Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/117

 ALP (7°) ALT

Confonants ; to which they add *o other afpirated Syllables, in the Vnherfal Alphabets, or ' Cha™a e « of Mr. Zodovk,

-The like is faid of the Tartarian ; each of their Let- B.fhoj iWilkms &c See Umverjal Character

rers is a Syllable: having one of the Vowels joined to In the French King s Library is an Arabic Work, mtitled

its Conlonan. : as /,*, Le, Li, &c. *#<« ^<"» *. <° nt »*fi which the Author diftributes into Prophetical,

• -it whole Language their Alphabet ; Myftical, Philofophical, Magical, Tahfmanical, &c.

cept we call their whole Languag

their Letters are Words, or rather Hieroglyphicks, and are

in Number about 80,000. See Chinese, and Character.

In effect, Alphabets were not contrived with Defign, ac- cording to the jufl Rules of Reafon and Analogy ; but fuc-

cefiively framed, alter'd, i£c. as occafion ofter'd.- And

hence many grievous Complaints as to their Deficiencies J

and divers attempts to eftablifh new, and more adequate ferent Words or Combinations that may be made out „f

ones in their place. thofe *4 Le " er \ tak,B l them fi, r ! 1 onc b y one - , then two by

Bifliop WillCms charges the Alphabets extant with great two, three by three, Sto would amount to the following Irregularities with refpeft both of the Order, Number, Number, 139,172428,887151, 959425, 128493,401200. Seo

Monfieur Leibnitz had it in view to compofe an Alphabet. of Hitman "Thoughts. Mem. de V Acad. R. An. j-jiC.

'Tis no wonder that the Number of Letters in mo ft Lan- guages /hou'd be fo fmall, and that of the Words fo great ■ fince from a Calculation made by Mr. 'Prefect, it appears' that, allowing only 24 Letters to an Alphabet, the dif-

Power Figure fife. As to the Order, it appears inarti- Combination

ficial, precarious, and confufed ; in that the Vowels and Confonants are not reduced into Gaffes, with fuch order of

precedence and fubfequence as their Natures will bear. -

Even the Hebrew Alphabet, fiom which the reft are deri- ved, is nor free from this Imperfection.

As to Number, they are both redundant, and deficient : Redundant, either by allotting fevcral Letters to the fame Power, and Sound ; as in the Hebrew Q and jy,- and the ordinary Latin cand k,f and ph : or by reckoning double Let- ters among the fimple Elements of Speech ; as in the He- brew y, the Greek ? and 4-, the Latin q cu, x cs, and the j Confonant, or Jod. — Deficient in divers rcfpecls, gfpecially in regard of Vowels, of which there are feven or eight kinds commonly ufed ; tho the Latin Alphabet only takes notice of five ; whereof two,' viz. i and U, according to our Bnglijb Pronunciation, are not properly Vowels, but Dip- thongs.

Add, that the Difference among Vowels in rcfpecT: of long and fhort, is not furficiently provided for : The An- tients, we know, ufed to exprefs a long Vowel by doubling its Character; as Amaabam, Naata, Rce, Seedes, SanBij'-

fimih 3 tho the Vowel i, inftcad of being doubled, was fre- that of the Words in any Language known quently prolonged, as *ih.,s, pIso, vIvns.-The ways ufed „? f alloth" Languages, the Greek h look'd in JBwglyb for lengthning and abbreviating Vowels, viz. by adding e quiefcent to the End of a Word, for prolonging a Syllable ; and doubling the following Confonants, for the ihortening of a Vowel, as Wane Wann, Ware Warr, &c. or elfe by inferting fome other Vowel, for the lengthning of it, as Meat Met, Read Red, ckc. are all improper; in that the Sign ought ever to be where the Sound '

Sea

It may be here obferv'd, that every Combination may make a Word, even tho that Combination have not any Vowel in it ; becaufe the e mute or quiefcent infinuates it felf imperceptibly between the Confonants, or after the Con- fonants, where there are but two 5 the latter of which would not be heard without it. — The ufe of this quiefcent c is ve- ry remarkable in the Armenian, Welch, arid CDutch Lan- guages ; wherein the generality of Words have feveral Con- fonants together.

Nor muit it be omitted, that every fingle Letter ma? make a Word : which is very apparent, where that Letter is a Vowel ; Words of that kind being found in moft Lan- guages. Thus, a. and a make Words in the Greek ; a, 0, in the Latin ; a, i, o, in Englijh ; a, 0, y, in French ; a, e, i, 0, in Ltalian ; a, y, in Spanijb ; a, 0, in the 'Pofflignefe ; 0, in moft Languages, and even in the 2)utcb and S-wediJh. A Confonant alio becomes a Word, by adding an e mute to it in Pronunciation.

In fine, tho a confiderable Number of the poffible Com- binations of 24 Letters were retrenched, yet the Number remaining would {till be immenfe, and vaftly fiiperior to

A upon as one of the moft copious, the Radices of which are only eftcem'd about 32445 but then it abounds exceedingly in Compounds, and Derivatives. Bilhop Wilkins thinks thefe may be mo- derately computed at about ten thoufand.

