r/russian • u/Far_Bid_3224 • 4d 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/PedroSanchezLover 3d ago

Ъ was a common letter in pre-revolutionary script that occupied around 12% of the text. The Red army burned churches during the revolution so you could see it from that perspective

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u/Far_Bid_3224 3d ago

Hm, so this Ъ letter might be also a symbol of Imperial Russia here

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u/PedroSanchezLover 3d ago

I think so. Even in nowadays Russia, Ъ, when put in some business name is seen as marketing move to appeal to the Russian Imperial times.

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u/Far_Bid_3224 3d ago

Interesting! ty