Façade of the old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
“Basilica” fig. 9. Encyclopædia Britannica (1910), vol. 3 p. 474.

■ a

A.D.

Abbreviation for the Latin phrase “Annō Dominī ”, customarily translated as “in the year of the Lord”. Its exact spelling follows the Classical Latin rules specifying the (grammatical) cases used for expressing 2 categories of time.[*]  The “Lord” refers to Jesus the Christ.

Based on which of His years? Nowadays, it seems obvious: The year of His birth, the Nativity, whose anniversary is celebrated in the English-speaking world as Christmas. But before A.D. based on the Nativity prevailed among (Roman) Christians (A.D. 6th C. on the Continent), there was another Christian chronology that reckoned years numerically as 28 less (than for the modern A.D.). It was based on the date of the Passion of the Christ, as that episode in His life on Earth was reckoned in those early centuries. Alas, the latter numbering was sometimes not clearly distinguished from the Nativity-based numbering, both being designated A.D.!  So the numbers given were seriously problematic for chronologists and historians.[#]

A.D. is properly a prefix to the number, not a suffix as for B.C. 

[Note *: The category that typically applies to a year reckoned in the A.D. numbering is expressed in the ablative case, as above. The less applicable category is expressed in the accusative case.

Note #: Geoffrey Ashe ("in Association with Debrett's Peerage") 1985: The discovery of King Arthur. Guild Publishing: London. P. 99, 206.

Changing the abbreviation from A.D. to the plausible A.P. for Annō Passiōnis would've just changed the problems, because then it would conflict with the established A.P. for Anno Persico (whose year 1 began with the vernal equinox in A.D. 622). "W.L.R.C." (William Liest Readwin Cates) 1910: "Chronology: Eras and periods". Encyclopædia Britannica 1910, vol. 6 p. 312--318.

Had whoever invented that numbering changed its basis just 3 days, from “the Passion” to “the Resurrection”, then “Annō Resurrectionis ”, with its obvious abbreviation A.R., would've remained unique to this day. ]

a.d.

Abbreviation for the Latin phrase “ante diem ”[*], literally translated as “before the day”, but for calendars, is followed by the number n of counted days, customarily translated as “the n^th day before”.

[Note *: As a preposition, “ante” takes the accusative case. ]

A.U.C.

Abbreviation for the Latin phrase “Ab Urbe Conditā”, customarily translated as “from the founding of the City”.[*]  The “City” refers to the only one that truly mattered: Rome!

During their earliest centuries, Romans identified years-- and wine vintages-- by giving the names of the (2) consuls in office. This is comparable to the U.S. custom of identifying political events by naming the occupant of the White House, e.g., “during the Nixon Administration”, or “in the Clinton Administration”. But that muddles events into a span tyically 4 or 8 years, or in the unique case of F.D.R., 13 years. The Roman custom was usually much more precise, because a consul's term of office lasted only 1 year. Although consuls sometimes served multiple terms, they were often not consecutive terms. The duo were not ‘running mates’, unlike the president & vice-president of the U.S.A., so during the Republic, recurrences of the same duo seemed to be quite rare. But after centuries of Roman history, this custom, plainly verbose, had been overwhelmed by the need to keep track of so many consuls (some of whom died in office, and were replaced that same year).

When the Romans numbered their years, they started with the traditional date for the legendary founding of Rome: the modern 21 April. Except that to them, it would've been identified (ordinally) as ante diem ūndecimum Kalendās Maiās (a.d. XI Kal. Mai.): 11^th day before the May Kalends.[#]

They designated that date as the first day of their year A.U.C. 1 (perhaps written by Romans approximately as “A.V.C. I ” or “A.V.C. I̅ ”). The majority of scholarship seems to favor counting that year as 753 B.C. in modern Christian numbering, although dissenting scholarly views have been presented over the years. Thus 1 B.C. would've been A.U.C. 753, and because there never was a 0 B.C. nor A.D. 0, A.D. 1 would've been A.U.C. 754.

[Note *: The Latin phrase, in a formula attested from Cicero, consists of the preposition “ab”, taking a noun object in the ablative case, modified by the perfect-passive participle (i.e.: same form as 4th principal part) of “cond·ō, -ere, -id·ī, -itum” to express an occasion or time.  A more literal translation could be “from the City having-been-founded”. ]

[Note #: Herein, see also Julian calendar.

