Hello!

The Greek alphabet was first used in the 8th century BC and is still used today. It has a set of 24 letters which you might see as mathematical symbols or the names of stars.

Our own alphabet is named after the first two Greek letters, Alpha and Beta, and you may have noticed that some of these letters crop up as names for people or brands. You might be familiar with Delta Goodrem, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Omega watches.

Alpha, being the first letter, implies ‘first’ or ‘leadership’, as in a first-class mark in a university exam or ‘alpha male’, the dominant man.

Beta means second-best, as in a second-class exam mark. It was also a videotape format in those far-off days before CDs and DVDs. Beta waves are generated when the brain is alert.

Gamma is next – Gamma rays are electromagnetic radiation used in medicine and to keep food fresh.

Delta is a D-shaped letter and means the D-shaped tract of sediment at the mouth of a river. Delta brainwaves are the ones generated when we are asleep, and a delta wing is a triangular wing on certain jet aircraft.

The other letters are Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, Nu, Xi, Omicron, Pi, Rho, Sigma, Tau, Upsilon, Phi, Chi, Psi, and finally Omega. Of these, the best known are Pi, its symbol used for the mathematical constant, and Iota, meaning a small amount (it’s the same word as ‘jot’) because Iota is the letter that requires the least ink to print.

The final letter, Omega, means ‘the mighty O’ and often denotes the final part. The expression ‘Alpha and Omega’ means ‘the beginning and end’.

Happy Puzzling!