Page:EB1911 - Volume 19.djvu/168

 and of a Greek (Old-United) bishopric. Among its principal buildings are the St Ladislaus parish church, built in 1723, which contains the remains of the king St Ladislaus (d. 1095), the Roman Catholic cathedral, built in 1752–1779, the Greek cathedral, the large palace of the Roman Catholic bishop, built in 1778 in the rococo style, the archaeological and historical museum, with an interesting collection of ecclesiastical art, and the county and town hall. Among the educational establishments are a law academy, a seminary for priests, a modern school, a Roman Catholic and a Calvinistic gymnasium, a commercial academy, a training school for teachers and a secondary school for girls. Nagy-Varad is an important railway junction; it possesses extensive manufactures of pottery and large distilleries, and carries on a brisk trade in agricultural produce, cattle, horses, fruit and wine. About 6 m. S. of the town is the village of Hajé, which contains the Püspök Fürdö or Bishop’s Baths, with warm saline and sulphurous waters (92° to 103° F.), used both for drinking and bathing in cases of anaemia and scrofula.

Nagy-Varad is one of the oldest towns in Hungary. Its bishopric was founded by St Ladislaus in 1080. The town was destroyed by the Tatars in 1241. Peace was concluded here on the 24th of February 1538 between Ferdinand I. of Austria and his rival John Zápolya, voivode of Transylvania. In 1556 it passed into the possession of Transylvania, but afterwards reverted to Austria. In 1598 the fortress was unsuccessfully besieged by the Turks, but it fell into their hands in 1660 and was recovered by the Austrians in 1692. The Greek Old-United or Catholic bishopric was founded in 1776.

NAHE, a river of Germany, a left-bank tributary of the Rhine, rises near Selbach in the Oldenburg principality of Birkenfeld. For some distance it forms the boundary between the Bavarian Palatinate and the Prussian Rhine Province, and it falls into the Rhine at Bingen. Its length is 78 m., but it is too shallow and rocky to be navigable. Its picturesque valley, through which runs the railway from Bingerbrück to Neunkirchen, is largely visited by tourists.

NAHUATLAN STOCK, a North and Central American Indian stock. Nahuas or Nahuatlecas was the collective name for the dominant Indian peoples of Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest, and the Nahuatlan stock consisted of the Nahuas (or Aztecs) and a few scattered tribes in Central America.

NAHUM (Hebrew for “rich in comfort [is God]”), an Old Testament prophet. The name occurs only in the book of Nahum; in Nehemiah vii. 7 it is a scribal error for “Rehum.” Of the prophet himself all that is known is the statement of the title that he was an Elkoshite. But the locality denoted by the designation is quite uncertain. Later tradition associated Nahum with the region of Nineveh, against which he prophesied, and hence his tomb has been located at a place bearing the name of Alkush near Mosul (anc. Nineveh) and is still shown. According to Jerome, the prophet was a native of a village in Galilee, which bore the name of Elkesi in the 4th century (the Galilean town of Capernaum, which probably means “village of Nahum,” may also point in the same direction; but cf. John vii. 29, which seems to imply that in the time of Christ no prophet was supposed to have come out of Galilee). E. Nestle has proposed to locate Elkesi “beyond Betogabra ” (i.e. Eleutheropolis, mod. Beit Jibrin) in the tribe of Simeon (cf. Pal. Expl. Fund Quart. Statement, 1879, pp. 136-138).

.—The original heading of Nahum's prophecy is contained in the second part of the superscription: “[The book of] the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite” (cf. the similar headings in Isaiah, Obadiah and Habakkuk). The first part (“Oracle concerning Nineveh”) is a late editorial insertion, but correctly describes the main contents of the little book.

Date of Nahum’s Oracle.—The date of the composition of Nahum’s prophecy must lie between 607–606, when Nineveh was captured and destroyed by the Babylonians and Medes, and the capture of Thebes (No-Amon) which is alluded to in iii. 8–10. This was effected for the second time and most completely by Assur-bani-pal in 663 or 662 The tone of the prophecy suggests, on the one hand, that the fall of Nineveh is imminent, while, on the other, the reference to Thebes suggests that the disaster that had befallen it was still freshly remembered. On the whole a date somewhat near 606 is more probable. It is noteworthy that no reference is made to the restoration of the northern kingdom of Israel, or the return of its exiles. The poetry of the book is of a high order.

NAIK, or, from a Sanskrit word meaning a leader, a title used in India in various senses. In the army it denotes a rank corresponding to that of corporal; and Hyder Ali of Mysore was proud of being called Haidar Naik, analogous to “le petit caporal” for Napoleon. It was also the title of the petty dynasties that arose in S. India on the downfall of the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar in the 16th century.

NAIL (O. Eng. naegal, cf. Dutch, Ger., Swed. nagel; the word is also related to Lat. unguis, Gr.  ;, Sans. nakhās) a word applied both to the horny covering to the upper surface of the extremities of the fingers and toes of man and the Quadrumana (see ), and also to a headed pin or spike of metal, commonly of iron. The principal use of nails is in woodwork (joinery and carpentry ), but they are also employed in numerous other trades. Size, form of head, nature of point, and special uses all give names to different classes of nails. Thus we have tacks, sprigs and brads for very small nails; rose, clasp and clout, according to the form of head; and flat points or sharp points according to the taper of the spike. According to