Cassell's Latin Dictionary, p. xv--xvii, plus entries for words themselves.

Latin Fundamentals, p. 225--227 (in §233--236).

"W.L.R.C." (William Liest Readwin Cates) 1910: "Chronology: Eras and periods". Encyclopædia Britannica 1910, vol. 6 p. 312--318. ]

abjad [ D R A F T ]

A script (i.e.: writing system) whose basic letters record only the consonant sounds in each word. Unlike a genuine alphabet, an abjad provides no basic letters for the vowel sounds in any word.

The most prominent examples of abjads in the modern world:

• Arabic.
• Modern square Hebrew (distinct from the original Hebrew script, which was a nearly direct adoption of the the Phœnician abjad).

Both are descendants of Aramaic, which had been the lingua franca of the Middle East for 14 centuries, after it displaced the Phœnician abjad from which it had been derived in the 11^th-- 10^th centuries B.C. 

So it is that in modern times, newspapers or magazines published in Arabic or Hebrew follow their language traditions by omitting available systems of notation for vowels. In daily reading & writing by native speakers, it's not quite as debilitating a problem as might be feared, e.g.:

 R Fthr, wh  rt  n hvn, hllwd b Th nm; Th kngdm cm; Th wll b dn  n  rth  s  t  s  n hvn.

The 24 original words should be recognizable by practicing Christians, despite 8 of them--exactly ¹⁄₃--being shown without the opening vowels of their full spelling.

∅  blv  n  n Gd, th Fthr  lmght, Mkr  f hvn  nd  rth,  nd  f  ll thngs vsbl  nd  nvsbl.  Nd  n  n Lrd, Jss Chrst, th  nl bgttn Sn  f Gd. Brn  f th Fthr bfr  ll  gs.

Given 39 original words, 20 of them--a trifle more than ¹⁄₂--being shown without their opening vowels, thus causing the opening word, which is the subject of the first sentence, to disappear completely [@], this is a much less reässuring example. In English, many short words contain only a single consonant, including a few forms of pronouns and the crucial verb “to be”, plus many prepositions (consider, e.g.: “ a r e ” vs. “ ou r” as in the first example above, “is” vs. “so” vs. “us”, “in” vs. “on”). The problem isn't eliminated by a second consonant (consider, e.g.: “h e r” vs. “h e r e ”, “l ea d” vs. “l oa d” vs. “loud”, “ov e r” vs. “v e ry”), nor even by a third (consider, e.g.: “th ei r” vs. “th e r e ” vs. “thr ee ”). Perhaps Latin would fare better?

Crd  n  nm Dm, Ptrm  mnptntm, fctrm cl  t trr, vsblm  mnm  t  nvsblm.  T  n  nm Dmnm Jsm Chrstm, Flm D  ngntm.  T  x Ptr ntm  nte  mn scl.

Given 30 original words corresponding to the whole 2^nd example, 15 of them--exactly ¹⁄₂--being shown without their opening vowels, it's obvious that switching from one Indoëuropean language to another provides an insignificant improvement; instead, it changes the problem: Writing Latin without vowels eliminates many grammatically crucial distinctions of case (consider, e.g.: “D eī ” vs. “D eō ” as in the example above, or in a polytheist context: “d eu s” vs. “d eī s” vs. “d eō s” vs. “d ī s”). But all 3 examples above are contrived examples, applied to languages whose letters do include vowels. So a confession is in order: In the West Semitic languages, which include Aramaic, Hebrew, Phœnician, and Syriac, words always begin with a consonant, never with a vowel.

See, e.g., various apparently authoritative pages on the Web:

• The linguistics-specialist Omniglot, which bills itself (not unreasonably) as “the on-line encyclopedia of writing systems & languages”, on abjads: <http: //www.omniglot.com/writing/alphabetic.htm> (although that page name is a surprising choice, especially considering that that site uses neither of the obvious choices, its name is different from the one used for alphabets ).

