2006-06-22 11:04:43 · 8 answers · asked by dread pirate lavenderbeard 4 in Education & Reference ➔ Other - Education
An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters — basic written symbols — each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past. There are other systems of writing such as logographies, in which each symbol represents a morpheme, or word, and syllabaries, in which each symbol represents a syllable.
The word "alphabet" itself is popularly believed to come from alpha and beta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, but some etymologists argue that instead the word derives from aleph and bet, the first two letters of the Phoenician alphabet. The true origin of the word is unclear. There are dozens of alphabets in use today. Most of them are 'linear', which means that they are made up of lines. Notable exceptions are Braille, manual alphabets, Morse code, and the cuneiform alphabet of the ancient city of Ugarit.
2006-06-22 11:10:05 · answer #1 · answered by answer gal 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am guessing it goes back to the Greeks and the Greek alphabet. Their alphabet was 24 letters and started with A, pronounced Alpha and ended with Z, pronounced Zeta. Translated A means the beginning and Z means the end. How all the other letters got ordered I have no idea - but that is how they at least got their start and ending!
2006-06-22 18:10:07 · answer #2 · answered by Sharp Marble 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. The English majors of old all got together to figure out what order the letters should go in. This one guy named Fred had this tune stuck in his head and started singing the letters to the rhythm of the tune. Thus was borne The Alphabet Song. Of course he riped off the tune from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and was sued in a long drug out court battle... Highly publicized... It was dirty.... They eventually settled out of court and it was decided they would share the tune. And all was well. The End.
2006-06-22 18:18:12 · answer #3 · answered by whatdoiknow 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it has to be in some sort of order as we wouldnt be able to put anything in alphabetical order. Obviously someone decided on that way and it stuck!
2006-06-22 18:09:59 · answer #4 · answered by helen 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know. It could be backwards but, I don't think the people who founded the alphabet wanted it to be that way.
2006-06-22 18:09:03 · answer #5 · answered by chocolatepig3 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is just how the alphabet is, how else would it be.
2006-06-22 18:08:15 · answer #6 · answered by farside76 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think just because that's the way it came to mind of the founders
2006-06-22 18:11:40 · answer #7 · answered by maxchica12 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because it just is, now leave it alone...
2006-06-22 18:07:45 · answer #8 · answered by *FRoZeNPiCKLeS* 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