Uk (Cyrillic) - Development of The Use of Uk in Old East Slavic

Development of The Use of Uk in Old East Slavic

The simplification of the ligature ⟨ѹ⟩ to ⟨у⟩ was first brought about in Old East Slavic texts and only later taken over into South Slavic languages.

One can see this development in the Novgorod birch-bark letters: The degree to which this letter was used here differed in two positions: in word-initial position or before a vowel (except for the jers), and after a consonant.

Before a consonant, ⟨ѹ⟩ was used 89% of the time in the writings before 1100. By 1200, it was used 61% of the time, with the letter ⟨у⟩ used 14% of the time; by 1300, ѹ had reached 28%, surpassed by ⟨у⟩ at 45%. From the late 14th century on, there are no more instances of ⟨ѹ⟩ being used in this position, with ⟨у⟩ appearing 95% of the time.

The decrease in usage was more gradual after a consonant. Although there are no instances of the use of ⟨у⟩ in this position before c. 1200, ⟨ѹ⟩ gradually decreased from 88% before 1100 to 57% by 1200. The frequency of ⟨ѹ⟩ remained steady between 47% and 44% until 1400, when it experienced another decrease to 32%. Meanwhile, the use of ⟨у⟩ increased from 4% in the early 13th century, to 20% by the mid-13th century, 38% by the mid 14th century, and 58% by the early 15th century.