by Kapka Kassabova attracted the public’s attention.
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East of the West: A Country in Stories by Miroslav Penkov inspired the title of the book exhibition.
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The Cyrillic Alphabet
The creation of the Cyrillic alphabet is related to the life and work of Saints Cyril and Methodius – Byzantine missionaries among the Slav nations (9th century). Around the year 855, they created the so-called Glagolitic script, which was initially spread among the Czech and Slovak people (in the kingdom of Great Moravia). But towards the end of the Middle Ages, it remained in use only among certain Croat communities in the Adriatic. Later in the 10th century, the contemporary Cyrillic script was developed by the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius in the territories of the Medieval Bulgarian Kingdom. There they found refuge following the beginning of persecutions in central Europe. Later on, the liturgical and theological texts translated by them from Byzantine Greek into Church Slavonic in the medieval Bulgarian capitals of Pliska and Preslav became well accepted among the other Slav groups – namely the Kievan Rus’ after its Christianization (988) and in the Serbian lands. This Byzantine-Slavic cultural heritage has exerted a considerable influence on the development of many Eastern European nations to this day. The Cyrillic script is composed of 30 to 32 letters depending on the language.
Due to the common origin from the Phoenician script through the Greek one, there are many resemblances between Latin and Cyrillic letters. For example, in Cyrillic the Latin “P” is pronounced as [R], the Latin “B” is pronounced as [V] or the Latin “H” is pronounced as [N]. Some of the letters are pronounced in the same way both in Latin and in Cyrillic such as “A”, “T” and “K”. Serval letters are unique for the Cyrillic like “Я” [ya], “Ю” [iu], and “Щ” [sht]. Some of the rare sounds are “Ъ”, which is pronounced between [a] and [u] as well as “Й”, which is pronounced as short [i].
Since the Bulgarian accession to the EU in 2007, the Cyrillic has been the third official alphabet of the European Union alongside the Latin and the Greek alphabets. Furthermore, Bulgaria is the only EUI contracting state that officially uses this writing system. In 2018, the Cyrillic letters were depicted on the logo of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU. The Cyrillic is one of the three scripts used on the euro banknotes: “EBPO”, which is pronounced evro.
For further information, you may follow the links below
- Reading guide: Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel
- Border by Kapka Kassabova
- East of the West by Miroslav Penkov
- Celebrating the Cyrillic alphabet (website of the Council of the European Union and the European Council)
- Cyrillic Alphabet Day 2021 (website of the European Commission)
- The Cyrillic Alphabet – The New Alphabet in the European Union, in English and in French (website of the European Economic and Social Committee)
- Design elements of the euro banknotes (website of the European Central Bank)