In situations for which precise pronunciation is culturally required (e.g.: oral readings before a religious congregation) despite a language being written with an abjad, there are systems of notation, typically devised many years after the scripts themselves, that identify vowels, and can also indicate accents and other vocal details.

• Palestinian Hebrew vowel markings (as proposed by linguist Steve Caruso to be applied to Galilean Aramaic): Consist of a set of dots or a macron written above the letters of a word. Simplicity is comparable to the set of written vowels in English, whose pronunciation varies substantially, even considering only the U.S.A. (“[t]he Galileans are not careful with their speech”, according to the Babylonian Talmud, as quoted at the linked source): <http://aramaicdesigns.blogspot.com/2013/09/adapting-palestinian-vowels-for.html>.
• East Syriac (a.k.a. “Nestorian”): Consists of 1--2 dots placed, in distinctive positions above or below the Syriac script they annotated. Appeared in the A.D. 4^th--5^th centuries to enhance the Syriac script (although the eventual East Syriac script would not begin to diverge from the Esṭrangelā Syriac any earlier than the A.D. 6^th century).
• West Syriac (a.k.a. “Jacobite”, but more properly Serṭā): Consists of the Greek letters ‘ Α ’, ‘ ε ’, ‘ Η ’ (for ‘ ī ’), ‘ Ο ’, and the digraph ‘ ΟΥ ’ (for ‘ oo ’), written above or below--and smaller than--the Syriac script they annotated. Used ca. A.D. 700, and traditionally credited to Jacob of Edessa, to enhance the West Syriac script (which had diverged from the Esṭrangelā Syriac no later than ca. the A.D. 8^th century).
• Tiberian vowel pointing: Consist of [....] marks [....] written below the letters of a word.

[John F. Healey (1990) 1998: “The early alphabet” (p. 196--257) in Reading the Past. © 1990 The Trustees of the British Museum. Barnes & Noble 1998 edn., ISBN 0-76070-726-X. ]

[Note @: The mathematical-and-linguistic empty set symbol ‘ ∅ ’ is used herein to indicate the place of the missing grammatical element in the sentence. This is a linguistic convention, and is not a feature of an abjad, which has no notion of a place-indicator for a word without any consonants. ]

Æ, æ (Latin)

The useful but overly-quaint-looking “AE” ligature, indicating the Latin diphthong that might also be encountered as “ a͜e ” or “ a͡e ”.  Pronounced in Classical Latin as English “eye” (or “aye!”), but in ecclesiastical Latin as English “ay” in “bay” or “day” (or “nay!”). In archaic Latin (which preceded classical Latin), the corresponding sound was written as “ai ”. If the word had been assimilated from classical Greek, the sound had been written in Greek with its corresponding letters «αι». It may be found, e.g., in “Iūdæ·a” (Greek «Ιουδαία», English usually “Judaea” or “Judea”), which appears, in various forms, 100 times in the Clementine Vulgate. Also, perhaps surprisingly, in “Ægypt·us, -i” (f.!) (Greek «Αίγυπτος», English “Egypt”), which appears, in various forms, 576 times.

Beware that the “AE” ligature is not appropriate for every “AE” pair in Latin. Some superficially plausible spellings, e.g.: “Israel” as “Isræl”, would be incorrect. That especially important word, which appears, in various forms, 2377 times in the Clementine Vulgate, should most properly be spelled in Latin as “Israël”. However, the common omission of the diëresis merely eliminates its useful clue to pronunciation.

The “AE” ligature was also used in Anglosaxon a.k.a. Old English as a distinct (single) letter, called ‘ash’.

æ (IPA)

The International Phonetic Alphabet letter that looks identical to the lower-case Latin ligature ‘ æ ’, but instead signifies the different & distinct sound of the vowel ‘ a ’ that's exemplified by the common American-English pronunciation of “cat”.

Ægyptus or Egypt [ D R A F T ]

Latin “Ægypt·us, -i” (f.!), from Greek «Αίγυπτος» (“Aíguptos”).

Æthiopia or Ethiopia

An ancient form of the modern name applied only to the independent country “Ethiopia”, it wasn't restricted to the continent Africa in apostolic times.

