Information about the letter e, history of its occurrence. The story of one letter

Once upon a time, “Yati” and “Eri”, Fita and Izhitsa left our alphabet relatively painlessly - as if they never existed at all. A slight nostalgia jumps in, perhaps, when you see a sign like “Tavern”, and then among older people, young people - up to the lantern.

But as for the letter “Y” in the rules of the Russian language, there is a whole epic here, and it would not be a sin to recall its key points. “History of the issue” - as they usually say in scientific circles.

The wine went to my head!

The honor of discovery and introduction and the wide use of this letter are shared between the associate of Catherine II, Princess Elizaveta Romanovna Dashkova (she is also the President of the Imperial Academy) and Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin - poet, publicist, historian. By the way, in Ulyanovsk - Karamzin’s homeland - there was even a monument to this letter. Dashkova, at one of the Academy meetings, openly “pushed” the expediency of introducing this letter, but another 12 years passed before the letter appeared in print.

Strictly speaking, Karamzin’s close friend (and also a poet) Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev was the first to use it, and Karamzin sanctified it with his authority. This happened in 1795-1796. According to the widespread version, Dashkova decided on the innovation, being a lover of a fizzy drink, the famous French champagne brand Moët & Chandon. Those very notorious dots above the letter “e” are there.

Scrape out the very spirit!

Not to say that everyone followed Dashkova and Karamzin. The archaists and Old Believers did not want to give up their positions so easily. Thus, the former admiral A.S. Shishkov, who headed the society “Conversation of Lovers of Russian Literature” - a man, of course, of great civil and personal courage, but absolutely devoid of linguistic flair, went to extremes, demanding how to ban everything foreign words in the Russian language, and personally erasing the hated dots in each of the books that caught my eye.

From poets to generalissimos

However, linguistic conservatism was not unique to Shishkov: Russian poets (Marina Tsvetaeva, Andrei Bely, Alexander Blok) stubbornly continued to write “zholty” and “black”. The Bolsheviks did not touch Yo, which was the last one in the pre-revolutionary alphabet, issuing a decree according to which its writing was recognized as “desirable, but not obligatory.”

This continued until the Great Patriotic War when in titles settlements Maximum accuracy was required on the maps. Stalin personally issued a decree on the widespread use of Yo. Of course, after his death there was a rollback. And today there is absolutely “confusion and vacillation.”

They want to completely destroy it!

On one of the Internet resources, Yo is contemptuously called “under-letter,” which sounds good, but, they say, looks bad. Its widespread use is called violence against the reading public.

And it’s not so bad that Yo’s keyboard has a strange place in the upper left corner. There are obvious distortions in the spelling of both proper names (Lev instead of Lev, Montesquieu instead of Montesquieu, Fet instead of Fet) and settlements (Pyongyang instead of Pyongyang, Königsberg instead of Königsberg). And what a hassle and headache for passport officers when Eremenko turns out to be Eremenko, and not only Natalia turns out to be Natalia!

Let's calmly figure it out!

We will not take the side of the “yofikators” (supporters of the widespread use of this letter) or their opponents on the issue of “writing e or ё”. Let's remember the rule of the “golden mean” and consider the basic rules for using Ё in modern written and printed texts. Moreover, linguists managed to reach a compromise and consolidate it in a special document - “Rules for Spelling and Punctuation of the Russian Language.”

Firstly, even if in the Russian language there is no rule about a clearly fixed stress, unlike, say, Italian or French, there is almost always an exception to every rule, and in this case it concerns the letter E, which is always found in a striking position.

Secondly, in books for preschoolers and textbooks for primary school students, Yo is present in mandatory– after all, children are still just learning and comprehending all the basics of linguistic wisdom and there is no need to complicate this process for them.

Thirdly, Yo will appear in manuals for foreigners learning Russian.

Fourthly, when it is not entirely clear to us which part of speech is meant, when the general meaning of a word can be perceived erroneously (chalk or chalk, bucket or pail, all or everything, sky or palate), writing Ё will become a lifesaver.

Fifthly, Yo is written in geographical names, toponyms, surnames, proper names: Olekma, Veshenskaya, Neyolova, etc.

Sixthly, E is required when we are dealing with an unfamiliar, possibly borrowed word (for example, surfing). She will also help indicate correct accent in this word. This is how you kill two birds with one stone!

Finally, seventhly, dictionaries, reference books, encyclopedias - specialized literature - are not just allowed, but required.

