Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/560

 548 GABOON THE seventh letter in the Latin alpha- ) bet, and in others derived directly from it, as the English, French, German, and Italian. In Hebrew, Greek, and some other alphabets of Phoenician origin, it is the third letter. In English it has two entirely distinct normal sounds: the hard, as in get, and the soft (also represented by J), as in gem. In pronouncing hard G, the root of the tongue is raised so as to close the openings from the pharynx into the nostrils, and then by expel- ling the breath, vocalized by the vibrations of the membranes of the larynx, the sound is formed. The chief difference between hard G and K is that in the latter the breath issues without vocalization. (For the mode of pro- nouncing the soft G, see J.) In English, G at the beginning of a word has the hard sound when immediately followed by a, o, or u. The words gaol and mortgagor, when thus spelled, form exceptions to this rule ; but they are now com- monly written jail and mortgageor. In gu, followed by another vowel, the u is generally silent* as in guard and guide; in a few words, mainly of Spanish origin, as guano and guanaco, it is pronounced as gw (in Spanish as hw, or simply w). In gy, except in a few terms of natural history, the g is pronounced soft, as in gymnastics. When followed by e or i, G may have either the hard sound, as in get, give, or the soft, as in gem, gin; the general rule, to which there are many exceptions, being that it is hard in words derived from the Saxon, and soft in those from Greek, Latin, and French. At the end of a syllable G is hard unless soft- ened by a final e, as in rag, rage; before an affix commencing witn i, the softening e is usu- ally omitted in writing, as in refrangible; if the affix begin with a, the silent e is retained, as in changeable. G enters into combination with several other consonants. In gh, at the beginning of a syllable, the h is silent, the g having its hard sound, as in ghost; at the end of a syllable gh is sometimes silent, as in though, and sometimes it has the sound of/, as in trough ; in hough (now usually written, as pronounced, TiocK) it has the sound of & ; in ght, the t only is sounded, as in night. In gl and gr both letters have their full sound, the g being hard, by whatever vowel followed. In gn, whether at the beginning or end of a syl- lable, the g is silent, as in gnaw, deign. Ng in English occurs only at the end of a syllable ; it has but one sound, by whatever vowel pre- ceded, as in sang, sing, song, and sung. In the Greek, Hebrew, and Germanic languages, and' some others, G is hard in all positions. In the Eomanic languages the rules for its hard sound are generally the same as in English, but its soft sound differs in character in French and Spanish. (See J.) It is never absolutely mute in any language but English, but is nearly so in Spanish before ua, and as a terminal in Danish. In the calendar G is the last domini- cal letter. In music, it is the name of the 5th diatonic interval, and the 8th string of the diatono-chromatic scale. It is the clef Q altered into the adjoining form of the ~jj$~ violin or the treble. Capital G marks the deepest tone of the human voice, its oc- "Cr tave being the small g. It is named sol in sol- mization. GABELENTZ, Hans Conon yon der, a German philologist, born at Altenburg, Oct. 13, 1807. He completed his studies at the universities of Leipsic and Gottingen, entered the service of Saxe-Altenburg, and was a member of the Frankfort preliminary parliament, and subse- quently of the Erfurt parliament. He has pub- lished Elements de la grammaire mandchoue (Altenburg, 1833) ; a translation into Mantchoo of the Chinese works Se-shu, Shu-Icing, and Shi-Tcing, with a Mantchoo-German glossary (Leipsic, 1864) ; and a large number of minor writings on the Mordvin, Sirian, and numerous other idioms. He has also published a new edition of Ulfilas's Gothic Bible version (2 vols., 1843). GABIROL. See SOLOMON BEN GABIROL. GABOON (called also the Mpongo or Mpongwe hi the language of the people at its mouth), a bay on the coast of west Africa, about lat. 30' N., Ion. 9 20' E. It receives the united stream of the Olombo and the Ehamboe, and was formerly believed to be a large and power- ful river ; but it is simply an inlet of the At- lantic ocean, about 40 m. long, 9 m. wide, and from 10 to 60 ft. deep. In 1843 the French established a fortified factory on the coast of the Gaboon bay, and obtained gradually from the native chiefs the whole coast land from Cape Lopez, in lat. 36' S., to the Laucie promon- tory, in lat. 40' K In 1867 the area of this colony was reported to be 8,000 sq. m. It had about 5,000 inhabitants and 1,000 troops. The latter were withdrawn during the Franco- German war of 1870-'71 ; and the protectorate of Grand Bassam and Assinie was abandoned by the French in 1872, because they could not control the 'native chiefs. At the beginning of 1874 there were no French authorities at Gaboon except the naval officers at the sta- tion, whose commander acts as governor. The settlement has substantial public buildings, stores, hospitals, a small dockyard, and a large depot of coals. French, English, American, German, and Portuguese missionaries reside here, as well as a French bishop. The Mpongwe language, which is spoken by the natives, has been reduced to writing, and is taught gram- matically in the American missionary schools, and the French have translated part of the New Testament into it. The use of a corrupt English jargon is spreading. A number of slaves continue to be kept all along the