Of particular interest, e.g.: the Apostle St. Matthias. One tradition has him teaching first in Judæa, then Ethiopia (per Nicephorus). Another writer (Dorotheus) elaborates on that more exotic locale: “in interiore Æthiopia”, described as “where Hyssus is a port of the sea, and the river Phasis is” [†], and finally martyred in a “Sebastopolis”. None of those places are on the continent Africa; they're all on the continent Asia. The former locates him at a Black-Sea port (modern Eshet) near 40°55 N., 40°5 E., in Pontus [14]; the middle clearly at the principal river in Colchis, but the latter presents a mystery. “Sebast-” is a popular root for naming a city having Greek connections. There are 3 cities that seem to be the most consistent with the neighborhood listed in Acts [2:9--11]:

• The nearest “Sebastopolis” to Hyssus and the river Phasis, which is the Greek colony previously named Dioscurias. It's along the E. coast of the Black Sea, at the far N. coast of Colchis, N. of the river Hippis (on another map, near the mouth of an “Anmhemus” or “Anthemus” River, its spelling confounded by ambiguous cursive engraved lettering), near 42°50 N., 41°10 E. [19],
• “Sebastopolis” in Galatia, originally named Carana: the site of a bridge over the river Scylax, and a prosperous stop on the route from Tavium to Sebastia. It had the epithet Heracleopolis, for its chief pagan god. The only “Sebastopolis” found (as subject) in the on-line Catholic Encyclopedia, it had been renamed to that as a Roman provincial city by apostolic times.
• “Sebastopolis” in more distant Crimea.

[Note †: Synopsis of Dorotheus, quoted in Latin in the Catholic Encyclopedia, as translated by author of this Web page].

Map 14: “Asia Minor” (“asiaminor.jpg”). Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography. (This Web site typically uses the less ambiguous name “Anatolia”.)

Map 19: “Armenia, Colchis, Iberia, Albania, Etc.” (“armenia.jpg”). ibid. ]

Afer or Africa [ D R A F T ]

Latin “Āfric·a, -ae” (f.), possibly Latinized from the major indigenous tribe of Carthaginian lands: the Berbers whose name was pronounced “Afarika” (but spelled “Aourigha”).

Generally, for ancient & classical Romans, it referred to all of whatever was known about the modern continent, minus Ægyptus and Æthiopia.

In the narrower view of Roman officialdom, “Āf·er, -ri” was 1 Roman adjective used for the province that was formerly the homeland of the Carthaginians, whose capital was captured for Rome by Scipio (146 B.C.).

For Greeks, dating back to the Odyssey, everything on the southern continent west of Egypt was «Λιβύη, -̔η » (“Libúē ”, English “Libya”).

alphabet

A script (i.e.: writing system) whose basic form provides letters not only for the consonants, but also for all the vowels, in every word. Unlike in an abjad, the vowel letters in an alphabet are as fully formed as its consonant letters. Often the vowel letters were simply repurposed from letters of an influential alien script that represent sounds absent from the native language to which they're being adapted, as Greek tradition said was done by their legendary Kadmos, by starting with the «Φοινιχήια Γράμματα» (“Phœnician Letters”).

The most prominent examples of alphabets in the modern world:

• Greek, from whose first 2 letters: alpha & beta, this linguistic term was named.
• Latin, adapted most likely from the alphabet of the Etruscans whom the Latin-speaking Romans vanquished during their conquest of Italy, ultimately becoming the dominant script of Western European civilization and international technology.
• Cyrillic, devised by Sts. Cyril & Methodius--or perhaps close disciples--for missionary efforts among the Slavs of the Balkan Peninsula, later ironically imposed by the atheist Soviet Union on nonSlavic ethic minority groups, e.g., in Siberia.

All 3 scripts have been adopted as the bases for writing multiple languages, which in some cases have been dramatically different from the ones for which they were originally devised. Although the adaptation sometimes incurs intensive festooning with diacritical marks (e.g.: the Latin alphabet as extended by the colonial French to write Vietnamese).

See, e.g., various apparently authoritative pages on the Web:

• The linguistics-specialist Omniglot, which bills itself (not unreasonably) as “the on-line encyclopedia of writing systems & languages”, on alphabets: <http: //www.omniglot.com/writing/alphabets.htm>.

