THE SPELLING SYSTEM OF THE OLD RUSSIAN DECEMBER MENAION (РГАДА, Ф. 381 (ТИП.) № 96)

The article describes the spelling system of the Old Russian December menaion (РГАДА, ф. 381 (Тип.) № 96), which so far has not been the subject of special lin- guistic research: only a brief description of the paleographic has been made, and commonly accepted dating has been missing. Detailed research of the written monument has revealed interesting graphic and orthographic features: some archaic spellings of omega (ѡ) with high middle; the use of the combined big yus (¦); the use of the letter ю to represent <u> from *<ou> and *<ǫ>, and not only in a position after the originally palatal consonants or consonants with palatal correlates, but after the hard consonants; a relatively large number of de- ployed spellings of preposition-prefix от- with omega (ѡт); a high level of conserva tion of jers; the absence of reliable cases of the vocalization of reduced vowels etc. A new evidence has been found that Novgorodian scribes followed rules in the use of the letters ч and ц: in menaion they distinguish these graphemes by using letters а and ѧ (the letter а is regularly used after ч (93%), and the letter ѧ – after ц (68%)). The analysis of the material of the manuscript has allowed to specify the date of its creation (the XIIth century).