Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/918

* OLDMIXON. 784 OLD POINT COMFORT. in the Dunciad. The titles of some of his works are: The Secret History of Kitropr (171215); The JJislori/ of UnyUnid During the Reigns of the Uoyal House of ktuart ( 1730) ; and The Arts of Logiil: nml h'hrtoriek (1728). OLD MORTALITY. A novel by Sir Walter Scott (ISltj). The title is taken from the nick- name of Koliert Patorson, who for years kept in order the tombstones of the ('ovenanlers. The story purports to have been tohl by him to the author as Cleishbotham, and describes the con- lliet of the Covenanters with the royal forces na- iler C'laverhouse, about 1070. OLD NORTH STATE. See North Caboi.txa. OLD OAKEN BUCKET, The. A very popu- lar MiMj; ' Saimii-l Wdoihvorth. written in New- York in 1S17 and first ])ublished under the title of "The Bucket." The air is an adaptation by Frederick Smith of Kiallmark"s music composed for -Moore's ".Araby's Daughter." OLD PERSIAN. The ancient Iranian lan- guage of I'lisia. Its entire grammatical struc- ture is closely akin to Avesta (i|.v.). The in- adequacy of the alphal)et in which it is written (see Clxkiforii In.scriptions) and the scanti- ness of the renmants of the language, however, prevent u complete knowledge either of its pho- nohjgy or morphology. Its principal ])honologi- cal characteristics are as follows: Indo-tJcrniaiiic r is represented by or, as Skt. Icria, 'deed.' Old Pers. kartd : Indo-Germanic nasalized vowels lose their nasalization, at least in the script, as Skt. aiianitiim. l said,' Old Pers. tiOaltiiin ; epenthetic u is developed between d and r. and between g and d, as Skt. ndruhyat. "he deceived,' Old Pers. adurujiyu, Av. 8u^,i'iri. 'Sogdiana,' Old Pers. Sugiida, Sugudu ; Indo-Oermanic /)• becomes y, as Skt. putra, "son,' Old Pers. piil-'a; Indo-Ger- 7uanie i, u. are written iy, ur after consonants, as Skt. yadi, 'if,' Old Pers. yndiy, Skt. dndatu, 'let him give.' Old Pers. dadutuv; Indo-Germanic ti becomes S, as Skt. mrtyu, 'man.' Old Pers. niiirxiyd; Indo-Oermanic final I and d. the only linal con'<cm:uits remaining in Iranian, are lost in Old Persi;in, as Skt. dldmrul. 'he bore." Old Pers. tibtini, but .v. Imriil : Indo-Ocrniaiiic s is lost, at least in the script, before u, r, and hi, as Skt. scaica, 'rich in horses,' Old Pers. nraspa, Skt. asmi, 'I am,' Ohl Pers. ainiy, Skt. sriitas. 'river.' Old Pers. riiula ; Iranian s and z become f) and d before vowels and r, as Av. sarai'ia, 'sort,' Old Pers. Burdu, v. nisrinaomi, 'I restore.' Old Pers. niynO' iiriijinin. '1 restored.' The inllcction. so far as it can be reconstructed, docs not dilfcr essen- tially from .Avesta. except that the imperfect tense of the Old Persian verb invariably has the augment which is usually lacking in .vestn, as Old Pers. iidiiiUt. 'he gave.' Av. dndiit. The at- tempt which has been nmde by certain scholars to prove the «Vistence of various dialects in the oxtnnt Old Persian texts can scarcely lie regarded as successful. The Old Pcrsii'n records, apart from glosses and pro|)er names, consist of n number of cunei- form inscriptions cnrved by tlw .