E, e (called: e) is one of the letters found in all modern Cyrillic alphabets. 6th in the Russian alphabet, as well as in the Belarusian and Bulgarian; 7th - in Ukrainian, Macedonian and Serbian; It is also used in writing among non-Slavic peoples.

In the Church and Old Church Slavonic alphabets - the 6th, is called “is” and “est”, respectively (from the Greek “εστι”); The Cyrillic symbol - , has the value of the number 5, in the Glagolitic alphabet it looks like , and corresponds to the number 6.

Derived from the letter Ε, ε (epsilon) of the Greek alphabet (the appearance of Glagolitic writing is sometimes also associated with Semitic scripts). In a form identical to the Latin “E, e”, it has been used since 1707-1711, when the civil script was introduced.

Previously, only an open style was used for a printed lowercase letter: e narrow - in the form of a square E, and e wide, in the form of an elongated rounded Є (it was written only at the beginning of a word and in specific grammatical forms, sometimes after vowels). The development of small handwritten and printed letters occurred in the 17th century. in Old Russian cursive, and before that its form was close to either lowercase Greek ε (epsilon) or є.

Pronunciation

In Russian, pronunciation depends on the stress and position of the letter in the word:

Being under stress, after vowels and at the beginning of words it denotes the sound pair [ye], reduced in the pre-stressed 1st syllable to [йи e], in other unstressed syllables it sounds like [йь];

After consonant letters (except for zh, ts and sh, and individual borrowings, such as molybdenum, amber, panel, tempo, highway, Graves' disease, etc., and abbreviations such as esdek, socialist-revolutionary) softens the previous consonant and the sound under stress [e ], (in the 1st pre-stressed syllable - [and e]; in other unstressed syllables - [b]);

Under stress after zh, c and w (and other consonants in the individual cases given above) it means [e], in the 1st pre-stressed syllable - [ы e], in other syllables without stress - [b];

Also, sometimes the letter E is written as E. The reason for this is to speed up writing by eliminating dots, but when printing texts, such a replacement is usually not recommended.

The meaning of the letter in the Belarusian language is basically the same, only due to the greater phonetic nature of the language, the reading rules are somewhat simpler: it is impossible not to soften the preceding consonant (in this case it is written e, not e: tendentsyya, shests), with strong reduction, other letters are also used (shastsi - six, Myafodziy - Methodius).

In Ukrainian, it is similar to the Russian letter E (and the equivalent of the Russian letter E is the letter Є).

In the Serbian language it is always pronounced as [e], since in Serbian writing softening and iotation are indicated explicitly, with special letters for soft consonants (“in Lately" - "in the middle of time").

As in Russian, in the Bulgarian language, it softens the preceding consonant, and after vowels and at the beginning of a word it is pronounced with an iot (ezik [yezik]). This sound is typical for eastern Bulgaria. In the west of the country, the pronunciation corresponds to the Russian “e”.

Derived letters "E"

From the letter E of the Cyrillic alphabet in the writings of various peoples branched: Ѥ (used in Old Russian, Old Slavonic, Old Serbian, etc.; until the 17th century it was used in the Serbian version of the Church-Slavic language), Є (used in the current Ukrainian, Old Serbian, Church Slavonic), Yo (in Russian and Belarusian); from the Glagolitic form the letter E came from (exists in the Russian and Belarusian languages, previously it was also in Bulgarian and Serbian).

In the near future, the È style, used in the Macedonian language to distinguish homonyms (“Everything you write will be used (can be used) against you” - “Whatever you write can be used against you!”) may become an independent letter. Sometimes it already occupies a separate position in a number of computer fonts and encodings.

The letter E owes its appearance to changes in Russian phonetics. Once upon a time, O was not pronounced after soft consonants. That is why they said, for example, not a dog, but a dog. But at some point, E turned into O: this is how the modern pronunciation of words like honey, everything, and many others arose. True, for a long time there was no new designation for this sound. The writers calmly used the letters O and E: bees, honey. But in the 18th century, these words began to be written differently, using the combination io (all-all). It was then that it became obvious: a new letter was needed! Princess Dashkova and the writer Karamzin proposed replacing two signs with one. This is how the letter E was born.

Were any other options considered?

Certainly. IN different time various ideas appeared for replacing the letter E. We could now write that same pronoun “everything” as “everything”. In both the 19th and 20th centuries, a wide variety of proposals were made: ö , ø , ε , ę , ē , ĕ . However, none of these options were approved.

Many people didn’t like the letter E and still don’t like it. Why?

For a long time, “joking” was considered a sign of common speech. The letter was new, so it was treated with suspicion and even some contempt - as something alien that did not correspond to Russian linguistic traditions.

