View source for Old East Slavic

{{Short description|Slavic language used in the 10th–15th centuries}}
{{split|Old Russian|date=December 2025|discuss=Talk:Old East Slavic#Splitting proposal}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2020}}
{{hatnote|Cyrillic letters in this article are [[Romanization of Ukrainian|romanized]] using [[Scientific transliteration of Cyrillic|scientific transliteration]].}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Old East Slavic
| altname          = 
| image            = 14 2 List of Radzivill Chron.jpg
| imagecaption     = Sheet from the [[Radziwiłł Chronicle]]
| nativename       = 
| region           = [[Eastern Europe]]
| era              = 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century{{sfn|SIL|2022}}{{sfn|Shevelov|1984|loc=section 1}}<br />developed into {{ill|Old Russian language|lt=Old Russian|ru|Старорусский язык|v=sup}} and [[Ruthenian language|Ruthenian]]
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic]]
| fam3             = [[Slavic languages|Slavic]]
| iso3             = orv
| glotto           = oldr1238
| glottorefname    = Old Russian
| linglist         = orv
| notice           = IPA
| script           = [[Early Cyrillic alphabet]]
}}

'''Old East Slavic'''{{efn|{{ubl|{{langx|be|старажытнаруская мова|starazhytnaruskaya mova}}|{{langx|ru|древнерусский язык|drevnerusskiy yazyk}}{{sfn|Magocsi|2010|p=106}}|{{langx|uk|давньоруська мова|davnioruska mova}}}}}} (traditionally also '''Old Russian''') was a language (or a group of dialects) used by the [[East Slavs]] from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century,{{sfn|Shevelov|1984|loc=section 1: "Chronologically, Common Russian is considered by some to have existed from the 7th or 8th century to the 13th or 14th century (Aleksei Sobolevsky, Vatroslav Jagić, Fedot Filin, et al) and by others only to the 10th or 11th century (Oleksander Potebnia, Ahatanhel Krymsky, and, in part, Leonid Bulakhovsky)"}} until it diverged into the [[Russian language|Russian]] and [[Ruthenian language|Ruthenian]] languages.{{sfn|Pugh|1996|pp=2–3}} Ruthenian eventually evolved into the [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], [[Rusyn language|Rusyn]], and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] languages.{{sfn|Pugh1985|pp=53–60}}

== Terminology ==
The term ''Old East Slavic'' is used in reference to the modern family of [[East Slavic languages]]. However, it is not universally applied.{{sfn|Krause|Slocum|2013|loc=section 1: "…a more appropriate term for the language is Old East Slavic. Unfortunately, in addition to being cumbersome, this terminology is not universally applied even within modern scholarship"}} The language is also traditionally known as ''Old Russian'';{{sfn|Yartseva|Arutyunova|1990}}{{sfn|Britannica}}{{sfn|Krause|Slocum|2013|loc=section 1: "The title Old Russian serves to denote the language of the earliest documents of the eastern branch of the Slavic family of languages"}}{{sfn|Langston|2018|loc=p. 1405: "The language of the oldest texts from the period of Kievan Rus' is often referred to loosely as Old Russian"}} however, the term may be viewed as anachronistic, because the initial stages of the language which it denotes predate the dialectal divisions marking the nascent distinction between modern East Slavic languages,{{sfn|Schenker|1995|loc=p. 74: "In the pre-Petrine period, the language of literary texts was Church Slavonic in its East Slavic recension, which together with the language of subliterary documents is commonly referred to as Old Russian. This term, however, may be viewed as anachronistic, for at that time East Slavic had not yet diverged into Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarussian"}} therefore a number of authors have proposed using ''Old East Slavic'' (or ''Common East Slavic'') as a more appropriate term.{{sfn|Krause|Slocum|2013|loc=section 1: "Thus Old Russian serves as a common parent to all three of the major East Slavic languages, and as such a more appropriate term for the language is Old East Slavic"}}{{sfn|Magocsi|2010|loc=p. 73: "For the longest time, English-language writings did not distinguish the name ''Rus&apos;'' from ''Russia'', with the result that in descriptions of the pre-fourteenth-century Kievan realm the conceptually distorted formulation ''Kievan Russia'' was used. In recent years, however, the correct terms ''Rus&apos;'' and ''Kievan Rus&apos;'' have appeared more frequently in English-language scholarly publications, although the corresponding adjective ''Rus&apos;''/''Rusyn'' has been avoided in favor of either the incorrect term ''Russian'' or the correct but visually confusing term ''Rus'ian''/''Rusian''"}}{{sfn|Langston|2018|loc=p. 1405: "…but these documents are mostly Church Slavic with varying degrees of influence from the vernacular, and the local features that they exhibit are better characterized as Common East Slavic in most instances"}} ''Old Russian'' is also used to describe the written language in Russia until the 18th century,{{sfn|Fortson|2011|p=429}} when it became ''Modern Russian'', though the early stages of the language is often called ''Old East Slavic'' instead;{{sfn|Bermel|1997|p=17}} the period after the common language of the [[East Slavs]] is sometimes distinguished as ''Middle Russian'',{{sfn|Matthews|2013|p=112}} or ''Great Russian''.{{sfn|Vinokur|1971|pp=19–20|loc="For the period after the 14th century, however, the term 'Russian language' is equivalent to the term 'Great-Russian' and distinguishes the Russian language in the modern sense from the languages of the Ukraine and Belorussia"}}

Some scholars have also called the language ''Old Rus'ian''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moser |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TMgjjgEACAAJ |title=New Contributions to the History of the Ukrainian Language |date=2016-12-06 |publisher=University of Alberta Press |isbn=978-1-894865-44-9 |page=xi |language=en}}</ref> or ''Old Rusan'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moser |first=Michael |date=2022-11-01 |title=The late origins of the glottonym "русский язык" |journal=Russian Linguistics |language=en |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=365–370 |doi=10.1007/s11185-022-09257-6 |issn=1572-8714 |doi-access=free}}</ref> ''Rusian'', or simply ''Rus'',{{sfn|Lunt|2001|loc=p. 184: "I call the common (North) East Slavic language (up to the first half of the 14th century) Rusian"}}{{sfn|Magocsi|2010|loc=p. 106-108}} although these are the least commonly used forms.{{sfn|Krause|Slocum|2013|loc=section 1: "…some scholars employ the term Rusian for Old Russian. This is perhaps the most convenient of all the terms, but lamentably it is also the least commonly used"}}

