Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/27

 A C C

A C C

Monf. VaiiUnt gives the name Acarna to one of the genera of the Cynarocephalm, or articboak-headed clafs of plants. See Mem. Acid. Scienc. an. 1718. p. 207; Edit. Holland.

ACARNAN, in zoology, the name of a fma!l fea fifb, very common in the Mediterranean, and brought to market a- mong the Rjibellissi or Erytbryni, and called by the lifher- men by the names Fravo/ino, or Phragolino. It very much refembles the erytbrinus in fhape ; but as that is of a fine red, this, on the contrary, is of a filvery white. Its mouth is mo- derately large ; its teeth Render and pointed ; and its eyes large, and having fine yellow iris's. Its fins are white, but have each a black fpot at their origin. It feems doubtful whe- ther this be really any way different from the erythrynus, ex- cept in colour, which alone is not diftinction fufficicnt to make a fpecies. Rondekt. de Pifc. Gemar, de Pifc. p. 1. See Erythrinus*

ACATHISTUS, A*o9tr&-j in an ecclcfiaftical fenfe, a folcmn hymn, or vigil, antiently fung in the Greek church, on the Saturday of the fifth week of Lent, in honour of the Virgin, for having thrice delivered Conftantmople from the invafions of barbarous nations.

It was called <**«Sir®') /. e. without fitting, in regard it was celebrated {landing : the people flood all night, iinging the praifes of their dcliverefs.

The fame name is alio given to the day whereon it was per- formed, which is called the feaft t« axaSira. V. Codin. de Offic. Aula; C. P. c. 12. n. 10- Gretfer. ad eund. I. 3. c. 7. p. 238. feq. Magri, Notit. Vocab. Eccl. p. 2. feq. Suic. Thef. Ecclef.-T, 1. p. 145. Schmidt, Lex. Ecclef. p. 12.

ACAULIS, in botany, a term applied to certain plants, the flowers of which have no ftalk or pedicle to fupport them, but reft immediately on the ground : of this kind are the car- line tbiftle, and fome others.

ACAULOSE, or Acaulous, is applied, by botanifts, to thofe plants which have no proper Item, or caulis. Ray, Hift. Plant. T. 1. I. 3. Phil. Tranf. N°. 186. p. 284.

ACBAB, in natural hiftory, a name given by the people of the Philippine iflands, to a bird, very like our common hen, which is very frequently wild among them. It lives on rice and other vegetables, and does a great deal of mifchief ; but it is ftiort winged, and does not fly well, fo that they find it eafy to kill it.

ACCALIA, in antiquity, folemn feafts, held in honour of Acca Larentia, nurfe, or fofter- mother of Romulus. Thefe were otherwife called Larentalla. — To the fame Acca js alfo attributed the inftitution of xh&fratres arva!es± Vid. Varro, de Ling. Lat. I.5. §.3. Scalig. Conject. in Varr. p. 78.

ACCENDENTES, or Accensores, in ecclefiaftical writers, a lower order of minifters in the church of Rome, whofe office is to light, fnuff, and trim the candles or tapers. Spclm. Gloff. p. 6.

The Accendentcs arc much the fame with thofe otherwife called Acolythi and Cerofcrarii.

ACCENDONES, or Accedones, in Roman antiquity, a kind of gladiators, whofe office was to excite and animate the combatants, during the engagement *, See the article Gla- diator, Cycl.

The orthography of the word is contefted : the firft edition of Tertullian, by Rbcnanus, has it Accedones, an antient manu- fcript Accendones ; Aquinas adheres to the former b, Pitifcus to the latter c. The origin of the word, fuppofing it Accen- dones, is from accendo, I kindle ; fuppofing it Accedones, from accedo, I accede, am added to. The former places their di- ftinguifhing character in enlivening the combat by their ex- hortations and fuggeftions j the latter fuppofes them to be much the fame with what among us are called feconds, among the Italians patronl : excepting that thefe latter only fland by to fee the laws of the fword duly obferved, without inter- meddling to give advice or inirru&ions [ a Tertull. de Pall.

c. 6. b Aquin. Lex. Milit. T. 1. p. 4. c Pitife. Lex. Antiq. Rom. T. 1. p. 10.]

ACCENSI, (Cycl.) — The Accenfi were thus denominated, quia accenfebantur, or ad cenfum adjiciebantur : Vegetius calls them fupernumerarii legionum : Cato calls them ferentarii, in regard they furnifhed thofe engaged in battle with weapons, drink, &c ». Though Nonius fuggefts another reafon of that appellation, viz. becaufe they fought with ftones, flings, and weapons, qua ferrmtur, fuch as are thrown, not carried in the hand b. They were fometimes alfo called velites, and velati, becaufe they fought clothed, but not in armour ; fometimes adferiptieii, and adfcriptivi ; fometimes roraril c. The Accenfi, Livy obferves, were placed at the rear of the army, becaufe no great matter was expected from them d : they were taken out of the fifth clafs of citizens e .— [ a Vid. Fiji, in Voc. Ferentarii. b Non. Marcell. de Propriet. Serm. c. 12. §. 8. c Piiifc. Lex. Ant. T. 2. p. 10. item in Voc. Rorarii. Baxt. Gloff. Antiq. Rom. p. n. d Dan. Diet. Antiq. Rom. in Voc. c Sahnaf. de Re Milit. Rom. c. 15. J

