A ::
A () The first
letter of the
English and of many other
alphabets. The
capital A of the
alphabets of
Middle and
Western Europe, as also the small
letter (a),
besides the forms in
Italic, black
letter, etc., are all
descended from the old Latin A, which was
borrowed from the Greek
Alpha, of the same form; and this was made from the first
letter (/) of the
Phoenician alphabet, the
equivalent of the
Hebrew Aleph, and
itself from the
Egyptian origin. The Aleph was a
consonant letter, with a
guttural