ἄλφα

See also: άλφα

Ancient Greek

previous letter		following letter   βῆτα
Α α   –   English: alpha

Etymology

Borrowed from Phoenician 𐤀 (ʾ /⁠ʾālep⁠/). The letter's name is from Phoenician 𐤀𐤋𐤐 (ʾlp, “bull, ox, head of cattle”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ál.pʰa/ → /ˈal.ɸa/ → /ˈal.fa/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /ál.pʰa/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈal.pʰa/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈal.ɸa/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈal.fa/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈal.fa/

Noun

ἄλφα • (álpha) n (indeclinable)

1. alpha, the name for the first letter Α (A), α (a) of the Ancient Greek alphabet.

Adjective

1. first

(Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

Descendants

• Greek: άλφα (álfa)
• → Arabic: أَلْفَا (ʔalfā)
• → Asturian: alfa
• → Bulgarian: алфа (alfa)
• → Catalan: alfa
• → Classical Syriac: ܐܠܦܐ (ʾalpā)
• → Czech: alfa
• → Dutch: alfa
• → English: alpha
• → Finnish: alfa
• → French: alpha
• → Galician: alfa
• → Ge'ez: አልፋ (ʾälfa)
• → German: Alpha
• → Hindi: अल्फ़ा (alfā) (perhaps via Arabic)
• → Hungarian: alfa
• → Italian: alfa
• → Irish: alfa
• → Latin: alpha
• → Macedonian: алфа (alfa)
• → Old Armenian: ալփ (alpʻ), այբ (ayb)
• → Polish: alfa
• → Portuguese: alfa
• → Russian: а́льфа (álʹfa)
• → Serbo-Croatian: а̏лфа (ȁlfa)
• → Slovak: alfa
• → Slovene: alfa
• → Swedish: alfa
• → Spanish: alfa
• → Ukrainian: а́льфа (álʹfa)

Further reading

• “ἄλφα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ἄλφα in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἄλφα in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2026)
• G1 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• ἄλφα, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011