Ukrainian-American linguist [[George Shevelov]] used the term ''Common Russian'' or ''Common Eastern Slavic'' to refer to the hypothetical uniform language of the East Slavs.{{sfn|Shevelov|1984|loc=section 1: "'''Common Russian''' (also called Common Eastern Slavic). The name of the hypothetical uniform language of the Eastern Slavs, which presumably arose after the disintegration of Common Slavic and which itself later disintegrated to form three new languages: Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian"}}

American Slavist [[Alexander M. Schenker]] pointed out that modern terms for the medieval language of the East Slavs varied depending on the political context.{{sfn|Schenker|1995|loc=p. 74: "Depending on the local political situation the terms ''Old Russian'', ''Old Ukrainian'', and ''Old Belarussian'' have been applied to essentially the same body of texts"}} He suggested using the neutral term ''East Slavic'' for that language.{{sfn|Schenker|1995|loc=p. 74: "It seems more appropriate, therefore, to use the general and neutral term ''East Slavic'' and indicate its dialectical varieties"}}
== Phonology ==

=== Vowels ===
{|
| style="vertical-align: top" |
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Early Old East Slavic Oral&nbsp;vowels
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |[[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="2" |[[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Unrounded vowel|Unrounded]]
! [[Rounded vowel|Rounded]]
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Close vowel|Close]]
![[Tenseness|Tense]]
| '''и''' {{IPA|/i/}}
| '''ꙑ''' {{IPA|/ɯ/}}
| '''у''' {{IPA|/u/}}
|-
![[Laxness (phonetics)|Lax]]
| '''ь''' {{IPA|/ɪ/}}
| '''ъ''' {{IPA|/ʊ/}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Open vowel|Open]]
![[Laxness (phonetics)|Lax]]
| '''е''' {{IPA|/e/}}
|
| '''о''' {{IPA|/ɔ/}}
|-
![[Tenseness|Tense]]
| '''ѣ''' {{IPA|/eː/}}
| '''a''' {{IPA|/ɑ/}}
|
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Nasal&nbsp;vowels
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
| '''ѧ''' {{IPA|/ɛ̃/}}
| '''ѫ''' {{IPA|/ɔ̃/}}
|}
|}

Note that there were also iotated variants: ꙗ, ѥ, ю, ѩ, ѭ.

{|
| style="vertical-align: top" |
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Late Old East Slavic Oral&nbsp;vowels
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |[[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="2" |[[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Unrounded vowel|Unrounded]]
! [[Rounded vowel|Rounded]]
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Close vowel|Close]]
![[Tenseness|Tense]]
| '''и''' {{IPA|/i/}}
| '''ꙑ''' {{IPA|/ɯ/}}
| '''у''' {{IPA|/u/}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Open vowel|Open]]
| '''е''' {{IPA|/e/}}
|
| '''о''' {{IPA|/ɔ/}}
|-
![[Tenseness|Tense]]
| '''ѣ''' {{IPA|/eː/}}
| '''a''' {{IPA|/a/}}
|
|}
|}

By the 13th century, ь and ъ either became silent or merged with е and о, and ѧ and ѫ had merged with ꙗ and у respectively.

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Old East Slavic consonant phonemes
|-
!colspan=2|
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Dental consonant|Dental]]/<br />[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
!colspan=2|[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|nʲ}}
|
|-
!rowspan=2|[[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t̪|t}}
|
|{{IPA link|k}}
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d̪|d}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|-
!rowspan=2|[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|
|{{IPA link|t̪͡s̪|t͡sʲ}}
|{{IPA link|t͡ɕ}}
|
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|
|
|
|
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|
|{{IPA link|s̪|s}}
|{{IPA link|ɕ}}, {{IPA link|sʲ}}
|{{IPA link|x}}
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|
|{{IPA link|z̪|z}}
|{{IPA link|ʑ}}
|
|-
!colspan=2|[[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|{{IPA link|lʲ}}
|
|-
!colspan=2|[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|{{IPA link|ʋ}}
|{{IPA|r}}
|{{IPA link|rʲ}} {{IPA link|j}}
|
|}

Old East Slavic retains all the consonants of [[Proto-Slavic]], with the exception of ť and ď which merged into č and ž respectively.
After the 11th century, all consonants become [[Palatalization (sound change)|palatalized]] before front vowels.

==General considerations==
[[File:Slavic languages tree and map from Kushniarevich article.png|300px|right|Map and tree of Balto-Slavic languages, according to Kassian and A. Dybo]]
[[File:EastSlavicLanguages.png|left|thumb|Development of the East Slavic languages{{Citation needed|reason=Relations between languages, their names and emergence dates on this diagram must be supported by reliable sources |date=December 2022}}]]
The language was a descendant of the [[Proto-Slavic language]] and retained many of its features. It developed so-called [[pleophony]] (or ''polnoglasie'' 'full vocalisation'), which came to differentiate the newly evolving East Slavic from other Slavic dialects. For instance, Common Slavic ''{{wikt-lang|sla-pro|*gȏrdъ}}'' 'settlement, town' was reflected as OESl. ''gorodъ'',{{sfn|Derksen|2008|loc=p. 178: "*gȏrdъ m. o (c) 'fortification, town' … E   Ru. górod 'town, city', Gsg. góroda; Bel. hórad 'town, city', Gsg. hórada; Ukr. hórod 'town, city', Gsg. hóroda"}} Common Slavic ''{{wikt-lang|sla-pro|*melkò}}'' 'milk' > OESl. ''moloko'',{{sfn|Derksen|2008|loc=p. 307: "*melkò n. o (b) 'milk' … E Ru. molokó"}} and Common Slavic ''{{wikt-lang|sla-pro|*kòrva}}'' 'cow' > OESl ''korova''.{{sfn|Derksen|2008|loc=p. 236: "*kòrva f. ā (a) 'cow' … E Ru. koróva"}} Other Slavic dialects differed by resolving the closed-syllable clusters *eRC and *aRC as [[liquid metathesis]] ([[South Slavic languages|South Slavic]] and [[West Slavic languages|West Slavic]]), or by no change at all (see the article on ''[[Slavic liquid metathesis and pleophony]]'' for a detailed account).

