Alif
| Alef | |
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 Filename: Alef_-_a.jpg |
Alif is written as ا, spelled as الِف and transliterated as alif, it is the first letter in arabic alphabet. Together with Hebrew Aleph, Greek Alpha and Latin A, it is descended from Phoenician ʾāleph, from a reconstructed Proto-Canaanite ʾalp "ox".
The Phoenician letter is derived from an Egyptian hieroglyph depicting an ox's head, and gave rise to the Greek Alpha (Α), being re-interpreted to express not the glottal consonant but the accompanying vowel, and hence the Latin A and Cyrillic А.
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Origins
The name Aleph is derived from the West Semitic word for "ox", and the shape of the letter derives from a Proto-Sinaitic glyph that may have been based on an Egyptian hieroglyph, which depicts an ox's head.