Hermannm Hugo, indeed, aflferts, that no Language has

fo few as rooooo Words; and Varro is frequently quoted

by learned Men, as if he affirmed that there are in theZa-

As TO their lowers, again, thofe are not always fixed to **, no ** *"* J?° oco **& U P?" Squiring into the Scope

the fame Signification : The Vowels, for inftance, are gene- ? f the Paira .8?> «!™$ F llkm obferves, that this Number

rally acknowlcdg'd to have each of 'em feveral Sounds : Vo- cales o?;mes flurifonce, fays Lipfitis ; and Vcjjius affures us, the Antients ufed their Vowels very different ways, aliqiian- do tenitius cxilhtfque, nunc crajjius, nunc intermedio fono. Thus the Power or" the Vowel e is cxprcfled in writing no lefs than fix feveral' ways, viz. by e ; as in he, me, jloe, ye : ■ — by ee, in thec, free, ive ; — by ie, in field, yield, JJyield, chief ■-, — by ea, in near, dear, hear ; — by co, in people ; — by 1, in privilege. So is the Power of the Vowel a ; as in all, an!-, a-zv, fault, caught, brought : which are all only va- rious ways of writing the fame long Vowel ; befides thi

iiUll.i wit ys ul wiiiiuii tuu mint, iuiit^ v wwt,i j u^nuv.o 111^ ' i I n

other diftina ways of expreffing the fame Vowel when ufed are t0. kee P b y them - *

fhort : Again, the Power of the Vowel o is written five. l } '. s P5 P cri y an Alpk,

co, in JJjco,

is not intended by him to exprefs the jufl: Number of Words in the Latin ; but the grear Variety made thereof, by the Inflection and Compofition of Verbs. — To this pur- pofe he lays it down, that there are above one thoufand Radical Verbs in the Latin; and that each Verb admits of five hundred feveral Varieties : He further fuppofes, that each of thefe may be compounded with nine Prepofitions j as ceffit, rcccjjit, acceffit, decejfit, &c. which amounts to five Millions. See Word.

Alphabet, in Matters of Polygraphy, is a duplicate of the Key or Cypher, which each of the Parties correfponding See Cypher.

fhort : Again, the Power of the Vowel o is written five. " ,s propeny an Alphabet of the ufual Letters difpofed

ways ; 0, as in to, who, move h —oe, in doe.— 00, in Jlmo, '" their Order ; oppofite to or underneath which, are the

moon, noon;— en, in could, would ;— u-o, inr-.ro; and fo of fecret Charafters correfponding thereto .with the blank or

,I ie re ft. Nor are the Confonants of more determinate ufe r leIs Letters, and the other Signs or Symbols ferving to

Powers: witnefs the different Pronunciation of the fame °blcure, and render it difficult to decypher. See Decy-

Lettcr (c).in the fame Word, Cireo ; and of g in negligence. PH ?J I i' T ?i,r^ a ■ «a «■ >i *v '. ■' „ .'

—To fay no mote, the Letters c, f, t, are ufed alike, to ALPHETA, in Aftronomy, a Fix A Star in the Northern

denote the fame Power; and the Letter^ is commonly Crown-, otherwife ; called Lllcida Corona. See Lucida.

ufed for z : and which is yet worfe, fome Lettets of the '" Longitude, Latitude, (go. fee among the reft of the

fame Name and Shape, are ufed at one time for Vowels, Cm j hl 'Z t '™ Co^oKK&pteatnoaalis.

and at another for Confonants ; as j; v, w, y. which yet AL ,™°? ■ »? %■ See Taele -, r ., , ,

differ from one another, fays Bifhop Wllkins, ficut corpus AL1HOS, in Medicine, a Diftemper defenbed by Cclfus,

££? anima under the Name of Vitiligo ; wherein, the Skin is rough,

From this Confufion in the Power of Letters, rhere arife ? nd loo !; s as if !t ha<1 Dr0 P s of white u P on !t. not mucn aif-

divers Irregularites ; as, that fome Words are diftinguifliM in Writing, which are the fame in Pronunciarion, e. g. Ceffio end SeJJio, &c. and others are diftinguinYd in Pronunciation, which are the fame in Writing ; as give, dare, and Give, vinculum, &c. Hence alfo the Latin Mall-, is a Diffyllable, and the F.nglifii Male, a Monofyllable.

The Names alfo, in moft Alphabets, are very improperly Exprels'd by Words of divers Syllables ; as Alpha, Seta, &c. in which refpect, the Roman and our Englifh Alphabets, which only name the Letters by their Powers, have a great Advantage over the reft.

Laftly, their Figures are not well concerted ; there being nothing in the Characters of the Vowels anfwerable to the difterent.Degrees of Apertion : nor in the Confonants, ana- logous, to the Agreements or Difagreements thereof.

"All thefe Imperfections are endeavour'd to be obviated

fering from Morphew. See Morphew.

ALRAMECH, or Abramech, in Aftronomy, the Arabic Name of a Star, otherwife called ArBurus. See Akctu- rus.

ALT, in Mufick. See Diagram, and Scale ; fee alfo Alto.

The Word is form'd of rhe Latin altlts, high.

ALTAR, Ara, Altare, a Place or Pile whereon to offer Sacrifice to fome Deity. See Sacrifice.

The Jews had their Brazen Altar, for Burnt offerings, and a Golden Altar, or Altar of Incenfe. See Taberna- cle, £$c.

Among the Romans, the Altar was a kind of Pedeflal, either fquare, round, or triangular ; adorn'd with Sculpture, with Baffo Relievo's, and Infcriptions, whereon were burnt the Viclims iacrificed to Idols. See Victim.

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