Ayb (majuscule: Ա; minuscule: ա;

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

: այբ) is the first letter of the

Armenian alphabet The Armenian alphabet (, or , ) or, more broadly, the Armenian script, is an alphabetic writing system developed for Armenian and occasionally used to write other languages. It is one of the three historical alphabets of the South Caucasu ...

. It has a numerical value of 1.http://tapemark.narod.ru/les/045a.html It represents the [] sound in Eastern Armenian, both Western Armenian, variants of the Armenian language. This letter and the letter Բ, Ben (Բբ) are the two first letters in the Armenian alphabet and forms the etymology of the Armenian word ''այբուբեն'' (), meaning "alphabet." It is one of the letters originally created by Mesrop Mashtots in the 5th century. Its prototype is considered to be the Greek letter α (

alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...

) with the upper arc cut off. A number of Armenian letters are formed in a similar fashion. It is

homoglyph In orthography and typography, a homoglyph is one of two or more graphemes, character (computing), characters, or glyphs with shapes that appear identical or very similar but may have differing meaning. The designation is also applied to sequence ...

ic to the IPA symbol for the

close back unrounded vowel The close back unrounded vowel, or high back unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Typographically, it is a turned letter . ...

, the Cyrillic letter Sha (Шш), the former Zhuang letter Ɯɯ used from 1957 to 1986, and the Nushkuri form of the Georgian letter

oni An ( ) is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They are believed to live in caves or deep in the mountains or in hell. Oni are known for their superhuman strength and have been associated with powers like th ...

(

Distribution

The letter Ա is the most common letter in the Armenian alphabet. It occurs mainly in initial or medial word positions and very rarely in final position. This is explained by the fact that the Proto-Armenian language lost word-final vowels in multisyllabic words.

Meanings

As a unit, it is a symbol of God. This is because the words God—"Աստված", ⟨Astvadz(W.A.), Astvac'(E.A.)⟩—and Creator—"Արարիչ", ⟨Ararich⟩—begin with it. Thus, the symbolism of it corresponds to the Greek letter "alpha" in the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

, where the Lord says, "I am Alpha and

Omega Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...

, the beginning and the end." ().

Computing codes

Related characters and other similar characters

Similar characters * ⴍ : Nuskhuri variant of the Georgian letter Oni * Ш ш : Cyrillic letter Sha * Ɯ ɯ : Turned M * ɯ :

Close back unrounded vowel The close back unrounded vowel, or high back unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Typographically, it is a turned letter . ...

Related letters: * A a : Latin letter A * А а : Cyrillic letter A * ა : Georgian letter Ani * Α α : Greek alpha

Gallery

Ա երկաթագիր (V-IX դդ.).svg, Rounded erkat'agir Ա գրչագիր V IX 1.svg, Angular erkat'agir Ա բոլորգիր (XIII-XVII դդ.).svg, Bolorgir Ա նոտրգիր.svg, Notrgir Ա շղագիր (XII-XX դդ.).svg, Shghagir Armenian_letter_Ayb.svg, Typographic form Ա_handwritten.svg, Handwritten form Braille A1.svg,

Braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...

form Dots-1

References

External links

* Ա on Wiktionary * ա on Wiktionary {{Armenian letters Armenian letters Armenian alphabet Armenian language