Formation of the Norms for the Distribution of the Letters и and ы after c in Russian Writing

Abstract

Становление норм дистрибуции букв и и ы после ц в русском письме

The article traces the formation of the Russian spelling norm for the use of и/ы after ц, illustrated from 17th-century news-digests, “Vedomosti” of the era of Peter I, “The St. Petersburg Vedomosti” and “The Moscow Vedomosti” of the 18th–19th centuries. Vesti-chimes and “Vedomosti” demonstrate a stable spelling of ы after ц in Russian native morphemes, contrary to the book tradition and the recommendations of Church Slavonic grammars. At the same time, borrowings show a stable ten­dency to use и/i in this position. Particularly frequent are foreign words in -цiя, which, from the mid- 1710s. are written only with i, which may be explained by the peculiarities of the pronunciation of that time. Already in the 1720’s , the usage was established according to which ы is written after ц, except in the case of borrowings, where we always find и/i. This small group included loan words of Polish origin (цымбала, цынга, цырюльник, цыфра), whose spelling was later transformed and codified into цы following the Academic Dictionary and Grot’s works on orthography, though not always consistently (цыфирь – цифра).