Since extant written records of the language are sparse, it is difficult to assess the level of its unity. In consideration of the number of tribes and clans that constituted [[Kievan Rus']], it is probable that there were many dialects of Old East Slavonic. Therefore, today we may speak definitively only of the languages of surviving manuscripts, which, according to some interpretations, show regional divergence from the beginning of the historical records. By {{circa|1150}}, it had the weakest local variations among the four regional macrodialects of [[Common Slavic]], {{circa|800|1000}}, which had just begun to differentiate into its branches.{{sfn|Lunt|2001|loc=p. 184: "the Late Common Slavic of c1000 CE had four regional variants or macro dialects: NorthWest, SouthWest, SouthEast, NorthEast. .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. by c1150 .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. [East Slavic] was still a single language, with the weakest of local variations"}}

With time, it evolved into several more diversified forms; following the fragmentation of Kievan Rus' after 1100, dialectal differentiation accelerated.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Byram |first1=Michael |last2=Hu |first2=Adelheid |title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning |date=26 June 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-23554-2 |page=601 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtmSLywH3i8C |language=en}}</ref> The regional languages were distinguishable starting in the 12th or 13th century.{{sfn|Lotha|Kuiper|Mahajan|Shukla|2022|loc=section 1: "Ukrainian is a lineal descendant of the colloquial language used in Kievan Rus (10th–13th century). It is written in a form of the Cyrillic alphabet and is closely related to Russian and Belarusian, from which it was indistinguishable until the 12th or 13th century"}} Thus different variations evolved of the Russian language in the regions of Novgorod, [[Moscow]], South Russia  and meanwhile the Ukrainian language was also formed. Each of these languages preserves much of the Old East Slavic grammar and vocabulary. The Russian language in particular borrows more words from [[Church Slavonic]] than does Ukrainian.{{sfn|Lotha|Kuiper|Mahajan|Shukla|2022|loc=section 2: "Like Belarusian, the Ukrainian language contains a large number of words borrowed from Polish, but it has fewer borrowings from Church Slavonic than does Russian"}}

However, findings by Russian linguist [[Andrey Zaliznyak]] suggest that, until the 14th or 15th century, major language differences were not between the regions occupied by modern Belarus, Russia and Ukraine,{{sfn|Zaliznyak|2012|loc=section 111: "…ростовско-суздальско-рязанская языковая зона от киевско-черниговской ничем существенным в древности не отличалась. Различия возникли позднее, они датируются сравнительно недавним, по лингвистическим меркам, временем, начиная с XIV–XV вв […the Rostov-Suzdal-Ryazan language area did not significantly differ from the Kiev-Chernigov one. Distinctions emerged later, in a relatively recent, by linguistic standards, time, starting from the 14th–15th centuries]"}} but rather between the north-west (around modern Velikiy Novgorod and Pskov) and the center (around modern Kyiv, Suzdal, Rostov, Moscow as well as Belarus) of the East Slavic territories.{{sfn|Zaliznyak|2012|loc=section 88: "Северо-запад — это была территория Новгорода и Пскова, а остальная часть, которую можно назвать центральной, или центрально-восточной, или центрально-восточно-южной, включала одновременно территорию будущей Украины, значительную часть территории будущей Великороссии и территории Белоруссии … Существовал древненовгородский диалект в северо-западной части и некоторая более нам известная классическая форма древнерусского языка, объединявшая в равной степени Киев, Суздаль, Ростов, будущую Москву и территорию Белоруссии [The territory of Novgorod and Pskov was in the north-west, while the remaining part, which could either be called central, or central-eastern, or central-eastern-southern, comprised the territory of the future Ukraine, a substantial part of the future Great Russia, and the territory of Belarus … The Old Novgorodian dialect existed in the north-western part, while a somewhat more well-known classical variety of the Old Russian language united equally Kiev, Suzdal, Rostov, the future Moscow and the territory of Belarus]"}} The [[Old Novgorodian dialect]] of that time differed from the central East Slavic dialects as well as from all other Slavic languages much more than in later centuries.{{sfn|Zaliznyak|2012|loc=section 82: "…черты новгородского диалекта, отличавшие его от других диалектов Древней Руси, ярче всего выражены не в позднее время, когда, казалось бы, они могли уже постепенно развиться, а в самый древний период […features of the Novgorodian dialect, which made it different from the other dialects of the Old Rus', were most pronounced not in later times, when they seemingly could have evolved, but in the oldest period]"}}{{sfn|Zaliznyak|2012|loc=section 92: "…северо-западная группа восточных славян представляет собой ветвь, которую следует считать отдельной уже на уровне праславянства […north-western group of the East Slavs is a branch that should be regarded as separate already in the Proto-Slavic period]"}} According to Zaliznyak, the Russian language developed as a convergence of that dialect and the central ones,{{sfn|Zaliznyak|2012|loc=section 94: "…великорусская территория оказалась состоящей из двух частей, примерно одинаковых по значимости: северо-западная (новгородско-псковская) и центрально-восточная (Ростов, Суздаль, Владимир, Москва, Рязань) […the Great Russian territory happened to include two parts of approximately equal importance: the north-western one (Novgorod-Pskov) and the central-eastern-southern one (Rostov, Suzdal, Vladimir, Moscow, Ryazan)]"}} whereas Ukrainian and Belarusian were continuation of development of the central dialects of the East Slavs.{{sfn|Zaliznyak|2012|loc=section 94: "…нынешняя Украина и Белоруссия — наследники центрально-восточно-южной зоны восточного славянства, более сходной в языковом отношении с западным и южным славянством […today's Ukraine and Belarus are successors of the central-eastern-southern area of the East Slavs, more linguistically similar to the West and South Slavs]"}}

Also, Russian linguist Sergey Nikolaev, analysing historical development of Slavic dialects' accent system, concluded that a number of other tribes in Kievan Rus' came from different Slavic branches and spoke distant Slavic dialects.{{sfn|Dybo|Zamyatina|Nikolaev|1990}}{{Page needed|date=December 2022}}

Another Russian linguist, G. A. Khaburgaev,{{sfn|Khaburgaev|2005|loc=p. 418-437}} as well as a number of Ukrainian linguists ([[Stepan Smal-Stotsky]], [[Ivan Ohienko]], [[George Shevelov]], Yevhen Tymchenko, Vsevolod Hantsov, [[Olena Kurylo]]), deny the existence of a common Old East Slavic language at any time in the past.{{sfn|Nimchuk|2001}} According to them, the dialects of East Slavic tribes evolved gradually from the common Proto-Slavic language without any intermediate stages.{{sfn|Shevelov|1979}}

