Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/823

* o OThe fifteenth letter and fourth vowel in English, and a symbol for a sound in general common to all languages. Its form is derived through the medium of Latin from the Greek, and still more remotely from the Phoenician character. In Semitic the name of the letter was ai/in, 'eye.' having refer- ence to the form of the letter, which must orig- inally have been a pictograph. This Semitic letter represented a guttural breathing, the 'ain, which did not exist in Greek. The sign was adopted by the Greeks to represent different o-sounds, for the long soiuid of which they after- wards developed the character omega (ii). In post-classical times the names omicron, 'little o,' and oiiiegii. 'big o,' were given to these symbols. See ALPn.BET. Sound. In English the letter o is used to indi- cate two chief divisions of o-sound, first the close or "long o' in old. no, etc., which is sometimes represented also by digraphs, as in seic, doufih, tow; second, the open or 'short o,' which may be wide, as in hot. rot, or narrow, as in shorn, lord. The main source of the English long o is an Old English (7, Germ, ei, Goth, ai, as in Eng. stone, A.S. stiin. Germ. f<trin. Goth, stains ; the short o is usually a retention of a West Germanic o as in f/old (A.S. gold, Germ. (lold). As a graphic device, moreover, o is sometimes used to express a H-sound, as in irho. irolf. love, monk (A.S. mumie), etc. This spelling is really not ortho- graphic, but was due to the Anglo-Norman scribes adopting a looped o instead of u when adjoining an angular pointed letter like m. ir. n. r. where the vowel could not readily be distinguished by tlie eye. In some words this has even affected the pronunciation, as in 'sovereign.' and often 'wont.' As A Symbol. In media-val notation as a nu- meral = 11; in chemistry = o.xygen : in logic it is the sign of the particular negative proposition; and it is common in abbreviations, O.T. = Old Testament; O.II.G. = Old High Ger- man, etc. OAHTT, wii'hoo. One of the Hawaiian Islands (q.v.). OAJACA, wa-irli'ka. A State and a city of Mexico. See Oaxaca. OAK (AS. ric, OHG. eih, Ger. .Eiehe, oak; connected with Lat. crscnlus. Gk. aiyi/wl', aipi- Ifips. oak). Qiirrcns. A genus of trees and shrubs of the natural order Cupulifera-. having a three- celled ovary, and a round (not angular) nut (acorn) placed in the lower part of and invested by a scaly truncated cup. The species number about 300 and are natives of temperate and tropical countries. Several are found in Europe. North America produces many, and many are natives of Asia, especially of mountainous re- gions. None are found in tropical Africa, in Australia, or in South America except in the most northern parts. The oaks have alternate simple leaves, which are entire in some, but in the greater numbervariously lobed and sinuated or cut; evergreen in some, but more generally decidu- ous, when they have well-developed winter buds. OAK {Quercus alba). The oaks are famous for the strength and dura- bility of their timber, the majesty of their ap- jx'arance, and their great longevity. They reach maturity in from 120 to '200 years, depending upon the species, and well-attested specimens are known to be nearly 1000 years ohl. Some species rise tall and stately to a height of from 50 to 701