Alphabet (from Alpha, and Beta, the two first letters of the Greek alphabet), is the series of characters used in writing a language, and intended to represent the sounds of which it consists.
The English alphabet, like most of those of modern Europe, is derived directly from the Latin, the Latin from the ancient Greek, and that from the Phoenician, which again is believed to have had its origin in the Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Hebrew alphabet also having the same origin. The names of the letters in Phoenician and Hebrew must have been almost the same, for the Greek names, which, with the letters, were borrowed from the former, differ little from the Hebrew. By means of the names we may trace the process by which the Egyptian characters were transformed into letters by the Phoenicians. Some Egyptian character would, by its form, recall the idea of a house, for example, in Phoenician or Hebrew beth. This character would subsequently come to be used wherever the sound b occurred. Its form might be afterwards simplified, or even completely modified, but the name would still remain, as beth still continues the Hebrew name for b, and beta the Greek. Our letter m, which in Hebrew was called mim, water, has still a considerable resemblance to the zigzag wavy line which had been chosen to represent water, as in the zodiacal symbol for Aquarius.
The letter o, of which the Hebrew name means eye, no doubt originally intended to represent that organ. While the ancient Greek alphabet gave rise to the ordinary Greek alphabet and the Latin, the Greek alphabet of later times furnished elements for the Coptic, the Gothic, and the old Slavic alphabets. The Latin characters are now employed by a great many nations, such as the Italian, the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the English, the Dutch, the German, the Hungarian, the Polish, etc, each nation having introduced such modifications or additions as are necessary to express the sound of the language peculiar to it. The Greek alphabet originally possessed only sixteen letters, though the Phoenician had twenty-two.
The original Latin alphabet, as it is found in the oldest inscriptions, consisted of twenty-one letters; namely, the vowels a, e, i, o, and u (v), and the consonants b, c, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, x, z. The Anglo-Saxon alphabet had two characters for the digraph th, which were unfortunately not retained in later English; it had also the character ae. It wanted j, v, y (consonant), and z. The German alphabet consists of the same letters as the English, but the sounds of some of them are different.
Anciently certain characters called Runic were made use of by the Teutonic nations, to which some would attribute an origin independent of the Greek and Latin alphabets. While the alphabets of the west of Europe are derived from the Latin, the Russian, which is very complete, is based on the Greek, with some characters borrowed from the Armenian, etc. Among Asiatic alphabets, the Arabian (ultimately of Phoenician origin) has played a part analogous to that of the Latin in Europe, the conquests of Mohammedanism having imposed it on the Persian, the Turkish, the Hindustani, etc. The Sanskrit or Devanagari alphabet is one of the most remarkable alphabets of the world. As now used it has fourteen characters for the vowels and diphthongs, and thirty-three for the consonants, besides two other symbols. Our alphabet is a very imperfect instrument for what it has to perform, being both defective and redundant. An alphabet is not essential to the writing of a language, since ideograms or symbols may be used instead, as in Chinese.
In the English language there are twenty-six letters, A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y and Z, these twenty-six letters occur in use most disproportionately. At the start of the 20th century the proportion of use was as follows, but this will vary as new words, particularly scientific names are added to the English language:
E - 1000 , T - 770, A - 728, I - 704, S - 680, O - 672, N - 670, H - 540, R - 528, D - 392, L - 360, U - 296, C - 280, M - 272, F - 236, W - 190, Y - 184, P - 168, G - 168, B - 158, V - 120, K - 88, J - 55, Q - 50, X - 46, Z - 22
However, as an initial letter, the proportionate use was very different, with the most popular initial letters being:
S - 1194, C - 937, P - 804, A - 574, T - 571, D - 505, B - 463, M - 439, F - 388, I - 377, E- 340, H - 308, L - 298 and R - 291.
The most commonly occurring end letters are R, S, T, and D. Research Alphabet
Amicus curiae is a legal term for a barrister advising the court in a legal case as a neutral person, not representing either side. In England and Wales, for example, where the public interest is concerned, the Attorney General (or his or her representative) may be asked to express an opinion. Professional bodies such as the Law Society may be represented to give an opinion on matters affecting their members. In the USA, a person with a strong interest in or views on the subject matter of an action, but who is not a party to it, may be given the court's permission to act as amicus curiae, usually only in matters of broad public interest. Research Amicus Curiae
Animism is the system of medicine propounded by Stahl, and based on the idea that the soul (anima) is the seat of life. In modern usage the term is applied to express the general doctrine of souls and other spiritual beings, and especially to the tendency, common among primitive races, to attribute souls or spirits to inanimate things, and to explain phenomena not due to obvious natural causes by attributing them to spiritual agency. Amongst the beliefs of animism is that of a human apparitional soul, bearing the form and appearance of the body, and living after death a sort of semi-human life. Research Animism
Baptism (from the Greek baptizo, from bapto, to immerse or dip), is a rite which is generally thought to have been usual with the Jews even before Christ, being administered to proselytes. From this baptism, however, that of St John the Baptist differed, because he baptized Jews also as a symbol of the necessity of perfect purification from sin. Christ himself never baptizedy, but directed his disciples to administer this rite to converts; and baptism, therefore, became a religious ceremony among Christians, taking rank as a sacrament with all sects which acknowledge sacraments.
In the primitive church the person to be baptized was dipped in a river or in a vessel, with the words which Christ had ordered, generally adopting a new name to further express the change. Sprinkling, or, as it was termed, clinic baptism, was used only in the case of the sick who could not leave their beds. The Greek Church and Eastern schismatics retained the custom of immersion; but the Western Church adopted or allowed the mode of baptism by pouring or sprinkling, since continued by most Protestants. This practice can be traced back certainly to the third century, before which its existence is disputed.
