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==History and symbolism==
{{see|History of the Greek alphabet}}
===
The [[Phoenician alphabet]] was adopted for Greek in the early 8th century BC, perhaps in [[Euboea]].<ref>The date of the earliest inscribed objects; A.W. Johnston, "The alphabet", in N. Stampolidis and V. Karageorghis, eds, ''Sea Routes from Sidon to Huelva: Interconnections in the Mediterranean'' 2003:263-76, summarizes the present scholarship on the dating.</ref>
The majority of the letters of the Phoenician alphabet were adopted into Greek with much the same sounds as they had had in Phoenician.
''[[Aleph (letter)|ʼāleph]]'', the Phoenician letter reresenting the glottal stop {{IPA|[ʔ]}},
was adopted as representing the vowel {{IPA|[a]}}.
Similarly, ''[[He (letter)|hē]]'' {{IPA|[h]}} and ''[[Ayin|ʽayin]]'' {{IPA|[ʕ]}} are Phoenician consonants that became Greek vowel signs, [[epsilon|e]] {{IPA|[e]}} and [[omicron|o]] {{IPA|[o]}}, respectively.
===Plutarch===
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