The Bulgarian language has a rich history that directly shaped the way millions of people read and write today.

It’s officially the oldest written Slavic language in the world.

Many people falsely believe that the Cyrillic alphabet was invented in Russia.

The creation of the Cyrillic script actually took place right here in Bulgaria.

I’ll explain exactly how the Bulgarian language evolved and how this famous alphabet was born.

The origins of the Bulgarian language

The story of the Bulgarian language begins over a thousand years ago.

In the 6th and 7th centuries, Slavic tribes migrated into the Balkan Peninsula.

They brought their spoken Slavic dialects with them.

Shortly after, a group of Turkic people known as the Bulgars also settled in the region.

The Bulgars and the Slavs eventually merged to form the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 AD.

The Bulgars gradually adopted the Slavic language of the local population.

This blending of cultures created the very first roots of what we now call Bulgarian.

Old Bulgarian and the Glagolitic script

For a long time, this early Slavic language didn’t have its own writing system.

This changed in the 9th century thanks to two brothers named Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius.

The Byzantine Emperor sent them on a mission to spread Christianity to the Slavic people.

To do this, they needed to translate the Bible into a language the locals could understand.

Saint Cyril invented the first Slavic alphabet, which was called the Glagolitic script.

The Glagolitic alphabet was highly complex and looked very different from the letters we use today.

It successfully captured the unique sounds of the spoken Slavic language.

This written language became known as Old Bulgarian, or Old Church Slavonic.

The birth of the Cyrillic alphabet

Here’s the biggest misconception about the Cyrillic alphabet.

Saint Cyril didn’t actually invent the Cyrillic alphabet that bears his name.

The Cyrillic script was created by his students after his death.

One of his most famous disciples, Clement of Ohrid, developed it in the First Bulgarian Empire under the rule of Tsar Boris I.

He named the new alphabet “Cyrillic” to honor his teacher.

The students simplified the writing system by using many letters from the Greek alphabet.

They then added entirely new symbols to represent Slavic sounds that didn’t exist in Greek.

Here are a few examples of Cyrillic letters and their origins.

This new alphabet was much easier to read and write than the Glagolitic script.

It quickly spread from Bulgaria to other Slavic nations, including Serbia and Russia.

Middle Bulgarian and Ottoman influence

Between the 12th and 15th centuries, the language evolved into what we call Middle Bulgarian.

During this time, grammar rules began to shift and simplify.

Then, at the end of the 14th century, Bulgaria fell under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

This period of Ottoman rule lasted for nearly five hundred years.

Because of this, the Bulgarian language absorbed a large number of Turkish loanwords.

Many of these words are still used in everyday Bulgarian conversations today.

Here are a few common Bulgarian words that came from Turkish during this period.

Despite the heavy foreign influence, the core structure of the Bulgarian language survived.

The modern Bulgarian language

The modern Bulgarian language began to take shape during the National Revival in the 19th century.

Writers and educators worked hard to standardize the grammar and purify the vocabulary.

Modern Bulgarian developed some very unique grammatical features that make it entirely different from other Slavic languages like Russian.

The most noticeable change was the complete loss of noun cases.

Instead of changing the endings of nouns to show their role in a sentence, modern Bulgarian relies on prepositions.

Bulgarian also developed a definite article that attaches to the very end of a word.

For example, the word for “language” is ezik, and “the language” is ezikat.

Today, Bulgarian is spoken by millions of people and remains a proud symbol of the country’s heritage.

Understanding its history gives you a much deeper appreciation for every word you learn.