A History of Short Words

From the New York Times Crossword Puzzle

ALPHA

Wed, 3 Jan '24
Leader of Argos?
Sat, 12 Aug '23
#1
Sun, 30 Jul '23
___ Centauri
Fri, 10 Mar '23
Dominant
Sun, 11 Dec '22
Leader of the pack
Fri, 16 Sep '22
Tending to dominate
Thu, 25 Aug '22
Greek letter (definitely not the last one)
Mon, 25 Jul '22
First Greek letter
Sun, 3 Jul '22
A as in Agamemnon
Wed, 25 May '22
Top dog
Sat, 21 May '22
Early software version
Sun, 17 Apr '22
A Greek letter?
Sat, 18 Sep '21
Leading character
Sat, 29 May '21
α
Tue, 18 May '21
Pack leader
Tue, 9 Mar '21
___ wolf (pack leader)