But there is another, very simple reason for dislike - the letter E is inconvenient to write, for this you need to perform three actions at once: write the letter itself, and then put two dots over it. Such a complex letter was perceived as a burden, some linguists noted. It was not easy for those who typed texts from Yo on typewriters. Soviet typists had to press three keys at once: letters e, carriage return, quotes.

By the way, even now they joke about those who type texts with Y on a computer: “Beware of people who type words with Y: if they can reach it on the keyboard, they will reach you!”

Is E a full-fledged letter, the same as all the others?

Complex issue. Since e appeared, the most contradictory opinions were expressed about it. Some linguists did not consider it an independent letter. For example, in an article from 1937, A. A. Reformatsky wrote: “Is there a letter in the Russian alphabet e? No. There is only the diacritic sign “umlaut” or “trema” (two dots above the letter), which is used to avoid possible misunderstandings ... "

Such icons above letters exist in many languages. And the speakers of these languages, as a rule, treat them very jealously. In France, for example, the government’s attempt to abandon the sign “aksan circonflex” (house above the letter) as part of a spelling reform caused a real storm: the French were ready to take to the streets to protect their favorite sign.

Does our Yo have defenders?

There are, and some more! Fighters for the “rights” of the letter E are called yofikators ( don't forget to reach for the letter E when you write this word). Yofikators ensure that the use of the letter e has become ubiquitous and mandatory. The fact is that they perceive words with E instead of E as an insult to the Russian language and even to Russia as a whole. For example, the writer, head of the “Union of Yofikators” V.T. Chumakov calls neglect of the letter E not only a spelling mistake, but also a political, spiritual, and moral mistake.

And linguists agree with him?

No, linguists are just not that categorical. The editor-in-chief of the Gramota.ru portal Vladimir Pakhomov calls the statement that E instead of E is a gross spelling error one of the myths about the Russian language. Of course, there are arguments both for and against. For example, the obligatory Yo would help to remember the correct pronunciation of some names, surnames and names of localities. But there is also a danger: if Yo is made mandatory, then the texts of the classics may begin to be “modernized”, and then Yo will appear where it should not be at all.

In what words is Yo pronounced by mistake?

There are quite a lot of such words. Can often be heard scam instead of scam or guardianship instead of guardianship. In fact, these words do not contain the letter E, and pronunciation with E is considered a gross spelling error. In the same list are words such as grenadier ( not a grenadier!) , expired in the meaning of time (it is impossible to say elapsed period)settled ( under no circumstances settled!),hagiography And being . Here, by the way, it is appropriate to recall director Yakin from the film “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession.” Yakin pronounces the word hagiography absolutely correct - through E, not through E.

Anewborn also without Yo?

You can write this word with E instead of E, but it is pronounced with E. That's right - newborn, not newborn!

Words are also spoken with Yo obscene ( remember it, this word is very often pronounced incorrectly!), edge, worthless, windsurfing, bleeding (blood).

I'm completely confused. Still, if I don’t want to reach for Yo on the keyboard, am I not betraying the Russian language and my Motherland?

Of course no! There is no mistake or betrayal in refusing Yo. The letter E cannot be dispensed with except in textbooks for junior schoolchildren and in manuals for foreigners who do not know how to read and pronounce Russian words. In other cases, the decision is yours. However, if in correspondence about the weather you suddenly want to write something like “Tomorrow we will finally take a break from the cold,” try to reach out to E.

Introduction

In the development of the culture and language of the people, writing is of particular importance. One of the fundamental stages of its development is the emergence of the alphabet.

Our Russian alphabet consists of thirty-three letters and one of them stands a little apart from the general series. Firstly, it is the only one among all other letters that has dots on top, and secondly, it was introduced into the current alphabet by order.

This is the letter E.

The purpose of my essay: to explore the history of the letter E and explain its necessity in our alphabet.

1. Get acquainted with the history of the letter E and its appearance in the Russian alphabet.

2. Trace its use in various written sources (legal, artistic, official, educational).

3. Research scientific linguistic articles that contain data on this topic.

4. Find out the arguments of supporters and opponents of the letter E.

Research methods:

1) Review and analyze texts for the use of the letter E.

2) Study and systematization of popular science and scientific articles.

3) Analysis of the information I received.

The relevance of this problem is great because recently cases associated with the use of the letters E and E have become more frequent.

The absence of two dots over E entails a violation of not only cognitive and communicative functions language, but also material problems, for example, such as refusal to issue certificates and documents, non-payment of benefits and the like.