In general, you should gradually develop a sense of language in yourself and adhere to the following rule: if the E is not dotted and this distorts the meaning of the word, we dot it. Otherwise, we vary E and E.

The letter E owes its appearance to changes in Russian phonetics. Once upon a time, O was not pronounced after soft consonants. That is why they said, for example, not a dog, but a dog. But at some point, E turned into O: this is how the modern pronunciation of words like honey, everything, and many others arose. Is it true, for a long time there was no new designation for this sound. The writers calmly used the letters O and E: bees, honey. But in the 18th century, these words began to be written differently, using the combination io (everything-everything). It was then that it became obvious: a new letter was needed! Princess Dashkova and the writer Karamzin proposed replacing the two signs with one. This is how the letter E was born.

Were any other options considered?

Certainly. IN different times Various ideas appeared for replacing the letter E. We could now write that very pronoun “everything” as “everything”. In both the 19th and 20th centuries, a wide variety of proposals were made: ö , ø , ε , ę , ē , ĕ . However, none of these options were approved.

Many people did not like the letter E and still do not like it. Why?

For a long time, “joking” was considered a sign of common speech. The letter was new, so it was treated with suspicion and even some contempt - as something alien that did not correspond to Russian linguistic traditions.

But there is another, very simple reason for dislike - the letter E is inconvenient to write, for this you need to perform three actions at once: write the letter itself, and then put two dots over it. Such a complex letter was perceived as a burden, some linguists noted. It was not easy for those who typed texts from Yo on typewriters. Soviet typists had to press three keys at once: letters e, carriage return, quotes.

By the way, even now they joke about those who type texts with Y on a computer: “Beware of people who type words with Y: if they can reach it on the keyboard, they will reach you!”

Is E a full-fledged letter, the same as all the others?

It's a difficult question. Since e appeared, the most contradictory opinions were expressed about it. Some linguists did not consider it an independent letter. For example, in an article from 1937, A. A. Reformatsky wrote: “Is there a letter in the Russian alphabet e? No. There is only the diacritic sign “umlaut” or “trema” (two dots above the letter), which is used to avoid possible misunderstandings ... "

Such icons above letters exist in many languages. And the speakers of these languages, as a rule, treat them very jealously. In France, for example, the government’s attempt to abandon the sign “aksan circonflex” (house above the letter) as part of the spelling reform caused a real storm: the French were ready to take to the streets to protect their favorite sign.

Does our Yo have defenders?

There are, and some more! Fighters for the “rights” of the letter E are called yofikators ( don't forget to reach for the letter E when you write this word). Yofikators ensure that the use of the letter e has become ubiquitous and mandatory. The fact is that they perceive words with E instead of E as an insult to the Russian language and even to Russia as a whole. For example, the writer, head of the “Union of Yofikators” V.T. Chumakov calls neglect of the letter E not only a spelling mistake, but also a political, spiritual, and moral mistake.

And linguists agree with him?

No, linguists are just not that categorical. Editor-in-Chief The portal "Gramota.ru" Vladimir Pakhomov calls the statement that E instead of E is a gross spelling error, one of the myths about the Russian language. Of course, there are arguments both for and against. For example, the obligatory Yo would help to remember the correct pronunciation of some names, surnames and names of settlements. But there is also a danger: if Yo is made mandatory, then the texts of the classics may begin to be “modernized”, and then Yo will appear where it should not be at all.

In what words is Yo pronounced by mistake?

There are quite a lot of such words. Can often be heard scam instead of scam or guardianship instead of guardianship. In fact, there is no letter E in these words, and pronunciation with E is considered a gross spelling error. In the same list are words such as grenadier ( not a grenadier!) , expired in the meaning of time (it is impossible to say elapsed period)settled ( under no circumstances settled!),hagiography And being . Here, by the way, it is appropriate to recall director Yakin from the film “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession.” Yakin pronounces the word hagiography absolutely correct - through E, not through E.

Anewborn also without Yo?

You can write this word with E instead of E, but it is pronounced with E. That's right - newborn, not newborn!

Words are also spoken with Yo obscene ( remember it, this word is very often pronounced incorrectly!), edge, worthless, windsurfing, bleeding (blood).

I'm completely confused. Still, if I don’t want to reach for Yo on the keyboard, am I not betraying the Russian language and my Motherland?

