Pe (Cyrillic)

Pe (П п; italics: П п) is a letter of the Cyrillic script.

It commonly represents the unaspirated voiceless bilabial plosive /p/, like the pronunciation of ⟨p⟩ in "spin".

History

The Cyrillic letter Pe was derived from the Greek letter Pi (Π π).

The name of Pe in the Early Cyrillic alphabet was покои (pokoi), meaning "peaceful state".

In the Cyrillic numeral system, Pe had a value of 80.

Form

The capital Cyrillic letter Pe looks exactly like the Greek capital Pi from which it is derived, and small Pe looks like a smaller version of the same, though with a less prominent horizontal bar (Greek Π π > Cyrillic П п). Pe is not to be confused with the Cyrillic letter El (Л л; italics: Л л), which has a hook on its left leg in some fonts (in others El resembles the Greek Lambda (Λ)).

In italics and handwriting, capital Pe looks identical to the Greek capital Pi in these forms. The lowercase forms, however, differ among the languages that use the Cyrillic alphabet. Small italic Cyrillic Pe ⟨п⟩ in the majority of fonts or handwritten styles looks like the small italic Latin N ⟨n⟩. In handwritten Serbian, however, it appears as a Latin U ⟨u⟩ with a bar over it ⟨ū⟩.

Saints Cyril and Methodius

Saints Cyril and Methodius (826-869, 815-885; Greek: Κύριλλος καὶ Μεθόδιος; Old Church Slavonic: Кѷриллъ и Меѳодїи) were two Byzantine Christian theologians and Christian missionaries who were brothers. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they received the title "Apostles to the Slavs". They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic. After their deaths, their pupils continued their missionary work among other Slavs. Both brothers are venerated in the Orthodox Church as saints with the title of "equal-to-apostles". In 1880, Pope Leo XIII introduced their feast into the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1980, Pope John Paul II declared them co-patron saints of Europe, together with Benedict of Nursia.

Early career

Early life

The two brothers were born in Thessalonica, in present-day Greece – Cyril lived from 827–828 and Methodius 815–820. Cyril was reputedly the youngest of seven brothers; he was born Constantine, but took the name Cyril upon becoming a monk in Rome shortly before his death, according to the "Vita Cyrilli" ("The Life of Cyril"). Methodius was born Michael and took the name Methodius upon becoming a monk at Mysian Olympus (present-day Uludağ), in northwest Turkey. Their father was Leo, a droungarios of the Byzantine theme of Thessalonica, and their mother was Maria.

Cyrillic script

The Cyrillic script /sᵻˈrɪlɪk/ is an alphabetic writing system employed across Eastern Europe and north and central Asia. It is based on the Early Cyrillic, which was developed during the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th century AD at the Preslav Literary School. It is the basis of alphabets used in various languages, past and present, in parts of Southeastern Europe and Northern Eurasia, especially those of Slavic origin, and non-Slavic languages influenced by Russian. As of 2011, around 252 million people in Eurasia use it as the official alphabet for their national languages, with Russia accounting for about half of them. Cyrillic is one of the most used writing systems in the world.

Cyrillic is derived from the Greek uncial script, augmented by letters from the older Glagolitic alphabet, including some ligatures. These additional letters were used for Old Church Slavonic sounds not found in Greek. The script is named in honor of the two Byzantine brothers,Saints Cyril and Methodius, who created the Glagolitic alphabet earlier on. Modern scholars believe that Cyrillic was developed and formalized by early disciples of Cyril and Methodius of Bulgarian origin, most notable of which was Clement of Ohrid.

Cyrillic (disambiguation)

Cyrillic refers to the Cyrillic script. It may also refer to: