In the grammar of certain inflected languages, such as Latin, the ablative case is the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective used to indicate the agent in passive sentences or the instrument, manner, or place of the action described by the verb. Research Ablative
In English the term accent commonly denotes superior stress or force of voice upon certain syllables of words, which distinguishes them from the other syllables. Many English words, as aspiration have two accents, a secondary and primary, the latter being the fuller or stronger. Some words, as incomprehensibility/, have two secondary or subordinate accents. When the full accent falls on a vowel, that vowel has its long sound, as in vocal; but when it falls on a consonant, the preceding vowel is short, as in habit. This kind of accent alone regulates English verse as contrasted with Latin or Greek verse, in which the metre depended on quantity or length of syllables. In books on elocution three marks or accents are generally made use of, the first or acute ( / ) showing when the voice is to be raised, the second or grave ('), when it is to be depressed, and the third or circumflex (^) when the vowel is to be uttered with an undulating sound. In some languages there is no such distinct accent as in English (or German), and this seems to be now the case with French. Research Accent
An act of Parliament is a law or statute proceeding from the parliament of the United Kingdom passed in both houses, and having received the royal assent. Before it is passed it is a bill and not an act. Acts are either public or private, the former affecting the whole community, the latter only special persons and private concerns. The whole body of public acts constitutes the statute law. An act of Parliament can only be altered or repealed by the authority of parliament. Acts are usually cited in this way, '13 and 14 Vict. c. (or chap.) 21,' which means the 21st act in succession passed in year 13th-14th of the queen's reign (for example 1850). Short titles, such as 'the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854', are also used. Up to the time of Edward I acts of parliament were in Latin; then French was introduced, and for some time was exclusively employed. It was not tillHenry VII. that all acts were in English. Research Act of Parliament
Aldine Editions is the name given to the works which proceeded from the press of Aldus Manutius and his family at Venice (1490-1597). Recommended by their value, as well as by a splendid exterior, they have gained the respect of scholars and the attention of book-collectors. Many of them are the first printed editions of Greek and Latin classics. Others are texts of the modern Italian authors. These editions are of importance in the history of printing. Aldus had nine kinds of Greek type, and no one before him printed so much and so beautifully in this language. Of the Latin character he procured fourteen kinds of type. Research Aldine Editions
Alias (from the Latin meaning 'on another occasion', or 'otherwise'), is a word often used in judicial proceedings in connection with the different names that persons have assumed, most likely for prudential reasons at different times, and in order to conceal identity, as Joseph Smith alias Thomas Jones. Research Alias
Allegiance (from the Latin alligare, to bind), according to Blackstone, is 'the tie or ligamen which binds the subject to the sovereign in return for that protection which the sovereign affords the subject,' or, generally, the obedience which every subject or citizen owes to the government of his country. It used to be the doctrine of the English law that natural-born subjects owe an allegiance which is intrinsic and perpetual, and which cannot be divested by any act of their own; but since at least the end of the 19th century this was no longer the case. Aliens owe a temporary or local allegiance to the government under which they for the time reside. A usurper in undisturbed possession of the crown is entitled to allegiance; and thus treasons against Henry VI were punished in the reign of Edward IV, though the former had, by act of Parliament, been declared a usurper. Research Allegiance
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
An amphitheatre is a circular or ovular arena surrounded by tiers of seats designed for various shows. The seats were tiered either by utilising a natural slope, or constructed. The first known amphitheatres date from the first century BC, and become common throughout the Roman Empire especially in the Latin west. Research Amphitheatre
Ana is the neuter plural termination of Latin adjectives in -anus, often forming an affix with the names of eminent men to denote a collection of their memorable sayings - thus Scaligericanca, Johnsoniana, the sayings of Scaliger, of Johnson; or to denote a collection of anecdotes, or gossipy matter, as in boxiana. Hence, as an independent noun, books recording such sayings; the sayings themselves. Research Ana
Apocrypha (from the Greek, 'things concealed or spurious') is a term applied in the earliest churches to various sacred or professedly inspired writings, sometimes given to those whose authors were unknown, sometimes to those with a hidden meaning, and sometimes to those considered objectionable. The term is specially applied to the fourteen undermentioned books which were written during the two centuries preceding the birth of Christ. They were written, not in Hebrew, but in Greek, and the Jews never allowed them a place in their sacredcanon. They were incorporated into the Septuagint, and thence passed to the Vulgate. The Greek Church excluded them from the canon in 360 at the Council of Laodicea. The LatinChurch treated them with more favour, but it was not until 1546 that they were formally admitted into the canon of the Church of Rome by a decree of the Council of Trent. The Anglican Church says they may be read for example of life and instruction of manners, but that the church does not apply them to establish any doctrine. All other Protestant churches in Britain and America ignore them. The following fourteen books form the Apocrypha of the English Bible: - The first and second Books of Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the rest of the Book of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus, Baruch the Prophet, the Song of the Three Children, Susanna and the Elders, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasses, and the first and second Books of Maccabees.
Besides the Apocryphal books of the Old Testament there are many other books composed in the earlier ages of Christianity, and published under the names of Christ and his apostles, or of such immediate followers as from their character or means of intimate knowledge might give an apparent plausibility for such forgeries. These writings comprise: 1st, the Apocryphal Gospels, which treat of the history of Joseph and the Virgin before the birth of Christ, of the infancy of Jesus, and of the acts of Pilate; 2d, the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles; and 3d, the Apocryphal Apocalypses, none of which have obtained canonical recognition by any of the churches. Research Apocrypha
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Ablative
