Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/762

Rh 71G X X represents the Phoenician letter Samekh, to which the ^ __ old Ionian 3E is singularly close in form. This form is familiar to Greek students, because it belongs to the alphabet that superseded the alphabet of the Eubocan type which was first in use at Athens. But the Eubocan form of the letter was + (see Eoehl, I.G.A., No. 372) ; and this form went with the Eubcean alphabet of Chalcis to the western Hellenic world, and passed in Italy into the form X, which survives with us. The history of the symbol in Italy is not, however, perfectly clear, because in the extremely archaic alphabets of Coere and Formello we find not only + but also a symbol ffl, and this has the place of XL in the Ionian alphabet, whereas -f stands after U, instead of in its proper place, which has been thus usurped by this huge and otherwise unknown intruder. There would be no difficulty in supposing that + is only a curtailed portion of the fuller form, and that the two survived for a time side by side in the alphabet, perhaps with some differ entiation of value, were it not that this is inconsistent with the ultimate derivation of the Italic alphabet from Chalcis, where the large form certainly does not appear. The name Xt. (ksi) is clearly Greek, not, like the names of the letters in general, borrowed from the Phoenician. It is obviously modelled upon Psi, just as Psi was itself modelled upon Pi. The value of the sound in Phoenician was probably a strong sibilant, with a weak guttural preceding. In the old inscrip tions of the ^Egean Islands Thera, Naxos, &c. we find a double symbol KM (i.e., ks) ; in Naxos we find also XZ and BZ (i.e., hs), which indicates a guttural breathing before the s; and in old Attic inscriptions also we find XZ. But this same symbol X had another very different value in Greece from fa, and by this value, i.e., a guttural aspirate, kh or ch, it is familiar to Greek students under the name Chi. This value is confined to alphabets of the Ionian type. In the islands we find K9 or KH, also &amp;lt;J&amp;gt;0 at Thera, digraphs being employed in the same manner as for ks and /&amp;gt;s. This same guttural sound is represented in alphabets of the Eubcean type under the form ^ or ty, which appears naturally in the Caere alphabet, but in the derived Italian alphabets was retained by the Etruscan only. In Greece it was found in Bceotia and the Pelo ponnesus : e.g., it appears on the tripod at Delphi set up by the Lacedaemonians to commemorate the victory of Platoea3. But in the Ionic alphabet alone this same symbol has a totally different value, to wit, ps, and to this value the Greeks gave the name Psi. It is noteworthy that the old Attic way of writing this double sound was $ Z. The origin of this second X and that of its companion f is very uncertain. The Attic writings above mentioned, and the $ Q of Thera, give colour to the idea that X and 3? may be survivals of a ruder alphabet, superseded by the Phoenician, with the values k and p. On the other hand, it does not seem impossible that ^, with the value ch, may be a descendant of the useless $ (koppa), obtained by opening out the circle (Taylor, Alphabet, ii. 93) ; but the same writer maintains that X is a variation of K, which seems very improbable. It is at least as credible that it is a variant of Samekh, in which the guttural clement of the original complex sound superseded the sibilant. There is nothing noteworthy in the history of x in English. In French, when medial, it has generally passed into ss, as in laisser (from laxare) ; and it has the same sound, even when written, as in soixante. It is frequently found at the end of words owing to a mis-writing, the contraction for final us having been confounded with it, as in plurals, yeux, animaux, etc., where the u has been added again, also in epoux (esponsus), faux (falsus), roux (russus), &c. Not unnaturally the x has been substituted still further, as in prix ; in other cases, like croix, we have probably a learned imitation of the Latin. Italian also substitutes ss for x, as in massimo for maximus, lussuria, &c. On x in Spanish, see vol. xxii. p. 350. XALAPA. See JALAPA. XANTHUS, an ancient city of LYCIA (q.v.), on the river Xanthus, about 8 miles above its mouth. It is chiefly memorable in history for its two sieges, and the desperate but unavailing resistance made on both occasions. The first siege was by the Persian general Harpagus (see vol. xviii. p. 566), when the acropolis was burned and the inhabitants, with all their possessions, perished (Herod., i. 176). The city was afterwards rebuilt; and in 42 B.C. it Avas besieged by the Romans under Brutus. It was taken by storm and set on fire ; and the inhabitants, refusing to surrender, all perished in the flames. During its prosper ity, Xanthus contained many fine temples and other build ings, extensive remains of which, in excellent preservation, were discovered by Sir C. Fellows (Excursion in Asia Minor, 1839). A large collection of marbles, chiefly sepulchral, from Xanthus is now in the British Museuni- XAVIER, FEANCISCO (1506-1552), surnamed the &quot; Apostle of the Indies,&quot; was the youngest son of Juan de Jasso, privy councillor to Jean d Albret, king of Navarre, and his wife Maria Azpilcueta Xavier, sole heiress of two noble Navarrese families. He was born at his mother s castle of Xavero or Xavier, at the foot of the Pyrenees and close to the little town of Sanguesa, on 7th April 1506, according to a family register, though his earlier biographers fix his birth in 1497. Following a Spanish custom of the time, which left the surname of either parent optional with children, he was called by his mother s family name, and grew up tall, strong, healthy, and active both in mind and body, with a lively, cheerful disposition. He showed no taste, however, for the career of arms, and early dis closed a preference for literary pursuits. His father accordingly strained his slender resources to send him, in 1524, to the university of Paris, then much frequented by Spaniards, where he entered the College of St Barbara, and made such rapid progress that he was appointed in 1528 lecturer in Aristotelian philosophy at the College de Beau- vais. In 1530 he took his degree as master of arts. The same year which saw his nomination as lecturer at the university saw also the arrival there of the man who was to mould his destiny and that of his chamber-mate Pierre le Fevre, namely, Ignatius Loyola, even then meditating the foundation of his celebrated institute (see JESUITS, vol. xiii. p. 652). Ignatius speedily recognized in Xavier the qualities which made him the first missionary of his time, and set himself to win him as an associate in his vast enterprise. Xavier, after a protracted resistance, yielded to the spell, and was one of the little band of seven persons, including Loyola himself, who took the original Jesuit vows and founded the company, on loth August 1534, in the crypt of Notre Dame dc Montmartre. They continued in Paris for two years longer, though there is some uncertainty whether Xavier retained his chair ; but on 15th November 1536 they started for Italy, to concert with Ignatius (then in Spain, but purposing to join them) plans for a mission to convert the Moslems of Palestine. About Epiphany-tide 1537, after a journey attended with much fatigue and some danger, owing to the disturbed