Since the Reformation there have been various Protestant sects called Baptists, holding that baptism should be administered only by immersion, and to those who can make a personal profession of faith. The Montanists in Africa baptized even the dead, and in Roman Catholic countries the practice of baptizing church-bells - a custom of tenth-century origin - continues to this day. Being an initiatory rite, baptism is only administered once to the same person. The Roman and Greek Catholics consecrate the water of baptism, but Protestants do not. The act of baptism is accompanied only with the formula that the person is baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; but, among most Christians, it is preceded by a confession of faith made by the person to be baptized if an adult, and by his parents or sponsors if he be a child. The Roman Catholic form of baptism is far more elaborate than the Protestant. This church teaches that all persons not baptized are damned, even unbaptized infants are not admitted into heaven; but for those with whom the absence of baptism was the chief fault, even St. Augustine himself believed in a species of mitigated damnation. Protestants hold that though the neglect of the sacrament is a sin, yet the saving new birth may be found without the performance of the rite which symbolizes it. Naming the person baptized forms no essential part of the ceremony, but has become almost universal, probably from the ancient custom of renaming the catechumen. Research Baptism
Carbonari was the name of an Italian political secret society, which appears to have been formed by the Neapolitan republicans during the reign of Joachim (Murat), and had for its object the expulsion of the strangers and the establishment of a democratic government. The ritual of the Carbonari was taken from the trade of the charcoal-burner. A lodge was baracca (a hut); a meeting was vendita (a sale); an important meeting alta vendita.
There were four grades in the society; and the ceremonies of initiation were characterized by many mysticrites. The language of religion was much used to express their purposes. Christ was the lamb torn by the wolf and whom they were sworn to avenge. Clearing the wood of wolves (opposition to tyranny) became the symbolic expression of their aim. By this they are said to have meant at first only deliverance from foreign dominion; but in later times democratical and antimonarchical principles sprang up, which were discussed chiefly among the higher degrees. The order, soon after its foundation, contained from 24,000 to 30,000 members, and increased so rapidly that it spread through all Italy. In 1820, in the month of March alone, about 650,000 new members are said to have been admitted.
After the suppression of the Neapolitan and Piedmontese revolution in 1821, the Carbonari, throughout Italy, were declared guilty of high treason, and punished as such by the laws. Meantime societies of a similar kind had been formed in France, with which the Italian Carbonari amalgamated; and Paris became the head-quarters of Carbonarism. The organization took on more of a French character, and gradually alienated the sympathies of the Italian members, a number of whom dissolved connection with it, in order to form the party of 'Young Italy.' Research Carbonari
In law, chose (from the French shoz meaning a thing) is a property, a right to possession; or that which may be demanded and recovered by suit or action at law. Thus, money due on a bond or recompense for damage done is a chose in action; the former proceeding from an express, the latter from an implied contract. A chose local is annexed to a place, as a mill or the like; a chose transitory is a thing which is movable. Research Chose
The congregationalists, formerly called Independents, are a Christian sect claiming to continue the primitive form of church government; founded by the moderate party among the Brownists and Barrowists early in the 17th century. Under the Commonwealth they rapidly developed, and though they suffered after the Restoration, in common with their rivals the Presbyterians, they speedily recovered after the Revolution, and soon outstripped the latter sect so far as England was concerned.
The name Independent, as it was frequently adopted by other bodies with which they had no sympathy, was discarded in favour of the name of Congregational Brethren, which appeared to express a leading feature in their polity. This is the government of each congregation by all the members of that congregation, and not, as in the Presbyterian church, by a session of the pastor and ruling elders only. Moreover each congregation is autonomous and wholly independent of extraneous jurisdiction, the union of Congregational churches having only such indirect authority as attends the cumulative expression of opinion. In doctrine the majority are evangelical, though in individual churches considerable latitude is shown. Research Congregationalists
The Daily Express is a tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1900 by Pearson. At the time it strongly supported Chamberlain's tariff reform policy, and today is known for its strongly nationalist right-wing ideas. Research Daily Express
In grammar, dative is a term applied to the case of nouns which usually follows verbs or other parts of speech that express giving, or some act directed to the object, generally indicated in English by to or for. Research Dative
Decimal System is the name given to any system of weights, measures, or money in which the unit is always multiplied by 10 or some power of 10 to give a higher denomination, and divided by 10 or a power of 10 for a lower denomination. This system was originally developed in France, and the principle obtained in the coinage of Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the United States, and other countries, before eventually spreading to the rest of the world. To express the higher denominations, that is to say, the unit multiplied by 10, 100, 1000, 10,000, the French made use of the prefixes deca, hecto, kilo, myria, derived from the Greek; thus, the metre being the unit of length, decametre is 10 metres, hectometre 100 metres, kilometre 1000 metres. To express lower denominations, that is, tenths, hundredths, etc, the Latin prefixes deci, centi, milli are used in the same way; thus a centilitre is the hundredth part of a litre, decilitre the tenth part of a litre. The basis of the whole system is the linear measure, the unit of which is the metre, which was originally supposed to be the ten-millionth part of a quadrant of the earth's meridian (39.37 inches). The square of 10 metres, or square decametre, called an are, is the unit of surface measure. The cube of the tenth part of the metre or cubic deimetre called a litre is the unit of liquid capacity. The weight of a cubic centimetre of distilled water at 4 degrees centigrade called a gramme is the unit of weight. In Britain the decimal system of weights and measures is known as the metric system. Research Decimal System
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Alphabet