Of course not! There is no mistake or betrayal in refusing Yo. The letter E cannot be dispensed with except in textbooks for junior schoolchildren and in manuals for foreigners who do not know how to read and pronounce Russian words. In other cases, the decision is yours. However, if in correspondence about the weather you suddenly want to write something like “Tomorrow we will finally take a break from the cold,” try to reach out to E.

The youngest letter of the alphabet “ё” was born more than two centuries ago. But to this day it has both ardent supporters and those who consider the letter unnecessary. Together with the philologist, we figured out why the Russian language needs the letter “ё”, what common mistakes its ignoring leads to, and in what areas its use is mandatory.

Ё, ё is the seventh letter of the Russian alphabet. After consonants it means their softness (if possible) and the sound [o], in other cases - the combination [yo].

The letter “е” was “born” in the house of the director of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, at one of the first meetings Russian Academy. Here, on November 29, 1783, a project for an explanatory Slavic-Russian dictionary was discussed. The princess wrote the word “Christmas tree” as “Iolka” and asked: “Is it legal to represent one sound with two letters?” Then she suggested using the new letter “е” in such cases.

There is an assumption that Dashkova chose this particular letter because she drank Moёt & Chandon champagne. The surname Moet is not read according to the general rules of the French language. And for correct pronunciation, two dots are written above the French letter “e”.

The poet Gabriel Derzhavin was the first to use “ё” in personal correspondence. In 1795, in the book “And My Trinkets” by Ivan Dmitriev, the letter was replicated printing press. The first word printed with the letter “е” was the word “everything”. But in higher circles there was an opinion that “yokanie” is the destiny of common people’s speech.

The letter “е” was officially recognized only in Soviet era. On December 24, 1942, by order No. 1825 of the People's Commissar of Education of the RSFSR Vladimir Potemkin, the mandatory use of the letter “ё” in school practice was introduced, and from that time on it was considered part of the Russian alphabet.

According to legend, Joseph Stalin personally influenced the fate of the letter. Allegedly, he became furious when they brought him a document to sign in which all the names were written with an “e.” According to another version, the scouts captured German maps, where “е” was rendered with the combination “jo,” and the Russians could easily confuse the names of villages, for example, “Berezovka” and “Beryozovka.”

The letter “е” is contained in more than 12.5 thousand words, in 2.5 thousand surnames of Russian citizens and former USSR, in thousands of geographical names of Russia and the world and in thousands of names and surnames of citizens of foreign countries.

Reasons for dislike

The “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation” of 1956, which are still in force today, stipulated that “е” must be written when it is necessary to prevent the incorrect reading of a word, when it is necessary to indicate the pronunciation of a little-known word, in dictionaries and spelling reference books, as well as in textbooks for non-Russians, in books for young children school age and in other special types of literature. However, in practice these instructions were not always followed.

The technical reason for refusing to use “е” is considered to be that there was often no separate key on typewriters. The letter was abandoned in order to reduce the number of keys. To type “е”, typists pressed three keys: “e”, return the carriage, put a quotation mark.

Displacement is also associated with the rapid development of printing activities. The presence of the letter “ё” in typographical typesetting caused additional material costs. Some early computer keyboards ignored the "y". Although now the presence of letters in the text during computer typing and layout using any typeface and typeface does not lead to an increase in printing costs.

When writing “е” it also caused problems. Soviet linguist Abram Shapiro believed that “the very shape of the letter “е” (the letter and two dots above it) represents an undoubted difficulty from the point of view of the motor activity of the writer: after all, writing this frequently used letter requires three separate techniques (letter, dot and dot) , and each time you need to make sure that the dots are symmetrically placed above the letter sign.”

Why is "yo" needed?

According to Oksana Isachenko, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of General and Russian Linguistics at the State Institute of Nizhny Novgorod State University, Professor of the Department of Russian Language at the National Higher Educational Institution of Higher Education, the letter “e” is needed to maintain balance in Russian spelling.

“The descriptive similarity, to the point of confusion, between e and e does not mean that this is a “duplication.” The difference is that e is the sound [e] (now we are only talking about stressed positions), and e is [o]. These sounds are also expressed by the actual letters o and e. But no one even thinks about looking for something unnecessary in this pair. Exactly the same difference between e and e. Rather, we need to think about the doublet nature of the letters o and e. It is this that determines the need for the spelling choice o//е (rustle, whisper). But there is a clear rule that is taught at school,” says the linguist.

