What is the origin of the 'a' in an &lt;a&gt; tag? Why are &lt;a&gt; tags for hypertext links named that way? Does the 'a' stand for a specific word or is it just a arbitrary designation as one of the most fundamental elements in HTML thus earning it the first letter of the alphabet?

The href attribute stands for 'hypertext reference' but I've not been able to find any origin for the element itself.

Aynone know? Many thanks.