Alpha

Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , which is the West Semitic word for "ox".

Where there is ambiguity, long and short alpha are sometimes written with a macron and breve today: Ᾱᾱ, Ᾰᾰ.

In the Attic–Ionic dialect of Ancient Greek, long alpha [aː] fronted to [ɛː] (eta).

[3] Privative a is the Ancient Greek prefix ἀ- or ἀν- a-, an-, added to words to negate them.

In aerodynamics, the letter is used as a symbol for the angle of attack of an aircraft and the word "alpha" is used as a synonym for this property.

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the letter ɑ, which looks similar to the lower-case alpha, represents the open back unrounded vowel.

According to Plutarch's natural order of attribution of the vowels to the planets, alpha was connected with the Moon.

Therefore, Alpha, both as a symbol and term, is used to refer to the "first", or "primary", or "principal" (most significant) occurrence or status of a thing.