She notes that this letter has one important quality - it always means percussion sound[o]: hairstyle, village, Semyon Semyonich! Few people have difficulty with such words. But whole rows of words, as a result of neglecting the letter “e,” fell into the zone of “spelling risk.”

“It’s just a shame that we ourselves “organized” these pronunciation errors when we decided to ignore the letter “e.” Resulting in massive confusion newborn, ice, beaten, godfather, beet, scabrous, click;talk nonsense, settled life, settled, black ice, religious procession, scam, being, guardianship. Where there is an “ё”, you need to write it consistently everywhere (people will stop getting confused); if there are options today (bl e kly // bl e cool, man e vr // man e vr, w e lie//f e lch), to force them to unify,” notes the philologist.

A monument to the letter “ё” was erected in Ulyanovsk. This is a red granite stele with a pressed enlarged copy of the letter first printed on page 166 in the word “tears” in Nikolai Karamzin’s almanac “Aonida” in 1797.

Where is “yo” needed?

Cases of consistent and selective use of “ё” are listed in the “Complete Academic Reference Book”, 2009, in the section “Use of the letter “ё” in texts for various purposes.” Isachenko is confident that “ё” should be not just consistent, but mandatory in educational literature intended for studying native language and native literature (subject " Literary reading"), as well as for learning Russian as a foreign language.

"For example, in textbooks primary school The “era of stress” ends in the first grade, and then it’s on their own. This is the wrong position. Especially if you take into account the literary assortment that children are stuffed with in grades 2-4: epics, lives, fragments of ancient Russian chronicles, fairy tales by writers of the 18th–19th centuries. Without accents, it’s even technically impossible to master these texts, not to mention the fact that it wouldn’t hurt to understand them,” she explains.

According to her experience, there is another area of ​​mandatory (and not selective, as the reference book recommends) use of “ё” - surname, especially in registry offices.

“I had a bad example. The story, I think, is not uncommon. I wanted to register the child under the father’s surname, but with “e” - in accordance with the pronunciation. The registry office told me that then it would not be “obvious” that this child is this man’s son. This, of course, is incredible stupidity. The opposite of “literalism” is negligence. For example, the famous poet Fet became like this due to the inattention of the publisher of the magazine "Otechestvennye zapiski"; in fact, he was Fet. And now such stories are not uncommon,” notes the linguist.

Ministry of Education and Science Russian Federation in 2012 commented on the spelling of the letters “e” and “e” in official documents.” The reason was the appeal of citizens on the issue of spelling the letters “e” and “e” when drawing up identity documents of a citizen of the Russian Federation, preparing forms of certificates of state registration of acts of civil status, drawing up educational documents issued by educational institutions with state accreditation, as well as other documents. The agency explained that in proper names (last name, first name, patronymic), the use of the letter “ё” should be mandatory.

“Judicial practice in this case proceeds from the fact that, on the basis of the Rules (the spelling of the letters “e” and “e” are equated. Writing the letter “e” instead of “e” and vice versa in the last name, first name and patronymic does not distort the data of the owner of the documents, if provided that the data on the basis of which the person can be identified in such documents is consistent,” the letter says.

“If I were a legislator, I would suggest that in all a person’s metrics, the surname should be accurately written down and even emphasized. By the way, consistent use of “ё” when writing surnames would partially eliminate this problem. For example, today recorded Chernyshev can be read as: Chernyshev, Chernyshev and Chernysh[o]v, and if you write Chernyshev, you get a surname - no options,” summed up Isachenko.

Why, oh my, don’t you write “Yo” anywhere?

IN lately An amazing transformation of the Russian language is taking place. Reforms in the field of word formation and stress have already led to the fact that coffee has become of an indefinite gender, and they are trying to completely eliminate the letter “Y” from the alphabet.

200-year "war"
The first discrepancies associated with “Yo,” the youngest letter in the Russian alphabet, began more than 220 years ago. In 1783, it was invented by Ekaterina Dashkova, an associate of Catherine II, princess and head of the Imperial Russian Academy. At an academic meeting, Ekaterina Romanovna asked Derzhavin, Fonvizin, Knyazhin and other letter scholars whether it was legal to write “iolka” and whether it would be wiser to replace the digraph “io” with one letter “Ё”.

Already in 1795, the letter “Y” began to appear in print, but linguistic conservatism still prevented the promotion of the young letter to the masses. For example, Tsvetaeva wrote “damn” on principle, Andrei Bely wrote “zholty”, and the Minister of Education Alexander Shishkov, for example, leafed through the books that belonged to him volume after volume, erasing two hated dots from them. In all pre-revolutionary Primers, “Y” did not stand after “E”, but at the very end of the alphabet.