Following the end of the "Tatar yoke", the territory of former Kievan Rus' was divided between the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] and the [[Grand Duchy of Moscow]],{{sfn|Chauhan|2012}} and two separate literary traditions emerged in these states, [[Ruthenian language|Ruthenian]] in the west and [[History of the Russian language|medieval Russian]] in the east.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kolodziejczyk |first1=Dariusz |title=The Crimean Khanate and Poland-Lithuania: International Diplomacy on the European Periphery (15th–18th Century), A Study of Peace Treaties Followed by an Annotated Edition of Relevant Documents |date=22 June 2011 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-21571-9 |page=241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B-R5DwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Woolhiser |first1=Curt Fredric |title=Polish and Belorussian Dialects in Contact: A Study in Linguistic Convergence |date=1995 |publisher=Indiana University |page=90 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lzYeAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rhyne |first1=George N. |last2=Lazzerini |first2=Edward J. |last3=Adams |first3=Bruce Friend |title=The Supplement to The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian, Soviet and Eurasian History: Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic – Bugaev, Boris Nikolaevich |date=2003 |publisher=Academic International Press |isbn=978-0-87569-142-8 |page=89 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0tpAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

== Literary language==
[[File:Izbornik page.jpg|thumb|A page from Svyatoslav's ''Miscellanies'' (1073).]]
The political unification of the region into the state called [[Kievan Rus']], from which modern [[Belarus]], [[Russia]] and [[Ukraine]] trace their origins, occurred approximately a century before the adoption of [[Christianity]] in 988 and the establishment of the South Slavic [[Old Church Slavonic]] as the liturgical and literary language. Documentation of the Old East Slavic language of this period is scanty, making it difficult at best fully to determine the relationship between the literary language and its spoken dialects.

There are references in Byzantine sources to pre-Christian Slavs in European Russia using some form of writing. Despite some suggestive archaeological finds and a corroboration by the tenth-century monk [[Chernorizets Hrabar]] that ancient Slavs wrote in "[[Relationship of Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets#Chernorizets Hrabar.27s account|strokes and incisions]]", the exact nature of this system is unknown.

Although the [[Glagolitic]] alphabet was briefly introduced, as witnessed by church inscriptions in [[Novgorod]], it was soon entirely superseded by [[Cyrillic]].{{sfn|Vinokur|1971|loc=p. 27: "There are no extant Old Russian manuscripts written entirely in Glagolitic. There are however Russian Cyrillic manuscripts in which isolated words and lines in Glagolitic occur"}}{{citation needed |date=January 2023}} The samples of [[birch-bark writing]] excavated in [[Novgorod]] have provided crucial information about the pure tenth-century [[Old Novgorod dialect|vernacular in North-West Russia]], almost entirely free of Church Slavonic influence. It is also known that borrowings and calques from [[Medieval Greek|Byzantine Greek]] began to enter the vernacular at this time, and that simultaneously the literary language in its turn began to be modified towards Eastern Slavic.

The following excerpts illustrate two of the most famous literary monuments.

'''NOTE:''' The spelling of the original excerpt has been partly modernized. The translations are best attempts at being literal, not literary.

=== ''Primary Chronicle'' ===
{{Further|Primary Chronicle}}

{{circa|1110}}, from the [[Laurentian Codex]], 1377:

[[File:Povest vremennykh let text.png|500px]]

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Original
! Transliteration
|-
! Old East Slavic{{sfn|RSL}}{{sfn|Izbornyk2}}
| {{lang|orv|Се повѣсти времѧньны<sup>х</sup> лѣ<sup>т</sup> ‧ ѿкꙋдꙋ єсть пошла рꙋскаꙗ зем[л]ѧ ‧ кто въ києвѣ нача первѣє кнѧжи<sup>т</sup> ‧ и ѿкꙋдꙋ рꙋскаꙗ землѧ стала єсть <nowiki>|~</nowiki>}}
| {{lang|orv-Latn|Se pověsti vremęnǐnyx lět, otkudu estǐ pošla ruskaja zem[l]ę, kto vǔ kievě nača pervěe knęžit, i otkudu ruskaja zemlę stala estǐ.}}
|-
! [[Russian language|Russian]]{{sfn|NLR|loc=section 1: "Вот повести минувших лет, откуда пошла русскaя земля, кто в Киеве стал первым княжить, и как возникла русская земля"}}{{sfn|BBM}}
| {{lang|ru|Вот повести минувших лет, откуда пошла русскaя земля, кто в Киеве стал первым княжить, и как возникла русская земля.}}
| {{lang|ru-Latn|Vot povesti minuvšix let, otkuda pošla russkaä zemlä, kto v Kijeve stal pervym knäžitj, i kak voznikla russkaä zemlä.}}
|-
! [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]{{sfn|LUL|loc=section 1: "Повість минулих літ Нестора, чорноризця Феодосієвого монастиря Печерського, звідки пішла Руська земля, і хто в ній почав спершу княжити, як Руська земля постала"}}
| {{lang|uk|Повість минулих літ Нестора, чорноризця Феодосієвого монастиря Печерського, звідки пішла Руська земля, і хто в ній почав спершу княжити, як Руська земля постала.}}
| {{lang|uk-Latn|Povistj mynulyx lit Nestora, čornoryzcja Feodosijevoǧo monastyrja Pečersjkoǧo zvidky pišla Rusjka zemlia. i xto v nij počav speršu knjažyty, jak Rusjka zemlja postala.}}
|-
! [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]]{{sfn|Karotki|2004|loc=p. 4: "Вось аповесці мінулых гадоў: адкуль пайшла руская зямля, хто ў Кіеве першым пачаў княжыць, і адкуль руская зямля паўстала"}}
| {{lang|be|Вось аповесці мінулых гадоў: адкуль пайшла руская зямля, хто ў Кіеве першым пачаў княжыць, і адкуль руская зямля паўстала.}}
| {{lang|be-Latn|Voś apoviesci minułych hadoŭ: adkul pajšła ruskaja ziamlia, chto ŭ Kijevie pieršym pačaŭ kniažyć, i adkul ruskaja ziamlia paŭstała.}}
|-
! English{{sfn|Cross|Sherbowitz-Wetzor|1953|loc=p. 51: "These are the narratives of bygone years regarding the origin of the land of Rus', the first princes of Kiev, and from what source the land of Rus' had its beginning"}}
| These are the narratives of bygone years regarding the origin of the land of Rus', the first princes of Kiev, and from what source the land of Rus' had its beginning.
|}

