‘A’ IS the first letter in English alphabet. Ever wondered how did it get its name and why has it been placed as the first letter? There is a very interesting story here.

Long, long ago, when Phoenicians began to develop letters in order to read and write, the first letter they chose they called it ‘Aleph’. The origin is believed to have come from the pictogram of an ox head in proto-Sinaitic script (middle Bronze Age script), influenced by Egyptian hieroglyphs, styled as a triangular head with two horns extended.

So why did they choose ox head as the first letter in the alphabets? Well, back in those days, ox was a much respected animal. It was strong and could be used in taking heavy loads and was called a beast of burden. It was also used for food purposes. Hence, being a popular animal, it was honoured by having a letter named after it.

It is very interesting to note that the first letter of the Arabic language is called ‘Aliph’. This letter has also been adopted for the Urdu language. In other words, both these languages pronounce the word in its original Phoenician form.

Later, ancient Greeks adopted the alphabets from the Phoenician language. The first letter the Greeks introduced was the Phoenician ‘Aleph’ and called it ‘Alpha’. In writing, it resembled the modern capital ‘A’.

Later, the Romans adopted the Greek characters and when the Roman Empire expanded into Western Europe, all the other local languages began to adopt the Roman letters. It is thus seen that all European languages use the word ‘Aa’ as their first letter in the alphabets.

So friends, this is the journey from ‘Aleph’ to ‘Aa’, a journey that took thousands of years. Fascinating, isn’t it!