The Acmeist movement was a movement in early 20th-century Russian poetry reacting against Symbolism. Acmeists developed a neo-classical emphasis on clear words about demystified realities. Major figures include Osip Mandelshtam, Anna Akhmatova, and Nikolay Gumilyov, founder of the Acmeist organ Apollon. Research Acmeist Movement
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
Iin comparative anatomy, analogue refers to an organ in one species or group having the same function as an organ of different structure in another species or group, as the wing of a bird and that of an insect, both serving for flight. Organs in different animals having a similar anatomical structure, development, and relative position, independent of function or form, such as the arm of a man and the wing of a bird. are termed homologues. Research Analogue
The Daily News was a former prominent London daily paper of Liberal politics, established in 1846. Its first editor was Charles Dickens. By the end of the 19th century it was recognized as the leading organ of the Nonconformist Liberals. Research Daily News
Function is the specific office or action which any organ or system of organs is fitted to perform in the animal or vegetable economy. Vital functions are functions immediately necessary to life, as those of the brain, heart, lungs, etc. Natural or vegetative functions, functions less instantly necessary to life, as digestion, absorption, assimilation, expulsion, etc. Animal functions are those which relate to the external world, as the senses, voluntary motions, etc. Research Function
A gazette (so named from the gazzetta, a small Venetian coin, which was the price of the first newspaper), is a newspaper, especially an official newspaper. The first gazette in England was published at Oxford in 1665. On the removal of the court to London the title of London Gazette was adopted. It was later, during the Victorian era, the official newspaper of England, and was published on Tuesdays and Fridays. It was the organ by means of which all state intelligence, proclamations, appointments, etc, were promulgated, and in which declarations of insolvency are published. A similar official newspaper was also published in Edinburgh and Dublin. Research Gazette
The kitchen cabinet were a coterie of intimate friends of American President Andrew Jackson, who were supposed to have more influence over his actions than his official advisers. They were: General Duff Green, editor of the United States Telegraph at Washington, the confidential organ of the administration; Major William B Lewis, of Nashville, Tennessee, Second Auditor of the Treasury, Isaac Hill, editor of the New Hampshire Patriot and Amos Kendall, of Kentucky, Fourth Auditor of the Treasury. Research Kitchen Cabinet
The National Intelligencer was an American tri-weekly newspaper established in Washington by Samuel H Smith, in 1800, as the organ of Jefferson's administration. This journal was in reality an offshoot of a publication begun at Philadelphia in 1793 by Joseph Gales, the elder. Gales was an English immigrant, whose republican principles had forced him to leave England. In 1810 Joseph Gales Jr, became one of the editors of the National Intelligencer and was joined in 1813 by William Seaton, also an English immigrant. This paper wielded considerable influence in political circles. Its publication was suspended in 1866. Research National Intelligencer
A newspaper is a publication reporting and commenting upon news. The first periodicals were published by the Romans., the first newspapers proper were produced in Venice by the government, published monthly during the war of 1563 against the Turks.
The first genuine newspaper established in the United States was the Boston News Letter founded at Boston in 1704 by Postmaster John Campbell, and continued until 1776. Previous to this there had been
issued at Boston three publications of one number each. Of these the first, called a Newspaper Extraordinary consisted wholly of extracts from a letter of Dr. Increase Mather, who was then in London endeavouring to obtain a new charter for Massachusetts. This letter was published by Samuel Green in 1689.
On September the 25th, 1690, appeared the first and only number of
Publick Occurrences Foreign and Domestic issued by Benjamin Harris. The authorities promptly seized and suppressed the paper as 'a pamphlet published contrary to law and containing reflections of a very high nature'. In 1697 B Green and J Allen republished a news letter, bearing no title, which had been issued in London the same year. It was printed on a single page, .and contained small news items from the continent. After the Boston News Letter there appeared in 1719 the Boston Gazette Andrew Bradford issuing the American Weekly Mercury at Philadelphia the same year. James Franklin established the New England Courant at Boston two years later. This was suppressed for its attacks upon the Government and clergy, but was revived by Benjamin Franklin. WilliamBradford began the Gazette at New York in 1725, and John Peter Zenger the New York Weekly Journal in 1733, in the cause of the people against the Colonial Government. Zenger's paper may be regarded as a prototype of the modern news journal. Newspapers were founded in the other American colonies in the following order: In Maryland, at Annapolis, in 1727; in South Carolina, at Charleston, in 1731; in Rhode Island, at Newport, in 1731; in Virginia, at Williamsburg, in 1736; in North Carolina, at New Berne, in 1755; in Connecticut, at New Haven, in 1755; in New Hampshire, at Portsmouth, in 1756; in Georgia, at Savannah, in 1763; in Vermont, at Westminster, in 1781.
Between 1704 and 1775 seventy-eight different newspapers had been printed with varied success in the American colonies. Of these, thirty-nine were in actual process of publication at the outbreak of the American War of Independence. The papers most influential in advancing the revolutionary cause were the Boston Gazette and the Massachusetts Spy, On the British occupation of Boston, New York and Philadelphia, most of the Whig journals were suspended. It has been estimated that the thirty-nine newspapers of 1775 circulated about 1,300,000 copies annually.
After the Federal Constitution was adopted in America the newspapers fell largely into the hands of English immigrants, men of versatility and talent. Violent partisan controversies arose. The most influential papers of this period were the Columbian Centinel, published at Boston during forty years, commencing in 1784, by Benjamin Russell; the New York Minerva, established at New York in 1793 by Noah Webster; the New York Evening Post, established as the central organ of the Federalists in 1801; the Philadelphia Aurora, founded by Benjamin Franklin Bache in 1790, and afterward edited with vindictive partisanship by William Duane, an Englishman; the Philadelphia National Gazette, established in 1791 by Philip Freneau; and the National Intelligencer, established at Washington by Samuel H Smith in 1800.
The first American penny paper was the New York Sun, established in 1833 by Benjamin Day. The first American Sunday paper was the Sunday Courier, appearing in New York in 1825, with but little success. The chief period of the political influence of editors in the United States was that beginning in 1830 and ending after the American Civil War. Before that date the editor was often of little account, but from 1830 to 1870 the paper was often known chiefly as the organ of the individual editor's opinions. Research Newspaper
The New York Gazette was established as the first news journal of New York by William Bradford in New York City in 1725. It was discontinued about 1742, but was begun again the same year by James Parker as the Gazette and Weekly Post Boy. Parker formed a partnership with Holt. The latter published the paper alone for some years, but then relinquished it to Parker, when he started his Journal. Parker died in 1770, and the Gazette survived him only two years, most of its subscribers having followed Holt and the Journal. It was finally suspended in 1772. This newspaper was the organ of the New York government and steadily supported the latter through a period of bitter controversy. Research New York Gazette
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Acmeist Movement