In this usage example of the language, the fall of the [[yer]]s is in progress or arguably complete: several words end with a consonant, e.g. {{langx|orv|кнѧжит|knęžit|label=none}} "to rule" < {{langx|orv|кънѧжити|kǔnęžiti|label=none}} (modern Uk {{langx|uk|княжити|knjažyty|label=none}}, R {{langx|ru|княжить|knjažit'|label=none}}, B {{langx|be|княжыць|knjažyc'|label=none}}). [[South Slavic languages|South Slavic]] features include {{langx|orv|времѧньнъıх|vremęnǐnyx|label=none}} "bygone" (modern R {{langx|ru|минувших|minuvšix|label=none}}, Uk {{langx|uk|минулих|mynulyx|label=none}}, B {{langx|be|мінулых|minulyx|label=none}}). Correct use of [[perfect (grammar)|perfect]] and [[aorist]]: {{langx|orv|єсть пошла|estǐ pošla|label=none}} "is/has come" (modern B {{langx|be|пайшла|pajšla|label=none}}, R {{langx|ru|пошла|pošla|label=none}}, Uk {{langx|uk|пішла|pišla|label=none}}), {{langx|orv|нача|nača|label=none}} "began" (modern Uk {{langx|uk|почав|počav|label=none}}, B {{langx|be|пачаў|pačaŭ|label=none}}, R {{langx|ru|начал|načal|label=none}}) as a development of the old perfect. Note the style of punctuation.

=== ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' ===

{{Further|The Tale of Igor's Campaign}}
Слово о пълку Игоревѣ. {{circa|1200}}, from the Pskov manuscript, fifteenth cent.
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Original
! Transliteration
|-
!Old East Slavic
| {{lang|orv|Не лѣпо ли ны бяшетъ братїє, начяти старыми словесы трудныхъ повѣстїй о пълку Игоревѣ, Игоря Святъславлича? Начати же ся тъй пѣсни по былинамъ сего времени, а не по замышленїю Бояню. Боянъ бо вѣщїй, аще кому хотяше пѣснь творити, то растѣкашется мыслію по древу, сѣрымъ вълкомъ по земли, шизымъ орломъ подъ облакы.}}{{sfn|Izbornyk1}}
| {{lang|orv-Latn|Ne lěpo li ny bjašetǔ bratije, načjati starymi slovesy trudnyxǔ pověstij o pǔlku Igorevě, Igorja Svjatǔslaviča? Načati že sja tǔj pěsni po bylinamǔ sego vremeni, a ne po zamyšleniju Bojanju. Bojanǔ bo věščij, ašče komu xotjaše pěsnǐ tvoriti, to rastěkašetsja mysliju po drevu, sěrymǔ vǔlkomǔ po zemli, šizymǔ orlomǔ podǔ oblaky.}}
|-
! English
| Would it not be meet, o brothers, for us to begin with the old words the martial telling of the host of Igor, of Igor Sviatoslavlich? And to begin this tale in the way of the true tales of this time, and not in the way of Bojan's inventions. For the wise Bojan, if he wished to devote to someone [his] song, would fly like a squirrel in the trees, like a grey wolf over land, like a bluish eagle beneath the clouds.
|}

Illustrates the sung [[epic poetry|epic]]s, with typical use of metaphor and simile.

It has been suggested that the phrase {{lang|ru|растекаться мыслью по древу}} ({{lang|ru-Latn|rastekat'sja mysl'ju po drevu}}, to run in thought upon/over wood), which has become proverbial in modern Russian with the meaning "to speak ornately, at length, excessively," is a misreading of an original {{langx|orv|мысію|mysiju|label=none}} (akin to {{lang|ru|[[wikt:мышь#Russian|мышь]]}} "mouse") from "run like a squirrel/mouse on a tree"; however, the reading {{langx|orv|мыслью|myslǐju|label=none}} is present in both the manuscript copy of 1790 and the first edition of 1800, and in all subsequent scholarly editions.

== Old East Slavic literature ==
{{main|Old East Slavic literature}}
{{citation needed section|date=December 2020}}
The Old East Slavic language developed a certain literature of its own, though much of it (in hand with those of the Slavic languages that were, after all, written down) was influenced as regards style and vocabulary by religious texts written in Church Slavonic.<ref name="FranklinShepard1996">Franklin, Simon & Shepard, Jonathan (1996). The Emergence of Rus 750-1200. Longman. pp 197-201. ISBN 9780582069459. Available online at https://www.academia.edu/ (search “Emergence of Rus Franklin Shepard”) [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> Surviving literary monuments include the legal code ''[[Russkaya Pravda]]'', a corpus of [[hagiography]] and [[homily]], ''[[The Tale of Igor's Campaign]]'', and the earliest surviving manuscript of the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'' – the ''[[Laurentian Codex]]'' of 1377.<ref name="BritannicaPrimaryChronicle">“The Primary Chronicle”, Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Primary-Chronicle [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref>

The earliest dated specimen of Old East Slavic (or, rather, of [[Church Slavonic]] with pronounced East Slavic interference) must be considered the written ''[[Sermon on Law and Grace]]'' by [[Hilarion of Kiev|Hilarion]], [[metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]] of [[Kiev]].<ref name="BritannicaHilarion">“Hilarion of Kiev,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hilarion-of-Kiev [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> In this work there is a panegyric on Prince [[Vladimir of Kiev]], the hero of so much of East Slavic popular poetry.<ref name="FranklinShepard19962">Franklin, Simon & Shepard, Jonathan (1996). The Emergence of Rus 750-1200. Longman. pp. 210–212. ISBN 9780582069459. Available online at https://www.academia.edu/ (search “Emergence of Rus Franklin Shepard”) [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> It is rivalled by another panegyric on Vladimir, written a decade later by Yakov the Monk.<ref name="Likhachev1981">Likhachov, Dmitry S. (1981). History of Russian Literature: The Old Russian Period. Moscow: Progress Publishers. pp. 45–47. Available at https://archive.org/details/historyofrussianliterature [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref>

[[File:ostromirovo.jpg|left|thumb|250px|''[[Ostromir Gospels]]'' from [[Novgorod]], dating to 1056 or 1057]]

