The history of Russian language in the Presidential Library’s collection

Rare antique and modern editions about the Russian language are widely represented in the new digital reference collection of the Presidential Library "Russian Language". It was published on the library’s website June 6, 2013, the Day of Russian language, which is celebrated, upon to the Decree of the President of Russia of 2011, on the birthday of the great Russian poet and founder of modern Russian literary language, Alexander Pushkin.

The collection brings together about 350 materials, among which are manuscripts and editions of monuments of Russian literature, legislative acts, scientific works, dictionaries, reference books and textbooks. All of them reflect the main stages of the historical development of Russian language since its origin to the present day, as well as researches made in the field of Russian language, the state policy in the language environment.

One of the rare editions of the collection is "The civic alphabet with morals", published in 1710. This copy of the book is of special interest because it is the first official Russian civil alphabet which includes the corrections of letters made personally by Peter the Great. Improving the alphabet, the tsar made the pattern of Russian letters closer to that of the Latin alphabet, introduced the letter "e", which had actually been use, but was not "legitimated", introduced a number of "extra" characters that transmitted Greek sounds in the Russian alphabet. As a result of revisions made by Peter I, the number of letters in the Russian alphabet was reduced to 38, and their script became easier; in addition, he introduced Arabic numbers instead of those in letters.

The introduction of the civil typeface was among the most important of the Petrine reforms aimed at strengthening the Russian statehood, the development of science and education. As a result, the issue of secular books such as textbooks, primers, grammars, historical works, books on military affairs, dictionaries, and works of art significantly increased.

The dictionaries of the collection are of great interest. One of the rare editions is the "Dictionary of the Russian Academy," published in six volumes in the late 18th century. This is the first explanatory and normative dictionary. It was compiled by D. I. Fonvizin, G. R. Derzhavin, I. N. Boltin, I. I. Lepekhin and others. On the website one can also look through the famous "Explantory dictionary of the Great Russian Language" by V. I. Dahl. This is a real encyclopedia of Russian people’s life, mentality and character, showing the exceptional richness of Russian language, its flexibility and expressiveness.

The peculiarities of the use of Russian names are described in a fascinating way in the I. Sokolov’s "Russian names and nicknames in the 17th century," published in the late 19th century. The collection presents Russian "mundane" names and nicknames of the scribe and granting books, different letters, petitions, legal cases of the 17th century. As can be seen from the documents, all the listed names and nicknames belong to peasants and townsmen. Typically, there were indicated a name and a surname or nickname, for example: Potekha Ivanov, Oparin’s son; Ivan Ivanov, Ermolin’s son, nickname Rogozha; Ivashka Tyazhelovy shuby, etc.

Well represented in the collection are such treasures of national culture as “The Laurentian Chronicle," "The teaching of Prince Vladimir Monomakh to his children", "The Song of Igor's Campaign" in Old Russian and other works.

Materials of the reference collection "Russian Language" make part of thematic sections, which include brief summaries. Federal universal and special libraries and archives, regional library centers, higher education institutions have made a serious contribution to the development of the collection.

Let us remind, that September 1, 2013, the first day of the new school year, the Presidential Library will officially launch the thematic Year of Russian Language. By this time, the collection will be enriched with numerous rare documents and books about the Russian language and its significance in the national and world history.