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Largoplazo (talk | contribs) →Alif mamdūda: آ: The reader can see exactly what it looks like so we don't need to describe what it resembles. It may seem helpful to non-sighted users but not if they also don't know what a tilde looks like. |
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{{redirect|Alef|other uses|Aleph (disambiguation)|and|Alef (disambiguation)}}
{{For|the large number represented by this letter|aleph number}}
{{Phoenician glyph|letname=Aleph|nextlink=Bet (letter)|nextletter=Bet|arrowleft= |archar=ا|sychar=ܐ|hechar={{script|Hebrew|א}}|amchar=𐡀|nbatchar=𐢀|gechar=አ|phchar=𐤀|grchar=[[Α]]|lachar=[[A]], [[Latin alpha|Ɑ]]|cychar=[[А]], [[Я]]|ipa={{IPA link|ʔ}}, {{IPA link|a}}|num=1|gem=1}}
'''Aleph''' (or '''alef''' or '''alif''', transliterated [[ʾ]]) is the first [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]] of the [[Semitic abjads]], including [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] ''ʾālep'' 𐤀, [[Hebrew alphabet|Hebrew]] ''ʾālef'' {{script|Hebrew|א}}, [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]] ''ʾālap'' 𐡀, [[Syriac alphabet|Syriac]] ''ʾālap̄'' ܐ, [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] ''ʾalif'' ا, and [[Ancient North Arabian|North Arabian]] 𐪑. It also appears as [[Ancient South Arabian script|South Arabian]] 𐩱 and [[Ge'ez script|Ge'ez]] ''ʾälef'' አ.
These letters are believed to have derived from an [[Egyptian hieroglyph]] depicting an ox's head<ref>{{cite web |date=1999-11-15 |title=Oldest alphabet found in Egypt |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/521235.stm |work=BBC News |access-date=2014-08-01 |archive-date=2017-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170607101606/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/521235.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> to [[Acrophony|describe the initial sound]] of ''*ʾalp'', the [[West Semitic languages|West Semitic]] word for ox<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Goldwasser|first=O.|date=2010|title=How the Alphabet was Born from Hieroglyphs.|url=https://www.academia.edu/6916402|journal=Biblical Archaeology Review|volume=36|issue=2|pages=40–53|access-date=2020-07-31|archive-date=2021-11-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128183754/https://www.academia.edu/6916402|url-status=live}}</ref> (compare [[Biblical Hebrew]] {{Script/Hebrew|אֶלֶף}} ''ʾelef'', "ox"<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Strong's Hebrew: 504. אֲלָפִים (eleph) -- cattle|url=https://biblehub.com/hebrew/504.htm|access-date=2020-07-31|website=biblehub.com|archive-date=2020-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616231424/https://biblehub.com/hebrew/504.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>). The Phoenician variant gave rise to the [[Alpha (letter)|Greek alpha]] ({{lang|el|Α}}), being re-interpreted to express not the [[glottal consonant]] but the accompanying [[vowel]], and hence the [[A|Latin A]] and [[A (Cyrillic)|Cyrillic А]].
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