Other 11th-century writers are [[Theodosius of Kiev|Theodosius]], a monk of the [[Kiev Pechersk Lavra]], who wrote on the Latin faith and some Pouchenia or Instructions, and [[Luka Zhidiata]], bishop of [[Novgorod]], who has left a curious Discourse to the Brethren. <ref name="Likhachev19812">Likhachov, Dmitry S. (1981). History of Russian Literature: The Old Russian Period. Moscow: Progress Publishers. pp. 48–52. Available at https://archive.org/details/historyofrussianliterature [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> From the writings of Theodosius we see that many pagan habits were still in vogue among the people. He finds fault with them for allowing these to continue, and also for their drunkenness; nor do the monks escape his censures.<ref name="FranklinShepard19963">Franklin, Simon & Shepard, Jonathan (1996). The Emergence of Rus 750-1200. Longman. pp. 223–225. ISBN 9780582069459. Available online at https://www.academia.edu/ (search “Emergence of Rus Franklin Shepard”) [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> Zhidiata writes in a more vernacular style than many of his contemporaries; he eschews the declamatory tone of the Byzantine authors.<ref name="BritannicaKievPechersk">“Kiev Pechersk Lavra,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/place/Kiev-Pechersk-Lavra [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> And here may be mentioned the many lives of the saints and the Fathers to be found in early East Slavic literature, starting with the two Lives of Sts [[Boris and Gleb]], written in the late eleventh century and attributed to Jacob the Monk and to [[Nestor the Chronicler]].<ref name="Hollingsworth1992">Hollingsworth, Paul A. (1992). “Boris and Gleb,” in Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, Garland Publishing. p. 126. Available via https://www.worldcat.org/title/encyclopedia-of-early-christianity/oclc/24377022 [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref>

With the so-called Primary Chronicle, also attributed to Nestor, begins the long series of the Russian annalists.<ref name="CrossSherbowitz1963">Cross, Samuel Hazzard & Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Olgerd P. (trans.) (1953). The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America. pp. vii–ix. Available at https://archive.org/details/the-russian-primary-chronicle [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> There is a regular catena of these chronicles, extending with only two breaks to the seventeenth century.<ref name="BritannicaRussianChronicles">“Russian Chronicles,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Russian-Chronicles [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> Besides the work attributed to [[Nestor the Chronicler]], there are the chronicles of [[Novgorod]], [[Kiev]], [[Volhynia]] and many others. Every town of any importance could boast of its annalists, [[Pskov]] and [[Suzdal]] among others.<ref name="FranklinShepard19964">Franklin, Simon & Shepard, Jonathan (1996). The Emergence of Rus 750–1200. Longman. pp. 227–229. ISBN 9780582069459. Available online at https://www.academia.edu/ (search “Emergence of Rus Franklin Shepard”) [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref>

In the 12th century, we have the sermons of Bishop [[Cyril of Turov]], which are attempts to imitate in Old East Slavic the florid Byzantine style.<ref name="BritannicaCyrilTurov">“Cyril of Turov,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cyril-of-Turov [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> In his sermon on [[Holy Week]], [[Christianity]] is represented under the form of spring, [[Paganism]] and [[Judaism]] under that of winter, and evil thoughts are spoken of as boisterous winds.<ref name="Likhachev19813">Likhachov, Dmitry S. (1981). History of Russian Literature: The Old Russian Period. Moscow: Progress Publishers. pp. 60–62. Available at https://archive.org/details/historyofrussianliterature [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref>

[[File:beresta.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Literate 14th-century [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorodians]] sent each other letters written on [[Birch bark document|birch bark]]]]

There are also the works of early travellers, as the igumen [[Daniel the Traveller|Daniel]], who visited the [[Holy Land]] at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth century. <ref name="BritannicaDaniel">“Daniel the Pilgrim,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Daniel-the-Pilgrim [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> A later traveller was [[Afanasiy Nikitin]], a merchant of [[Tver]], who visited [[India]] in 1470. He has left a [[A Journey Beyond the Three Seas|record of his adventures]], which has been translated into English and published for the [[Hakluyt Society]].<ref name="NikitinHakluyt1914">Nikitin, Afanasiy (1914). The Journey Beyond Three Seas (Voyage of Afanasy Nikitin). Translated by C. E. Yate. London: Hakluyt Society. Available at https://archive.org/details/journeybeyondthr00nika [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref><ref name="BritannicaNikitin">“Afanasy Nikitin,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Afanasy-Nikitin [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref>

A curious monument of old Slavonic times is the Pouchenie (“Instruction”), written by [[Vladimir Monomakh]] for the benefit of his sons. <ref name="BritannicaMonomakh">“Vladimir II Monomakh,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vladimir-II-Monomakh [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> This composition is generally found inserted in the Chronicle of Nestor; it gives a fine picture of the daily life of a Slavonic prince.<ref name="CrossSherbowitz19632">Cross, Samuel Hazzard & Sherbowitz-Wetzor, Olgerd P. (trans.) (1953). The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America. pp. 202–205. Available at https://archive.org/details/the-russian-primary-chronicle [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> The Paterik of the Kievan Caves Monastery is a typical medieval collection of stories from the life of monks, featuring devils, angels, ghosts, and miraculous resurrections.<ref name="BritannicaKievPechersk2">“Kiev Pechersk Lavra,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/place/Kiev-Pechersk-Lavra [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref><ref name="Poppe1967">Poppe, Andrzej (1967). “The Paterik of the Kievan Caves Monastery and Its Byzantine Sources.” Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 153–167. Available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/41036174 [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref>

[[The Tale of Igor's Campaign|Lay of Igor's Campaign]] narrates the expedition of [[Igor Svyatoslavich]], the prince of Novgorod-Seversk, against the [[Cumans]].<ref name="BritannicaLayOfIgor">“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Tale-of-Igors-Campaign [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> It is neither [[Epic poetry|epic]] nor a poem but is written in rhythmic prose. An interesting aspect of the text is its mix of [[Christianity]] and ancient [[Slavic mythology|Slavic religion]]. Igor's wife Yaroslavna famously invokes natural forces from the walls of [[Putyvl]]. Christian motifs present along with depersonalised pagan gods in the form of artistic images.<ref name="Zenkovsky1963">Zenkovsky, Serge A. (ed.) (1963). Medieval Russia’s Epics, Chronicles, and Tales. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. pp. 97–110. Available at https://archive.org/details/medievalrussiase00zenk [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> Another aspect, which sets the book apart from contemporary Western epics, are its numerous and vivid descriptions of nature, and the role which nature plays in human lives. Of the whole bulk of the Old East Slavic literature, the Lay is the only work familiar to every educated Russian or Ukrainian. Its brooding flow of images, murky [[metaphor]]s, and ever-changing rhythm have not been successfully rendered into English yet. Indeed, the meanings of many words found in it have not been satisfactorily explained by scholars.<ref name="Klein1990">Klein, Laura (1990). “The Enigma of The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” Slavic Review, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 1–17. Cambridge University Press. Available at https://www.jstor.org/stable/2500613 [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref>

