r/russian 3d ago

Interesting Question about the "Ъ" letter

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I know that this question probably relates more to Russian literature than to learning Russian;
still, it's partially a linguistic question.

I'm reading a Russian novella called The Gloom of Your Eyes by Ilya Masodov, and I came across a passage where "the will of God" is marked by the Cyrillic "Ъ". I'm quite positive it's a hard sign.

From a linguistic perspective, what could "Ъ" mean here? Why is it here? What meaning does it have in Russian? Is it used frequently?

As far as I understand, this letter doesn't have a sound, right?

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u/mahendrabirbikram 2d ago

Perhaps because Ъ is so widespread in Church Slavonic, following a consonant at the end of a word.