# The transition alphabet — How would you have read an 1861 newspaper

Between 1860 and 1862, the move from Cyrillic to Latin did not happen
through one overnight decree. For years, printers mixed the old signs
with the new letters, sometimes on the same page.

The page at https://mariuscomper.uk/alfabetul-de-tranzitie/en/ shows the
change in a workbench: a loupe passes over a fragment set in the
Cyrillic signs of 1850s print, and each of the 39 Cyrillic signs shows
its Latin reading. A converter sets your name in Cyrillic signs.

## The transcription, in brief

“Gazeta cea nouă se citește cu slove amestecate” — the new gazette reads
in mixed signs. That is the fragment once the loupe has passed over all
39 signs.

## The readings, in brief

The page table gives each sign's reading; three signs took their meaning
from context:

- Ъ — ă (măr), î (înger)
- Ѣ — ea (seară), e (lege)
- Ѫ — â (când), î (împarte)

So a mechanical transliteration stays a guide. Law dates differ between
chancelleries and between works; the page shows the parallel tracks
precisely so it does not hide that.

## The years, in brief

1828: Ion Heliade Rădulescu demands in his grammar that the Cyrillic
signs shrink to 27. 1860: Wallachia introduces Latin writing by law.
1862: Moldavia follows. Transylvania changes around 1860 too, through
print. Cyrillic signs still appear occasionally until around the 1920s,
mostly in Bessarabia. The Romanian Academy is founded in 1866; the first
official orthography arrives in 1881. The signs for ț and ș,
inherited from Petru Maior and Gheorghe Șincai, join the common stock
then.

The workbench fragment is a didactic reconstruction; no period excerpt
is reproduced here.

## Sources

- DEXonline: https://dexonline.ro/
- The Romanian Academy Library: https://biblacad.ro/
- The National Archives of Romania: https://arhivelenationale.ro/site/
- The National History Museum of Romania: https://www.mnir.ro/
- Portal Legislativ: https://legislatie.just.ro/

The texts behind the years: 1860 and 1862 ([Sorescu-Marinković, 2021](https://journals.lub.lu.se/sjrs/article/view/22480)), the 1828 reform and the 1881 orthography ([Dragomirescu](https://ibn.idsi.md/sites/default/files/imag_file/Ortografia%20limbii%20romane%2056_63.pdf)), the Sibiu grammar ([Napeu, 2015](https://www.diacronia.ro/ro/indexing/details/A22112)), the 1866 founding ([the Romanian Academy](https://academiaromana.ro/com2022/doc/d0404-ZiuaAcademieiRomane-comunicat.pdf)), Bessarabian Cyrillic ([Condrea](https://msuir.usm.md/handle/123456789/7766)), the alphabet ([Omniglot](https://omniglot.com/writing/romanian.htm)) and transliteration ([Burlacu & Rabus, 2021](https://www.diacronia.ro/ro/journal/issue/14/A196)).

© 2026 Marius Comper.