The ''[[Zadonshchina]]'' is a sort of prose poem much in the style of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, and the resemblance of the latter to this piece furnishes an additional proof of its genuineness.<ref name="BritannicaZadonshchina">“Zadonshchina,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zadonshchina [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> This account of the [[Battle of Kulikovo]], which was gained by [[Dmitry Donskoy]] over the [[Mongols]] in 1380, has come down in three important versions.<ref name="Halperin1987">Halperin, Charles J. (1987). Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 95–97. Available at https://archive.org/details/russiagoldenhord0000halp [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref><ref name="Zenkovsky19632">Zenkovsky, Serge A. (ed.) (1963). Medieval Russia’s Epics, Chronicles, and Tales. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co. pp. 201–208. Available at https://archive.org/details/medievalrussiase00zenk [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref>

The early laws of Rus' present many features of interest, such as the Russkaya Pravda of [[Yaroslav the Wise]], which is preserved in the chronicle of Novgorod; the date is between 1018 and 1072. <ref name="BritannicaRusskayaPravda">“Russkaya Pravda,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Russkaya-Pravda [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> <ref name="FranklinShepard19965">Franklin, Simon & Shepard, Jonathan (1996). The Emergence of Rus 750–1200. Longman. pp. 233–235. ISBN 9780582069459. Available online at https://www.academia.edu/ (search “Emergence of Rus Franklin Shepard”) [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> <ref name="Vernadsky1948">Vernadsky, George (1948). Kievan Russia. Yale University Press. pp. 195–197. Available at https://archive.org/details/kievanrussia0000vern [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref>

== Study ==

The earliest attempts to compile a comprehensive [[lexicon]] of Old East Slavic were undertaken by [[Alexander Vostokov]] and [[Izmail Sreznevsky]] in the nineteenth century.<ref name="BritannicaVostokov">“Aleksandr Khristoforovich Vostokov,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aleksandr-Khristoforovich-Vostokov [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref> Sreznevsky's ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20101125143351/http://imwerden.de/cat/modules.php?name=books&pa=last_update&pagenum=2&order=p.title,%20p.original&sort=&cid=26&lettereng=&letter= Materials for the Dictionary of the Old Russian Language on the Basis of Written Records]'' (1893–1903), though incomplete, remained a standard reference until the appearance of a 24-volume academic dictionary in 1975–99.<ref name="Sreznevsky1893">Sreznevsky, Izmail I. (1893–1903). Материалы для словаря древнерусского языка по письменным памятникам [Materials for the Dictionary of the Old Russian Language on the Basis of Written Records]. St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences. Available at https://archive.org/details/materialydlyaslo01srezuoft [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref><ref name="Ushakov1999">Ushakov, Dmitry N. et al. (eds.) (1975–1999). Slovarʹ drevnerusskogo yazyka (XI–XIV vv.) [Dictionary of the Old Russian Language (11th–14th Centuries)]. Moscow: Nauka. Cited in Russian Academy of Sciences, https://www.ras.ru/ [accessed 2025-10-29].</ref>

== Notable texts ==
[[File:Novgorod Codex.jpg|thumb|200px|First page of the tenth-century [[Novgorod Codex]], thought to be the oldest East Slavic book in existence]]
* ''[[Bylina]]s''
* ''[[The Tale of Igor's Campaign]]'' – the most outstanding literary work in this language 	
* ''[[Russkaya Pravda]]'' – an eleventh-century legal code issued by [[Yaroslav the Wise]]
* ''[[Praying of Daniel the Immured]]''
* ''[[A Journey Beyond the Three Seas]]''

