1842年,指的是由屬於東正教的斯拉夫人採用的字母,來自聖Cyril,9世紀斯拉夫人的使徒,據說是他發明的。該字母取代了早期的Glagolitic。名字Cyril來自晚期拉丁語Cyrillus,源自希臘語Kyrillos,字面意思是“尊貴的,主人的”,與kyrios“主,主人”有關(參見church)。
It is believed to have superseded the Glagolitic as being easier both for the copyist to write and for the foreigner to acquire. Some of its signs are modified from the Glagolitic, but those which Greek and Slavic have in common are taken from the Greek. It was brought into general use by St. Cyril's pupil, Clement, first bishop of Bulgaria. The Russian alphabet is a slight modification of it. [Century Dictionary]
據信它取代了Glagolitic,因為它對抄寫員來說更容易書寫,對外國人來說更容易學習。它的一些符號是從Glagolitic修改而來的,但希臘語和斯拉夫語共有的符號則取自希臘語。它由聖Cyril的學生,保加利亞的第一位主教Clement推廣使用。俄語字母是它的輕微修改版。[世紀詞典]