The appearance of “Yo,” according to its opponents, is the result of the arbitrariness of one person, Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. Allegedly for the sake of external effect, in 1797 he used the European umlaut, the Latin “E” with two dots, in the Russian-language text. Opponents of “Yo” are still trying, by hook or by crook, to get rid of the letter they hate. And where does this unnecessary, in my opinion, “disinfection” ultimately lead us?

On a computer keyboard it is “relegated” to the upper left corner, but on a phone it is often completely absent. When sending a telegram, we insistently ask for “more money.” Many of us are sure that the great Dumas wrote not about Cardinal Richelieu, but about Richelieu; the favorite French actor’s name is not Depardieu, but Depardieu. And our fellow countryman Fet once became Fet.

And how many legal problems do I, an honest citizen of the Russian Federation, have because of negligent passport officers, nurses, secretaries who ignore the letter “Y” in my last name? It turns out that according to my passport I am one person, but according to my driver’s license I am another... Literary and letter scholars say correctly: “We live like this, as if there are 32.5 letters in our alphabet.”

Hard facts:
— the letter E is in the sacred, “lucky” 7th place in the alphabet;
— in the Russian language there are about 12,500 words with “Ё”. Of these, about 150 begin with “Yo” and about 300 end with “Yo”;
— frequency of occurrence of “Ё” – 1% of the text. That is, for every thousand characters of text there are on average ten “yoshkas”;
- in Russian surnames “Yo” occurs in approximately two cases out of a hundred;
— in our language there are words with two and even three letters “Ё”: “three-star”, “four-vector”, “Börelökh” (a river in Yakutia), “Börögösh” and “Kögelön” ( male names in Altai);
— in the Russian language there are 12 male and 5 female names, the full forms of which contain “Yo”. These are Aksen, Artyom, Nefed, Parmen, Peter, Rorik, Savel, Seliverst, Semyon, Fedor, Yarem; Alena, Klena, Matryona, Thekla, Flena;
— in Ulyanovsk, the hometown of the inveterate “yofikator” Nikolai Karamzin, there is a monument to the letter “Y”.

By the way:
In Russia, there is an official Union of Efictionists of Russia, which is engaged in the fight for the rights of “de-energized” words. Thanks to their vigorous activity to besiege the State Duma, now all Duma documents (including laws) are completely “eified.” “Yo” - at the suggestion of the chairman of the Union Viktor Chumakov - appeared in some all-Russian newspapers, in television credits and in books.

Russian programmers created the “etator” - computer program, which automatically places dotted letters in the text. And the artists came up with the “epyrite” - an icon for marking official publications.

December 24, 1942 by order people's commissar Education of the RSFSR Vladimir Potemkin introduced the mandatory use of the letter “ё” in school practice. It was from this day that this letter, which still causes a lot of conversation and controversy around itself, officially entered the Russian alphabet. And she took an honorable place in it - 7th place.

"RG" cites a number of interesting and little known facts about the letter "Y" and its history.

Princess Christmas tree

The “godmother” of the letter “e” can be considered Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova, director of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. On November 29 (18), 1783, one of the first meetings of the Russian Academy of Sciences took place, at which the princess was present among the respected poets, writers and philosophers of that time. The project of the 6-volume “Dictionary of the Russian Academy” was discussed. The academicians were about to go home when Ekaterina Romanovna asked those present if anyone could write the word “Christmas tree”. The academics decided that the princess was joking, but she, having written the word “Iolka” she had spoken, asked: “Is it legal to represent one sound with two letters?” And she suggested using the new letter “е” to express words and pronunciations, for example, such as “matіoryy”, “іolka”, “іож”. Dashkova’s arguments seemed convincing, and the advisability of introducing new letter it was proposed to evaluate the member of the Academy of Sciences, Metropolitan Gabriel of Novgorod and St. Petersburg. Thus, November 29 (18), 1783 can be considered the birthday of “yo”.

One of the first to use “ё” in personal correspondence was the poet Gavriil Derzhavin. The letter first appeared in a printed edition in the late 90s of the 18th century - in the book of the poet Ivan Dmitriev “And My Trinkets,” printed in 1795 at the Moscow University Printing House. There are the words “everything”, “light”, “stump”, “immortal”, “cornflower”. However, in scientific works At that time, the letter "ё" was still not used. For example, in “History of the Russian State” by Karamzin (1816-1829) the letter “ё” is missing. Although many researchers and philologists give credit to the historical writer Karamzin for introducing the letter “e”. Among her opponents were such famous figures as the writer and poet Alexander Sumarokov and the scientist and poet Vasily Trediakovsky. Thus, its use was optional.