(bninenian Kings Cynis. Darius I., Xerxes T.. .rtaxerxes T., .rtiixerxes Mncmon. and .rtaxerxes Ochus. These inscriptions are chiefly at Hehistun. Perse- polis, Xaksi Uustam. Elvand, Van. Susn. and Suez. Of them by far the most important are the five tablets, amounting to 410 lines, and a few minor texts, carved by order of Darius I. on the mountain-side at Behistun (q.v.). Here the King relates his history in a dignified tone, which in the fourth tablet rises to some degree of literary merit. Xe.xt in impor- tance is the inscription of Dariis at Naks-i-Kus- tani (see Peuski'olis) in sixty lines, conspicuovis for its stylistic merit, and two briefer texts, of 24 lines each, of the same King at Perse])olis. The texts of Xerxes and the three Artaxerxeses are little more than replicas of the minor tablets of Darius. In the latest inscriptions, especially in the single one of Artaxerxcs ilnemon, set up by him at Susa, a decay in grammar seems evi- dent. The style of the Old Persian inscriptions, which shows marked traces of literary inllucnce from the Assyro-Babylonian tablets, is simple narrative, and in <reneral the meaning of the woids is tolerably certain. There are. however, a number of dilhcult passages, where the Baby- lonian and Xew Susian versions carved side by side with the Persian inscription of Hehistun give no help. This Babylonian translation is, unfortunately, very fragmentary, while the New Susian, inlcrpreled only by identifying words in it which correspond to known Old Persian terms, is not a safe guide in <lonbtful ])assages. There are a luiniber of ga]is in the Old Persian inscriptions, and the reading of several words is not yet determined. It is almost certain that there arc other Ohl Persian inscriptions which have not yet been discovered, and which when found may give a solution of at least some of the problems which now beset the interpretation of these texts. Consult: Rawlinson, "The Persian Cuneiform Inscription at Hehistun." ia Journal of the l{oy<d A-ii'itic iSocietu, old series, vols. .., xi. (London, 1 840-4!)) ; Benfey, Die persisehen Kcilinschriften (Leipzig, 1847): Oppert, "ilemoire sur les in- scriptions ach^ni<!nides concues dans I'idiome des aneiens Perses," in Journal .l.siVi/ii/Hi', fourth ser- ies, vols, xvii.-xix. (Paris, 1851-52): Ko.ssowicz, Inscriptinncs Palao-I'crsicce .1 rhnnirnidarum (S:unt Petersburg. 18721; Spiegel. Die allprr- sisclien Kiilinscliriften (2d ed., Leipzig, 1881); Tolman, (Iraniniar of the Old I'rrsian Language u-ilh the Inscriptions (Boston, 18!)2) : id., (luide to the Old Persian Inscriptions (Xew York, 18!>3) ; Weissbach and Bang. Die altprr.iischrn Kcilinschriften (Leipzig, 1803); Hiising. Die iranischen ljigennan.cn in den AchJimenidenin- schriften (Norden, 1807) ; Spiegel, Yergleiehrnde Orammatilc dcr allirunischcn Sprachcn (Leip- zig, 1882) ; Bartholomae, Handhuch dcr all ira- nischen Diahl.lc (ib., 1883): id., "Awesliscli und .Mtpersisch," and AVeissbach, "Die altpcr- sisehen Inschriften." in Geiger and Kuhn. (Irund- riss dcr iranischen Philologie (Strassburg. 1805-1003) ; Pizzi, firammatiea elementare dell' antico iranieo (Turin, 1807) : Lagarde, "Die per- sisehen Glossen iler .Mten." in his flcsamnicltr Ahhandhingcn (Leipzig. ISfifi) ; .lusti. Allira- vis^'hcs yajnrnhttch I M:irburg. 18!)5), OLD POINT COMFORT. A friMpicnted watering ]iliu-i in Kli:'abcth City County, 'a., six miles north of Norfolk (Map: Virginia. II 5). Its location on ;i sm:ill ])eninsnbi. here llatnitton Roads and Chesapeake Bay join the .Atlantic Ocean, is one of great n:ilural beauty. A fine beach for bathing and good boating and fishing, together with the activities of garris(m life at Kort Monroe (q.v.), situated here, are prominent