Why does the alphabet start with A?

Answer 1

the historical answer is that the phoenicians began their alphabet with 'aleph (which actually was not our vowel 'a') and since all later alphabets come from the phoenician 'a' still comes first.

for a theory about why the letters of the alphabet are arranged in the way they are you should read robert graves' 'the white goddess'.

this will also tell you the name of god, where bubo lives, and why looking at a gorgon will turn a man to stone (as well as lots of other cool stuff).

Answer 2

See this is why I read the A Encyclopedia :)

A is the first letter in many alphabets.

The Egyptians drew an ox.

The Semites had a first letter called "Aleph" which means ox and they took the Egyptian version and simplified it. It looked like an ox head minus the eyes and ears I think.

The Phoenicians in 1000 BC simplified the ox head so it looked like an A turned on it's side.

Around 600 BC, the Greeks took the Aleph and transformed it into alpha. Thus the word "Alphabet" Beta being the second letter in the Greek alphabet. I'll use wolves as an example. When a wolf is dubbed Alpha Male, he is the dominant male. While the Omega (last letter in the Greek alphabet) is the lowest wolf.

The Romans transformed the A so it looks as it does today.

I knew that would come in handy someday.

Answer 3

Our alphabet derives from the Roman alphabet which in turn came from the Greek. I believe the Greek alphabet came from the Phonecians who also gave the Hebrews theirs. All of them start with the symbol for the sound A.

Other alphabet systems, however, were arranged differently. The runic alphabet usually starts with the sign for F.

Alphabetic order is simply a convention originally used for memorising the letters. It was a long time before people thought of arranging lists in alphabetic order.

Answer 4

My first theory:
A is the first word every baby says when it tries to speak.
That is why a baby rarely says: Momo or Mimi or anything else like that. The first difficult word it can say is: Mama.
Compare this word to other languages:
English: Mama or Mom
German: Mamma
French: Maman
Turkish: Anne (e is pronounced like the a in Dad)
vietnamese: Ma

Second theory: The Alphabet comes from the Greek. And A is the first letter from the word "alpha".
Jesus once said: I am the alpha and the omega - (the beginning and the end).

Answer 5

English alphabet originated from Greek Roman or Latin.Alpha became A,beta B etc.,in almost same order.Orental languages start with Aa equal to A etc.

Answer 6

Mostly all languages in the world start with 'a' or something similar to it. Logically, it's the simplest sound one an make. You just open your mouth and let go. The sound I mean is the 'a' in father, not 'a' in case.
The alphabet is what we learn first, before we tackle words, and 'A' is what we learn first, before we tackle difficult sounds...

Answer 7

because Alphabet has always been spelt with an 'a' at the beginning! lol

Well answer me this . . . . why is your name called a name? Why do birds have wings?
Why does the sun come out in the daytime?
Why do the people in France speak french?
Why ?
Why?
Why?

. . . . . . . . You get the drift.

Answer 8

The sacred river 'Alpha' (the Greek letter a) flows through Olympia which is sacred to the Greatest of the Olympian Gods - Zeus. "A" is put first in recognition of the first amongst the Gods.

Answer 9

why do numbers start with 1?

Answer 10

Because it ends with Z