The history of the creation of the letter E

In Russia, until the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century, the main literary pronunciation was considered to be Church Slavonic, where there was no sound Ё. He appeared later “from the people.”

The modern civil alphabet was introduced by Peter I. Since this alphabet was compiled by the monarch of all Rus' himself, no one had any questions about the “y”, “e”, “yu”, “ts” he introduced, but the one that appeared in In Russian pronunciation, the combination of sounds (and [o] after soft consonants) for a long time was not expressed in any way in writing. Only in the middle of the 18th century was the designation introduced for them in the form of the letters IO under one cap. But this method turned out to be cumbersome and was used very rarely.

On November 29, 1783, one of the first meetings of the newly created Academy of Russian Literature took place. The meeting was attended by its director - Princess Dashkova Ekaterina Romanovna, as well as Derzhavin G. R., Fonvizin D. I., Lepyokhin I. I., Knyazhnin Ya. B., Metropolitan Gabriel and others. On the agenda was a discussion of the draft full explanatory Slavic-Russian dictionary, the later famous 6-volume “Dictionary of the Russian Academy”. At the end of the meeting, Ekaterina Romanovna asked those present to write the word “tree” and when she saw the same “iolka” she asked: “Is it legal to represent one sound with two letters?” Adding that “these reprimands have already been introduced by custom, which, when it does not contradict common sense, should be followed in every possible way,” she proposed replacing the previous designation of the sound “io” in the Russian alphabet with just one new letter “E”. The arguments given by Dashkova in favor of such an innovation seemed convincing to the academicians, and her proposal was accepted. Due to the high cost of creating new letters, the letter E in new dictionary didn't hit. The idea itself was supported and gradually began to be implemented by G. R. Derzhavin. He was the first to use Yo in personal correspondence. The first word written with the letter E was “everything”, then “vasilyochik”, “immortal”, “penek”, “light”.

From the beginning of 1795, the letter E began to be used in print, but linguistic conservatism still prevented the promotion of the young letter among the masses. Yes, one of famous examples“linguistic conservatism” was Marina Tsvetaeva. She principally used the word “devil,” and the poet Andrei Bely used “zsolty.” The Minister of Education Alexander Shishkov treated the letter E with greater hatred. In all the books he owned, he erased the two dots that irritated him. In all pre-revolutionary primers, E was at the very end of the alphabet, and not after E as it is now.

The letter E gained fame thanks to Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich. In 1796, in the poetic almanac “Aonids”, published by Karamzin, words such as “tears”, “eagle”, “dawn”, “moth” and the first verb “flowed” were printed with the letter “Yo”. But it is not known for certain whether this was Karamzin’s own idea or, perhaps, the initiative of one of the publishing house employees who helped Karamzin. Moreover, in scientific works (for example, in “History of the Russian State,” 1816-1829) Karamzin did not use the letter “Y”.

The letter E was used rarely and only in cases where it was necessary to clarify the meaning of a word or a whole sentence, as well as when writing, for example, foreign names and names. The lack of basic rules made the use of the letter optional throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. There were long discussions about its use, but the 20th century brought its own adjustments to the problem of using the letter E. In 1917, a decree was issued, signed by Lunacharsky A.V., which contained a resolution recognizing the use of the letter as desirable, although not mandatory Yo.

As a result, a century passed before the letter began to be sometimes mentioned again in official documents and decrees.

The main “heyday” of the use of the letter E occurred during the reign of Stalin. There is a legend that it was he who promoted the letter Y. Although no evidence was found, they say that Stalin treated the Administrator of the Council of People's Commissars, Yakov Chadayev, very strictly for the fact that on December 5, 1942 he submitted a resolution to him for signature, where the names of several generals were printed without the letter E. Having received a severe reprimand, Chadayev warned the editor of the Pravda newspaper about the leader’s insistence on using the letter E in print. And, lo, in the issue of December 7, 1942, E appeared in all articles. For example, on the main page The page had the headline: “Workers, collective farmers, Soviet intelligentsia! Strengthen your assistance to the front with selfless work! Sacredly fulfill your civic duty to your homeland and its valiant defenders at the front!” And below the title is a resolution on conferring the rank of general, signed by the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars I. Stalin and the Administrator of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR Y. Chadayev. In all the surnames of the generals, the letter E was in its place.

On December 24, 1942, People's Commissar of Education Potemkin published an order introducing the use of the letter E in school curriculum. A special reference book “Using the letter E” was published, compiled by Nikolsky N.N. The authors of school textbooks replaced the letter E with Y in the works of Russian classics. In 1956, the first textbook “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation” was approved, the authors of which for some reason ignored Potemkin’s order.

