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A is a very fine and useful letter. It is a word, all on its own, which is admirably accomplished for a single letter. It clearly has awesome ambition and its importance to all of us is reflected in its primary position in the English (and many other) alphabets.
A and a both descend from Latin script and, earlier, the Greek Alpha. This was made from the first letter (/) of the Phoenician alphabet, the equivalent of the Hebrew Aleph, itself from an Egyptian origin.
Some alphabeticists have argued that this initial position is because it always starts well but doesn't have the stamina of a more mature letter, like Z, for instance, and may not last the course. Other lettermongers have pointed that it is a very common letter, in numerical terms, appearing in a profligate number of words. It is even used in musical notation.
Such an adaptable letter and we haven’t begun to examine the “au” diphthong. |
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