It couldn't have happened without Stalin

On December 23, 1917 (January 5, 1918), a decree was published, signed by People's Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky, which ordered “all government and state publications” from January 1 (old style) 1918 “to be printed according to the new spelling.” It also said: “Recognize the use of the letter “ё” as desirable, but not obligatory.” And only on December 24, 1942, according to the order of the People's Commissar of Education of the RSFSR Vladimir Potemkin, the mandatory use of the letter “e” was introduced in school.

There is a legend that Stalin personally had a hand in this. On December 6, 1942, the manager of the Council of People's Commissars, Yakov Chadayev, brought an order for signature in which the names of several generals were printed with the letter "e" rather than "e". Stalin was furious, and the very next day, December 7, 1942, the letter “e” appeared in all articles of the Pravda newspaper. However, publishers initially used the letter with two dots at the top, but in the 50s of the twentieth century they began to use it only when necessary. The selective use of the letter "ё" was enshrined in the rules of Russian spelling in 1956.

To write or not to write

In accordance with the letter of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated 05/03/2007 “On decisions of the Interdepartmental Commission on the Russian Language”, it is prescribed to write the letter “ё” in cases where a word can be misread, for example, in proper names, since ignoring the letter “ ё" in this case is a violation of the Federal Law "On state language Russian Federation".

According to the current rules of Russian spelling and punctuation, the letter “ё” is written in the following cases:

When it is necessary to prevent incorrect reading and understanding of a word, for example: “we recognize” as opposed to “we recognize”; "everything" as opposed to "all"; “perfect” (participle) as opposed to “perfect” (adjective), etc.;
- when you need to indicate the pronunciation of a little-known word, for example: Olekma river.
- In special texts: primers, school textbooks of the Russian language, spelling textbooks, etc., as well as in dictionaries to indicate the place of stress and correct pronunciation.
According to the same rules, in ordinary printed texts the letter “e” can be used selectively. But at the request of the author or editor, any text or book can be printed with the letter “е”.

Especially if there are rarely used, borrowed or complex words: for example, “geoz”, “surfing”, “fleur”, “harder”, “slit”. Or you need to indicate the correct emphasis: for example, “fable”, “brought”, “carried away”, “condemned”, “newborn”, “filler” (the letter “e” is always stressed).

Leo instead of Leo

The optional use of the letter “е” has led to the fact that today names are written without it:

Philosopher and writer Montesquieu;
- X-ray physics;
- physicist Anders Jonas Ångström, as well as the unit of length Ångström, named after him;
- microbiologist and chemist Louis Pasteur;
- artist and philosopher Nicholas Roerich;
- Nazi leaders Goebbels and Goering;
- writer Leo Tolstoy (the writer himself pronounced his name in accordance with the old Moscow speech tradition - Lev; Tolstoy was also called by members of his family, close friends and numerous acquaintances).

The surnames Khrushchev and Gorbachev are also written without the “ё”.

Other interesting facts

In 2005, in Ulyanovsk, by decision of the city mayor’s office, a monument was erected to the letter “e” - a triangular prism made of granite, on which a lowercase “e” is stamped.

There are about 12.5 thousand words in the Russian language with “ё”. Of these, about 150 begin with “е” and about 300 end with “е”.

In the Russian language, words with several letters “е” are also possible, usually these are compound words: “three-star”, “four-vector”.

More than 300 surnames differ only in the presence of “e” or “e” in them. For example, Lezhnev - Lezhnev, Demina - Demina. The correct spelling of such surnames in personal documents and various property and inheritance matters is especially important. A mistake can deprive a person, for example, of an inheritance. For example, the Elkin family from Barnaul reported that in the 1930s their ancestor lost his inheritance due to the fact that it was registered in the Elkin family. And Perm resident Tatyana Teterkina almost lost Russian citizenship due to the incorrect spelling of her last name in her passport.

There is a rare Russian surname Yo of French origin, which French written in four letters.

The surname of the famous Russian poet Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (Foeth - German by origin) was distorted when printing his first book. He gained fame under the name Fet. At the same time, he spent part of his life under the name Shenshin.