September 29th, 2016 , 07:02 pm

When the Bolsheviks came to power, they “combed through” the alphabet, removed “yat” and fita and izhitsa, but did not touch the letter E. It was under Soviet rule that the points above e In order to simplify typing, most words were missing. Although no one formally banned or abolished it.

The situation changed dramatically in 1942. Supreme Commander-in-Chief Stalin received German maps on his desk, in which German cartographers wrote down the names of our settlements down to the dots. If the village was called “Demino”, then in both Russian and German it was written Demino (and not Demino). The Supreme Commander appreciated the enemy's meticulousness. As a result, on December 24, 1942, a decree was issued requiring the mandatory use of the letter Yoyo everywhere, from school textbooks to the Pravda newspaper. Well, of course, on the maps. By the way, no one has ever canceled this order!

Often the letter “е”, on the contrary, is inserted into words in which it is not needed. For example, “scam” instead of “scam”, “being” instead of “being”, “guardianship” instead of “guardianship”. The first Russian world chess champion was actually called Alexander Alekhine and was very indignant when he noble surname they wrote incorrectly, “commonly” - Alekhine. In general, the letter “е” is contained in more than 12 thousand words, in approximately 2.5 thousand surnames of Russian citizens and former USSR, in thousands of place names.

A categorical opponent of using this letter when writing is designer Artemy Lebedev. For some reason he didn't like her. It must be said that it is indeed inconveniently located on a computer keyboard. Of course, you can do without it, as, for example, the text will be understandable even if zngo sklcht vs glsn bkv. But is it worth it?

IN last years a number of authors, in particular Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Yuri Polyakov and others, some periodicals, as well as the scientific publishing house "Bolshaya Russian encyclopedia» publish their texts with the obligatory use of the discriminated letter. Well, the creators of the new Russian electric car gave the name to their brainchild from this one letter.

Some statistics

In 2013, the letter Yoyo turns 230 years old!

She is in 7th (lucky!) place in the alphabet.

There are about 12,500 words in the Russian language with the letter Ё, of which about 150 words begin with е and about 300 words end with е!

On average, there is 1 letter e for every hundred characters of text. .

There are words in our language with two letters E: “three-star”, “four-bucket”.

There are several traditional names in the Russian language that contain the letter Ё:

Artyom, Parmen, Peter, Savel, Seliverst, Semyon, Fedor, Yarem; Alena, Matryona, Fyokla and others.

Optional use letters e leads to erroneous readings and the inability to restore the meaning of the word without additional explanations, for example:

Loan-loan; perfect-perfect; tears-tears; palate-palate; chalk-chalk; donkey-donkey; fun-fun...

And, of course, the classic example from “Peter the Great” by A.K. Tolstoy:

Under such a sovereign let's take a break!

It was meant - " let's take a break" Do you feel the difference?

How do you read “Let’s Sing Everything”? Are we all eating? Shall we eat everything?

And the last name of the French actor will be Depardieu, not Depardieu. (see Wikipedia)

And, by the way, A. Dumas’s cardinal’s name is not Richelieu, but Richelieu. (see Wikipedia)

And the correct way to pronounce the surname of the Russian poet is Fet, not Fet.

On December 24, 1942, by order of the People's Commissar of Education of the RSFSR Vladimir Potemkin, the mandatory use of the letter “ё” was introduced in school practice. It was from this day that this letter, which still causes a lot of talk and controversy around itself, officially entered the Russian alphabet. And she took an honorable 7th place in it.

"RG" cites a number of interesting and little known facts about the letter "Y" and its history.

Princess Christmas tree

The “godmother” of the letter “e” can be considered Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova, director of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. On November 29 (18), 1783, one of the first meetings took place Russian Academy sciences, at which the princess was present among the respected poets, writers and philosophers of that time. The project of the 6-volume “Dictionary of the Russian Academy” was discussed. The academicians were about to go home when Ekaterina Romanovna asked those present if anyone could write the word “Christmas tree”. The academics decided that the princess was joking, but she, having written the word “yolka” she had spoken, asked: “Is it legal to represent one sound with two letters?” And she proposed using the new letter “е” to express words and pronunciations, for example, such as “matіoryy,” “іolka,” “іozh.” Dashkova’s arguments seemed convincing, and the feasibility of introducing a new letter was asked to be assessed by a member of the Academy of Sciences, Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg Gabriel. Thus, November 29 (18), 1783 can be considered the birthday of “yo”.

