Greek 'alpha + beta' from Phoenician 'ox + house' — A was a rotated ox head, B the floor plan of a house.
Definition
A set of letters or symbols in a fixed order, used to represent the basic sounds of a language.
The Full Story
Greek (from Phoenician)15th century (in English)well-attested
From Late Latin alphabētum, from Greek alphabētos, formed from the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha (α) and bēta (β). These letter-names were themselves borrowed from Phoenician: alpha from aleph (ox, originally a pictogram of an ox head) and beta from beth (house, originally a pictogram of a house floorplan). The Phoenician abjad (consonant-only script) was adapted by the Greeks
Did you know?
Theletter A was originally a picture of an ox head, rotated 180°. Phoenician 'aleph' (𐤀) looks like an ox head turned sideways. When the Greeksborrowed it, they rotated it, and over centuries it simplified into the A we know. The letter B was a picture of a house (Phoenician 'bet,' 𐤁). Every
. English alphabet entered the language in the early 16th century from Late Latin. The naming convention — calling a writing system by its first letters — has parallels: English ABCs, Old English futhorc (from the first runic letters f, u, þ, o, r, c), and Old Norse futhark. The word alphabet thus preserves in its very syllables the Semitic origins of Western writing. Key roots: ʾālep (Phoenician: "ox (the letter's shape derives from an ox head)"), bēt (Phoenician: "house (the letter's shape derives from a house plan)").