Is there a better way to list all database terms alphabetically?

The comment from @czerspalace put me on the right track to doing what I needed. Since the first few terms start with numbers, this is how I implemented my solution:

// get results from $wpdb in object called $links
$glossary_ltr = "999";
foreach( $links as $link ) {
    $kw_ltr = substr( $link->keyword, 0, 1 ); // get first letter
    if( $glossary_ltr != $kw_ltr ) { 
        if( $kw_ltr > $glossary_ltr ) {
            // code to transition to new letter
            $glossary_ltr = $kw_ltr;
        }
    } // if letters are different
    // print out term
    echo "<a onclick='openTerm(/* term data */)'>". $link->keyword . "</a><br>";
} // foreach

Hope this helps someone else!