An additional question is when and why did it become necessary to impose an order, turning the set of letters into a particular sequence? Was it to provide a standard way of teaching, or to provide a standard order for inventories of some kind (early pigeon loft directories perhaps?)

Well yes. Rod's additional clarifications of my question are very welcome. This is part of what I'd like to know.

I am aware that the Greek alphabet has always been taught in English speaking countries as alpha, beta, delta, gamma, etc. I wonder if this because of our alphabetic order, or is our alphabetic order in part a product of the Greek order?

If, as has been suggested, the order is purely abitrary, I'd like to know when that arbitrary order became the inflexible norm ...




The idiot also known as Capfka ...