alfa

Forms

alfa m (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Modern Greek άλφα (álfa), according to DELR, DEX and the DLRM.^[2][3][4] DER, MDA2 and Wiktionary give borrowed from Ancient Greek ἄλφα (álpha) as the source.^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The new technical senses of the 20th century follow French alpha and English alpha.^[2]

The Greek name of the letter is a borrowing of the Semitic letter name, Phoenician 𐤀𐤋𐤐 (ʾlp, “ox”), whose sign probably goes back to a picture of an ox's head; the Greeks used it for the vowel /a/.^[2][7][1] Beekes traces it to the Hebrew letter name and explains the final vowel as in βῆτα (bêta).^[8] The compound alfavita “alphabet”, from the Greek names of the first two letters, was later replaced by alfabet, from French.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the New Testament of 1648 (Revelation 1:8): „Eu sânt alfa și omega, ce să zice începutul și sfârșitul” “I am Alpha and Omega, that is, the beginning and the end”.^[9][10][6] The Bucharest Bible of 1688 has the same phrase in four verses of Revelation.^[11]

Semantic evolution

From the biblical phrase alfa și omega the word came to mean “the first, the chief”.^[10] Hasdeu notes that before the Phanariote period the phrase had passed into common speech in the sense “the chief, the master of everything”: Neculce writes of a treasurer who era alfa și omega in Moldavia at that time.^[10][9] Modern dictionaries record de la alfa la omega “from beginning to end” and a fi alfa și omega “to be everything, the essential factor”.^[3][6]

In physics the word names the particulă alfa “alpha particle”, made of two protons and two neutrons, and radiație alfa “alpha radiation”; the derivative alfatron, a vacuum gauge based on alpha radiation, is recorded from 1961.^[3][2] DELR also records mascul alfa “alpha male”, the dominant male of a group of animals.^[2]

Timeline

• 1648 – alfa și omega in the New Testament (Revelation 1:8).^[6][9]
• 1688 – the same phrase in the Bucharest Bible.^[11]
• c. 1743 – era alfa și omega “he was all-powerful” in Neculce's chronicle.^[10][9]
• 1961 – the derivative alfatron.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. alpha: the name of the first letter of the Greek alphabet, Α α;^[3][6] de la alfa la omega “from beginning to end”, (a fi) alfa și omega “(to be) the beginning and the end, the essential factor”.^[3][6]
2. (physics) In particulă alfa “alpha particle”, a particle of two protons and two neutrons emitted by some radioactive substances, and radiație alfa “alpha radiation”.^[3][6]
3. In mascul alfa, the dominant male of a group of animals.^[2]

Word family

• alfatron

Related words

• alfabet
• Ancient Greek ἄλφα (álpha)

Usage notes

The noun does not change in the plural.^[3] A separate word alfa (DEX's alfa²) names the esparto grass of North Africa and Spain, used for ropes and paper (hârtie alfa “alfa paper”); it is borrowed from French alfa, from Arabic حلفاء (ḥalfāʔ), and is recorded from 1898.^{[3][2][12][13]}

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. alfa
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 28
4. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 20
5. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. alfa
6. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 41
7. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας, p. 104
8. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ἄλφα
9. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. alfa
10. ^ a b c d Hasdeu, B. P. (1886–1898), Etymologicum Magnum Romaniae: dicționarul limbei istorice și poporane a românilor, 4 vols. (A–Bărbat), București: Socec, p. s.v. alfa
11. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Rev 1:8
12. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria, p. s.v. alfa
13. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. alfa