Was the pitch A given that letter because the minor key was originally the "basic" mode?

Question

It's something that's puzzled me; The key that has no sharps and no flats, in essence the "basic" key, is C Major. Well, fine, but why C? Why not label that key and note A, if it's the foundation of the "basic" key of Western music? A second look, however, shows that A is indeed involved; the *minor* key with no sharps and flats is A minor.That then leads to the question; does the pitch named A have that name because it is the start of the minor key, and because the minor key was more prevalent in plain chant as of the creation of written music notation? Or is there another reason?

Answer 1

Before we had the major minor system, we had many different modes. Ionian mode was basically the major scale we know as today. The aeolian mode is basically the natural minor scale we know as today. Each mode is a formula of strict intervals in a specific order. In the aeolian scale, the third, sixth and seventh scale degree is always flatted. If you start the aeolian mode on A, it is to exact an A natural minor scale.