Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/919

* OLD POINT COMFORT. 785 OLD SQUAW. attiat-tions. The climate is remarkably mild and equable. There is a large hotel, besides several euUa;,'('S, and the resort is frequented in botli summer and winter. OLD PROBABILITIES. A poi)ular Ameri- can niiknanic fur llic brad of the Weather Bu- reau, or loosely fin' the personification of weather prophecies in general. OLD PRUSSIAN LANGUAGE. An ex- tinct menilier of the lialtic gnmp of Indo-CJer- manic lanj;uajres which was spoken until the ."ieventeenth century in Prussia. The remnants of the language are very scanty, and are too meagre to j)ermit a reconstruction of the gram- mar. The Old Prussian fragments consist of translations of two catechisms, printed in 1545, and of the Short Catechism of ]>uther (1501). There are also two Old Prussian-German vocabu- laries, (hat of Elbing, compiled in the first half of the fifteenth century, containing 802 words, some of which, however, are loan-words, and that of (irunau. who composed a list of 100 words between 1517 and 152G. This vocabulary of Grn- nau is so inaccurate as to be of little value. The Elbing list, on the contrary, if used with caution. is the must valuable siiiirce of our knowledge of the language next to Luther's catechism. The chief phonological characteristics of Old Prus- sian are as follows: Imlo-Ocrmanic c remains C in Old Prussian under the circiunflex accent, but becomes I under the acute, as scmmr. 'earth.' accented on the ultimate like the equivalent Rus- sian zcmli/d but with the circumflex like Lith- uanian dtiktc, 'daughter) ; turrit, 'to do,' Lith- uanian fiirrli. Indo-(iermanic o becomes i[ in Old Prussian as in the other Baltic dialects (Lettic and Lithuanian), as Latin nciiluf:. Old Church Slavic o7,'o, 'eye,' but Old Prussian achis. Lithu- anian OIci/s, Lettic (ns, while 6. like S, is repre- sented by <7 or, after gutturals, by u in Old Prus- sian, («) in Lithuanian, and a{u) in Lettic, as Gothic frofs, 'wise,' Old Prussian pratin, 'counsel,' Lithuanian prolas. 'understanding,' l^ettic prals, 'will.' but Old Latin hrniOii. 'man,' Old Prussian smCtni. Indo-Germanie r, I, m. n become in Old Prussian as. in the other Baltic dialects ir, il, im, in. as Sanskrit vrthii. 'in vain.' Old Prussian pratrilts. 'to betray,' Litliuanian vUfifii, Lettic irilt. 'to deceive.' In script at least there is no distinction between s and z. as Skt. dnia. Latin decern, Old Prussian dr.isintton.t, Lithuanian des::imtis, 'ten,' Old Church Slavic drsrt;, but Sanskrit jni'i, Greek yiyvu^si^tn'. Old Prussian poninnfit. Lithuanian zinoti, Lettic iiuni, 01<1 Church Slavic znati. 'to know.' In accent Old Prussian seems to have resembled Lettic rather than Lithuanian. The Old I'russian long diphthongs, long vowel plus liquid, and nasal plus consonant, therefore corre- spond, like the Lettic acute accent, to the Lithu- anian circnmnex, while like combinations with unlengthened vowel correspond, like the Lettic lengthened vowel, tothe Lithuanian acute. The noun had five eases, nominative, accusative, geni- tive, dative, and vocative, as well as a few traces of an instrumental. The original Indo- Gernianic terminations are, in general, well pre- served, as ilative simiular irirdrii. 'to the word.' Litliuanian rnrdiii. <■(. .Avesta r.ihrlcdi. (Hrerk/ rK</i. 'to the wolf; accusative plural irirdnn.i, 'words,' cf. Cretan Greek Xt/Vovs, (lothic imilfaiis. 'wolves'; genitive plural, as grikan, 'of sins,' Lithuanian gri-ku, Lettic griku, ef. Vedic Sanskrit rrkfim, "of wolves,' Greek avkuv, Latin dium, 'of gods.' On the other hand, the genitive .singu- lar of .S'-stenis is borrowed from those in -«-, as Ilciinis, 'of God' (cf. gvnna.'i, 'of a woman.' Greek ,Vu/«ts', "of a country'), but Lithuanian vilko, 'of a wolf,' Lettic cr'/fca, Old Church Slavic ydU'O, and the dative plural receives an .« from the accusa- tive plural, as iiii.'<rhuutcnik<imaii/i, 'to debtors.' but Lithuanian rufikotnus, rai'ikoins, 'to hands,' Let- tic rokccm. Old Church Slavic rnkonui. The verb has a jjresent and past indicative, an im- perative (optative), an oiitative of secondary formation, present and past active and passive jiarticiples, and an infinitive. The third person in form with the singular. The ending is a, as scnrhiku, 'he gathers,' Lithuanian rcnku. and is a relic of the Indo-Germanie present injunctive, as Sanskrit cOdayat, 'he is to rouse.' The first (lerson singular is also old, as iinmu, 'I take,' (ireek Aiw, 'I loose.' The infinitive appears in tliree forms, undifferentiated in meaning, as daticei, duioii, dut, "to give.' The form diitu-ei is usually compared with such Vedic Sanskrit infinitives as dhiilavr, 'to place' while dfitoii. like Lithuanian dclu. and Old Church Slavic dcli'i, is to be compared with Sanskrit dhiilum. Latin con-dUum, 'to place.' The explanation of such infinitives as dut is not yet clear. Consult: Nes- selmann. Die Spruche der alten Preussen (Ber- lin, 1845) : id., Thcsanrus Lingua; Prussicw (ib., 1873) ; Berncker, Die preussische Sprache iStrassburg. ISdiii. OLD RED SANDSTONE. The name given to a large series of Paleozoic rocks, of which red sandstones are the most conspicuous portions, but which contain also white, yellow, or green sandstones, as well as beds of clay and limestone. The group lies below the Carboniferous strata, and was called 'Old' to distinguish it from a newer series of similar beds which occur above the coal measures. The discovery that the highly fossiliferous calcareous rocks of Devonshire and the Continent occupied the same geological hori- zon, showed that the mime was very far from being descriptive of all the deposits of the period, and suggested to !Murchison and Sedgwick the desirability of giving them a new designation. They conse(|uently proposed Devonian, which has been extensively adopted. The name has been rendered classical by Hugh Miller in his books. The Old Red Stindstone, and Footprints of the Creator. The formation which has been laid down in inland seas is noted for its abundant fish remains. OLD ROWLEY. A popular name of Charles TL Tlic name i- derived from Rowley, a favorite horse of the monarch, and is also explained as alluding to the saying "A Roland for an Oliver," referring to the relations of Oliver Cromwell and Charles. OLD SCHOOL (or Phimitive) BAPTISTS. See Ij.ptists. OLD SLOVENIAN. See Old jChubcii Sl.w- IC LANfU'Al.l-; AMI LlTEIiATt'RE. OLD SQUAW, or Or.i) Wife. A sea-dick (('tKiic/ulii liiiriHtilrK] of all northern regions, easily recognized by its much elongated tail feathers; the 'long-tailed duck.' See Duck.
 * )lural, as in the other Baltic dialects, coincides