Accensi was alfo an appellation given to a kind of adjutants, appointed by the tribune to affift each centurion and decurion. In which fenfe Accenfut is fynonymous with opt'io a. — In an antient inscription, given by a Torre, we meet with Ac- census Equitum Romanorum; an office no where elfe beard of; that author fufpe&s it for a corruption, and inftead

thereof reads A CENSIBUS ».— [" %?■ in Voc. Optio, U Paul, ad eund. b Monum. Veter. Antii. c. 3. Act. Erud. Lipf. 1701. p. 259.] ACCENT is diftinguifhed from empbafis, as the former re- gards the tune of the voice, the latter the ftrength of it. The Accent raifes the voice in certain fyllables, to a higher, i. e. more acute pitch or tone, and in others deprefleS it lower, but both admit of fome emphafis, /. <?. of more or lefs vigorous pronunciation. The circumflex Accent keeps the voice in a middle tune, and therefore in the Latin is compounded of both the other, but withal adds an emphafis, and longer flay upon that fyllable. Hold. Elem.- Speech, p. 99.

Von der Hardt has given a difcoufe on the nature and ufe of Accents H, wherein he afferts, that there are but thefe three Accents in nature : viz. the acute, grave, and circumflex. But if it be true, that the whole fyftem of pronounciation turns on three Accents, 'tis no lefs true, that each of thefe three admits of feveral degrees. The acute Accent, for inflance, may be either higher, or lower ; may be fimply acute, or very acute j and the like holds of the grave and circumflex. So that each of the three common Accents is, as it were, a genus, including divers particular fpecies ; though the antient Grammarians have not thought fit to give particular names, and figures to all thefe differences b. — [ a Fonder Hardt, Arcanum Accen- tuum Grsecorum, Helmft. 1715. Z2ino. b Mem. de Trev. an. 17 15. p. 1614. feq.J

The ufe of Accents, to prevent ambiguities, is moft remark- ably perceived in fome eaftern languages, particularly the Siamefe, and Chinefe. Among the "people of China, every word, or which is the fame thing, fyllable, admits of five Accents, as fpoken more acutely or remifsly ; and thus flands for many different things. The fame found ya, according to the Accent affixed to it, fignifies God, a Wall, Excellent, Stupidity, and a Goofe c . — The Chinefe have but 330 fpoken words in their language ; but thefe being multiplied by the different Accents or tones, which affect the vowels, furnifh a language tolerably copious d . By means hereof, their 330 fimplc. founds come to denote 1650 things; but this being hardly fufficient, they are increafed further by afpirates added to each word, to double the number e . — [ c Spizel. de Re Liter. Sinenf. p. 106. Buffing. Diff. de Liter-. Sinenf. p. 308. d Hift. de 1'Acad. Roy, des Infcript. T. 3. p. 460. c Bulf- fing. lib. cit. §. 7. p. 296. feq.]

The Chinefe only reckon four Accents ; for which the mif- fionanes ufe the following marks, aa, a, a, « ; to W T hich they have added a fifth, thus £. They make a kind of mo- dulation, wherein, prolonging the duration of the found of the vowel, they vary the tone ; raifing and falling it by a certain pitch of voice : fo that their talking is a fort of mufic or finging. Attempts have been made to determine the quan- tity of the rife or fall in each Accent by means of mufical notes. But this is hard to effect, as being different in diffe- rent perfons.

Hence the great difficulty of the language to foreigners; they are forced to fing moft fcrupuloufly : if they deviate ever fo little from the Accent, they fay quite a contrary thing than what was intended. Thus, meaning to compliment the per- fon you are talking to with the title Sir, you call him a beaft, with the fame word, only a little varied in the tone f .— - Magalhon makes the language the eafier to learn on this ac- count s.-^[ f Le Comte, ^Nouv. Mem. fur la Chine, T. 1. p. 270. Spizel. lib. cit. p. 104. Bulffing. ubi fupra, p. 308. feq. 8 Buffing, loc. cit* p. 309;]

The Siamefe are alfo obferved to fing rather than talk. Their alphabet begins with fix characters, all only equivalent to a K^ but differently accented. For though in the pronouncia- tion the Accents are naturally on the vowels, yet they have fome to diverfify fuch of their confonants as are in other re- fpects the fame. De la Loubere du Royaumede Siam. T. 2. §. 8. Bibl. Univ. T. 21. p. 113.

As minutely as the Accents of words have been ftudied, the Accents of fentences feem to have been utterly overlooked : yet it may be obferved, that all mankind lower the voice at the end of a period, elevate it in interrogations, and the like. See Bacon^ de Augment. Scient. 1, 6. c. 1.

ACCESSARY. See Accessory, Cycl. The word is ge- nerally fpelt accejpiry in our ftatutes and law books.

ACCESSION, {Cycl.) in the language of the conclave, is a method of electing a pope, by procuring fome candidate two thirds of the voices, upon which the reft are tnrolled by way of Acceffion. Richel. Bibl.-Frahc. T. 6. p. 17.

Accession, in the civil law j denotes a method of acquiring property in certain things* by virtue of their connection with other things, which already belong to us. Acceffion is effected divers ways, from whence arife feveral fpecies of it: Ample and mixt Acceffion ; natural and artificial ; difcrete and concrete Acceffion. Vid. Briffi. de Verb, Signif. p. 6. Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 14.

ACCESSORIUS Willifii, in anatomy. See Accessory, Cycl.

ACCIPENSER, in the Linnsean fyftem of zoology, the name of a genus of fifties, of the order of the chondropterygii. This genus comprehends the fturgeon, &c. Its diftinguifh- ing characters are, that the mouth is tubulated, and witbouC

teeth i