One of the first to use “ё” in personal correspondence was the poet Gavriil Derzhavin. The letter first appeared in a printed edition in the late 90s of the 18th century - in the book of the poet Ivan Dmitriev “And My Trinkets,” printed in 1795 at the Moscow University Printing House. There are the words “everything”, “light”, “stump”, “immortal”, “cornflower”. However, in scientific works of that time the letter “е” was still not used. For example, in “History of the Russian State” by Karamzin (1816-1829) the letter “ё” is missing. Although many researchers and philologists give credit to the historical writer Karamzin for introducing the letter “e”. Among her opponents were: famous figures, like the writer and poet Alexander Sumarokov and the scientist and poet Vasily Trediakovsky. Thus, its use was optional.

It couldn't have happened without Stalin

On December 23, 1917 (January 5, 1918), a decree was published, signed by People's Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky, which ordered “all government and state publications” from January 1 (old style) 1918 “to be printed according to the new spelling.” It also said: “Recognize the use of the letter “ё” as desirable, but not obligatory.” And only on December 24, 1942, according to the order of the People's Commissar of Education of the RSFSR Vladimir Potemkin, the mandatory use of the letter “e” was introduced in school.

There is a legend that Stalin personally had a hand in this. On December 6, 1942, the manager of the Council of People's Commissars, Yakov Chadayev, brought an order for signature in which the names of several generals were printed with the letter "e" rather than "e". Stalin flew into a rage, and the very next day, December 7, 1942, the letter “e” appeared in all articles of the Pravda newspaper. However, publishers initially used the letter with two dots at the top, but in the 50s of the twentieth century they began to use it only when necessary. The selective use of the letter "ё" was enshrined in the rules of Russian spelling in 1956.

To write or not to write

In accordance with the letter of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated 05/03/2007 “On decisions of the Interdepartmental Commission on the Russian Language”, it is prescribed to write the letter “ё” in cases where a word can be misread, for example, in proper names, since ignoring the letter “ ё" in this case is a violation of the Federal Law "On the State Language of the Russian Federation".

According to the current rules of Russian spelling and punctuation, the letter “ё” is written in the following cases:

When it is necessary to prevent incorrect reading and understanding of a word, for example: “we recognize” as opposed to “we recognize”; "everything" as opposed to "all"; “perfect” (participle) as opposed to “perfect” (adjective), etc.;
- when you need to indicate the pronunciation of a little-known word, for example: Olekma river.
- In special texts: primers, school textbooks of the Russian language, spelling textbooks, etc., as well as in dictionaries to indicate the place of stress and correct pronunciation.
According to the same rules, in ordinary printed texts the letter “e” can be used selectively. But at the request of the author or editor, any text or book can be printed with the letter “е”.

Especially if there are rarely used, borrowed or complex words: for example, “geoz”, “surfing”, “fleur”, “harder”, “slit”. Or you need to indicate the correct emphasis: for example, “fable”, “brought”, “carried away”, “condemned”, “newborn”, “filler” (the letter “e” is always stressed).

Leo instead of Leo

The optional use of the letter “е” has led to the fact that today names are written without it:

Philosopher and writer Montesquieu;
- X-ray physics;
- physicist Anders Jonas Ångström, as well as the unit of length Ångström, named in his honor;
- microbiologist and chemist Louis Pasteur;
- artist and philosopher Nicholas Roerich;
- Nazi leaders Goebbels and Goering;
- writer Leo Tolstoy (the writer himself pronounced his name in accordance with the old Moscow speech tradition - Lev; Tolstoy was also called by members of his family, close friends and numerous acquaintances).

The surnames Khrushchev and Gorbachev are also written without the “ё”.

Other interesting facts

In 2005, in Ulyanovsk, by decision of the city mayor’s office, a monument was erected to the letter “e” - a triangular prism made of granite, on which a lowercase “e” is stamped.

There are about 12.5 thousand words in the Russian language with “ё”. Of these, about 150 begin with “е” and about 300 end with “е”.

In the Russian language, words with several letters “ё” are also possible, usually these are compound words: “three-star”, “four-vector”.

More than 300 surnames differ only in the presence of “e” or “e” in them. For example, Lezhnev - Lezhnev, Demina - Demina. The correct spelling of such surnames in personal documents and various property and inheritance matters is especially important. A mistake can deprive a person, for example, of an inheritance. For example, the Elkin family from Barnaul reported that in the 1930s their ancestor lost his inheritance due to the fact that it was registered in the Elkin family. And Perm resident Tatyana Teterkina almost lost her Russian citizenship due to the incorrect spelling of her last name in her passport.

There is a rare Russian surname Yo of French origin, which French written in four letters.

The surname of the famous Russian poet Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (Foeth - German by origin) was distorted when printing his first book. He gained fame under the name Fet. At the same time, he spent part of his life under the name Shenshin.