==See also==
* [[Old Russians]]
* [[Outline of Slavic history and culture]]
* [[List of Slavic studies journals]]
* [[East Slavic languages#History|History of the East Slavic languages]]
* [[List of Latvian words borrowed from Old East Slavic]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{Refbegin|2}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.velib.com/book.php?avtor=w_1_1&book=3260_10_5 |website=BBM Online Library |title=Povest' Vremennykh Let |trans-title=Primary Chronicle |script-title=ru:Повесть временных лет |lang=ru |ref={{SfnRef|BBM}} |access-date=2020-08-22 |archive-date=2013-06-24 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130624203819/http://www.velib.com/book.php?avtor=w_1_1&book=3260_10_5 |url-status=usurped }}
* {{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Old-Russian |title=Old Russian |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=14 July 2022 |ref={{SfnRef|Britannica}} }}
* {{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Grand-Principality-of-Moscow |title=Grand Principality of Moscow {{!}} medieval principality, Russia |editor-last1=Chauhan |editor-first1=Yamini |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=25 May 2012 |access-date=2022-12-31 }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Karotki |editor-first=Uladzimir |translator-last1=Karotki |translator-first1=Uladzimir |translator-last2=Nekrashevich-Karotkaya |translator-first2=Zhanna |translator-last3=Kayala |translator-first3=U. I. |date=2004 |title=Staražytnaja litaratura uschodnich slavian XI – XIII stahoddziaŭ |trans-title=Old Literature of the East Slavs in the 11th–13th Centuries |script-title=be:Старажытная літаратура ўсходніх славян ХІ – ХІІІ стагоддзяў |url=http://www.bsu.by/Cache/pdf/362473.pdf |lang=be |location=Grodno }}
* {{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Slavonic, Old |volume=25 |pages=227–228}}
* {{cite book |last1=Cross |first1=Samuel Hazzard |last2=Sherbowitz-Wetzor |first2=Olgerd P. |year=1953 |title=The Russian Primary chronicle: Laurentian Text |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ynIJAQAAIAAJ&q=%22bygone+years%22 |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Mediaeval Academy of America |isbn=978-0-915651-32-0 }}
* {{cite book |last=Derksen |first=Rick |author-link=Rick Derksen |date=2008 |title=Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon |url=https://archive.org/details/EtymologicalDictionaryOfTheSlavicInheritedLexicon_201310 |location=Leiden-Boston |publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV |issn=1574-3586 |isbn=978-90-04-15504-6 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Dybo |first1=V. A. |last2=Zamyatina |first2=G. I. |last3=Nikolaev |first3=S. L. |editor-last=Bulatova |editor-first=R.V. |date=1990 |title=Osnovy slavyanskoy aktsentologii |trans-title=Fundamentals of Slavic Accentology |script-title=ru:Основы славянской акцентологии |url=https://inslav.ru/publication/dybo-v-zamyatina-g-i-nikolaev-s-l-osnovy-slavyanskoy-akcentologii-m-1990 |lang=ru |location=Moscow |publisher=Nauka |isbn=5-02-011011-6 }}
* {{cite web |url=http://izbornyk.org.ua/slovo/slovo.htm |title=Slovo o polku Ihorevim |trans-title=The Tale of Igor's Campaign |script-title=uk:СЛОВО О ПЛЪКУ ИГОРЕВЂ. Слово о полку Ігоревім. Слово о полку Игореве |website=Izbornyk |access-date=2022-12-22 |lang=uk |ref={{SfnRef|Izbornyk1}} }}
* {{cite web |url=http://litopys.org.ua/lavrlet/lavr01.htm |title=Letopis' po Lavrent'evskomu spisku |trans-title=Laurentian Codex |script-title=ru:Лѣтопись по Лаврентьевскому списку |lang=ru |website=Izbornyk |ref={{SfnRef|Izbornyk2}} }}
* {{cite book |last=Khaburgaev |first=Georgiy Alexandrovich |editor-last1=Moldovan |editor-first1=A. M. |editor-last2=Skorvid |editor-first2=S. S. |editor-last3=Kibrik |editor-first3=A. A. |editor-last4=Rogova |editor-first4=N. V. |editor-last5=Yakushkina |editor-first5=E. I. |editor-last6=Zhuravlev |editor-first6=A. F. |editor-last7=Tolstaya |editor-first7=S. M. |display-editors=1 |title=Yazyki mira. Slavyanskie Yazyki |trans-title=Languages of the World. Slavic Languages |script-title=ru:Языки мира. Славянские языки |chapter=Drenverusskiy Yazyk |trans-chapter=Old Russian |script-chapter=ru:Древнерусский язык |date=2005 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/iazykymyra/page/418/mode/1up |url=https://archive.org/details/iazykymyra |lang=ru |publisher=Academia |location=Moscow |pages=418–437 }}
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* {{cite web |url=https://viewer.rsl.ru/ru/rsl01004161806?page=23&rotate=0&theme=white |title=Laurentian Codex |website=Russian State Library |ref={{SfnRef|RSL}} }}
* {{cite book |last=Schenker |first=Alexander M. |year=1995 |title=The Dawn of Slavic: An Introduction to Slavic Philology |url=https://archive.org/details/schenker.-the-dawn-of-slavic/mode/1up |location=New Haven / London |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-05846-2 }}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CC%5CO%5CCommonRussian.htm |title=Common Russian |last=Shevelov |first=George Yurii |date=1984 |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine |access-date=2022-12-25 }}
* {{cite Q|Q105081119}}
* {{cite Q|Q12072836 |last=Shevelov |first=George Yurii |author-link=George Shevelov |entry=History of the Ukrainian Language |volume=I |display-editors=1}}
* {{cite book |last=Shevelov |first=George Yurii |translator-last1=Vakulenko |translator-first1=Serhiy |translator-last2=Danilenko |translator-first2=Andriy |date=1979 |title=Istorychna fonologiia ukrains'koi movy |trans-title=A Historical Phonology of the Ukrainian Language |script-title=uk:Історична фонологія української мови |url=http://www.litopys.org.ua/shevelov/shev.htm |lang=uk |location=Kharkiv |publisher=Acta |publication-date=2000 |access-date=2022-12-25 }}
* {{cite web |url=https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/orv |title=639 Identifier Documentation: orv |date=2022 |publisher=SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) |access-date=25 December 2022 |ref={{SfnRef|SIL|2022}} }}
* {{cite journal |last=Simone |first=Lucas Ricardo |year=2018 |title=Uma breve introdução ao idioma eslavo oriental antigo |trans-title=A Brief Introduction to the Old East Slavic Language |journal=Slovo – Revista de Estudos em Eslavística |url=https://revistas.ufrj.br/index.php/slovo/article/view/17473 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=14–39 |lang=pt }}
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{{Refend}}

==General references==
{{Refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book |last1=Entwistle |first1=W. J. |last2=Morison |first2=W. A. |year=1960 |title=Russian and the Slavonic Languages |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.28789 |location=London |publisher=Faber and Faber}}
* {{cite book |last=Matthews |first=William Kleesmann |year=1967 |title=Russian Historical Grammar |url=https://archive.org/details/matthewsrussianhistoricalgrammar1967 |location=London |publisher=The Athlone Press, University of London}}
* {{cite journal |last=Schmalstieg |first=William R. |title=An introduction to Old Russian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-hJmAAAAMAAJ |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Institute for the Study of Man |journal=Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph Series |year=1995 |issue=15 |isbn=0-941694-37-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Vlasto |first=A. P. |year=1986 |title=A Linguistic History of Russia to the End of the Eighteenth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hVRgAAAAMAAJ |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=0-19-815660-X}}
* {{Cite book |last=Moser |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TMgjjgEACAAJ |title=New Contributions to the History of the Ukrainian Language |date=2016-12-06 |publisher=University of Alberta Press |isbn=978-1-894865-44-9 |language=en}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{See also|List of Slavic studies journals}}

== External links ==
* [https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/oruol Old Russian Online] by Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum, free online lessons at the [https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/lrc Linguistics Research Center] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716114537/http://character.webzone.ru/ostromir.htm Ostromir's Gospel Online]
* [http://www.drevne.ru/ Online library of the Old Russian texts] {{in lang|ru}}
* [http://lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=2070 The Pushkin House], a great 12-volumed collection of ancient texts of the 11th–17th centuries with parallel Russian translations
* [http://litopys.org.ua/ ''Izbornyk''], library of Old East Slavic chronicles with Ukrainian and Russian translations

{{Slavic languages}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Old East Slavic| ]]
[[Category:East Slavic languages]]
[[Category:History of the Russian language]]