[John F. Healey (1990) 1998: “The early alphabet” (p. 196--257) in Reading the Past. © 1990 The Trustees of the British Museum. Barnes & Noble 1998 edn., ISBN 0-76070-726-X. ]

Anatolia (“Asia Minor”)

The land of the sunrise to Greeks, from their name “ανατολή” (“Anatolé ”), thus the big peninsula E. of the Ægean Sea, separating the Black Sea from the Mediterranean Sea. Anatolia is separated from the Balkan Peninsula of Europe, and the Black Sea is connected with the Mediterranean Sea, by the the combined natural waterway composed (W. to E.) of the Dardanelles, Propontis a.k.a. Sea of Marmara, and Bosphorus.

Anatolia is more popularly known in modern times as “Asia Minor”, but both names have disadvantages. Although the latter name has the advantage of seniority (A.D. 5^th C. vs. 10^th C.), it's deliberately avoided herein not only because it's longer and requires 2 words, but also because this Web page focuses (in part) on the Roman Empire of Apostolic times, so the longer name risks confusion with the Roman province & diocese named Asia, where the Apostles and their immediate disciples were very active.

The modern Republic of Turkey: the successor to the land remaining in the Ottoman Empire after its defeat in World War I, occupies all of Anatolia, additional adjoining land E. of Anatolia in the continent Asia, plus the S.E.-most tip of the Balkan Peninsula, where Istanbul is situated.

Antioch [ D R A F T ]

An especially popular name, known to have been given to 16 cities founded by “Hellenistic monarchs”, plus 12 other cities renamed from some existing name. Alexander the Great is reputed to have camped there shortly after his decisive defeat of a Persian army, commanded by Darius III himself, at the nearby River Issus in 333 B.C.

2 decades after the death of Alexander in 323, his empire had disintegrated into kingdoms over which 5 of his top commanders fought wars of conquest or consolidation. Antigonos was most ambitious, eager to reassemble & rule Alexander's empire. He had founded a settlement, named Antigonia, along the Kara Su [can't be same as Kara Su = Western (fork of) Euphrates?], a few miles N. of the eventual classical metropolis. But his ambition provoked an alliance among the other 4, and they defeated his army and killed him in battle at Issus, near the geographic center of Anatolia.

So it was that Seleucus would have the fame of establishing the future “Golden” city, on the site of an ancient Bronze-Age settlement, in the land of the Neohittite Hattena. By far the most important city of the (subject) name, it would become famous in Greek as «Αντιόχει&alpha ἡ Μεγάλη» (“Antiócheia hē Megálē”), and in Latin as “Antiochia ad Orontem”. One of the premier cities of classical times, it was situated on the E. side of the practically unnavigable Orontes River, 20 mi. from the E. coast of the Mediterranean, near that sea's N.E. corner, far back under the cartographic overhang of Anatolia.

Established as a Greek city by Seleucus Nicator in 300 B.C., it was laid out along the Orontes, N. of its citadel on Mt. Silpius, from whose heights flowed fresh water so abundantly that the name of one stream: “Onopniktes” («όνος, -ὁ & ἡ» + «πνικτός, -ή, όν»), can be translated politely but alliterively as “donkey-drowner”. It became the capital and court city of the western Seleucid empire under Antiochus I.

[Need info on where this fits into "campaigns by Pompey in Anatolia and Syria (67--64 B.C.)"]

Capital of Roman Syria. It was favored by early Roman emperors, despite their distaste for its resident Antiochenes, because for confronting the Mesopotamian powers, it was a much more practical capital than Alexandria (Egypt).

Tradition places the Apostle Simon Peter here for 7 years (ca. A.D. 36 to before ca. 42), before the visit to Jerusalem during which he escaped imprisonment ordered by Herod Agrippa (r. A.D. 41--44) [Acts 12:1--17]. The New Testament documents preaching and residence here by the Apostles Saul (i.e.: Paul) and Barnabas [Acts 11:22--23, 25--28](A.D. 36), including during the reign of Claudius (r. A.D. 41--54). It became the original center of Gentile Christianity:

[...] et docuerunt turbam multam, ita ut cognominarentur primum Antiochiæ discipuli, Christiani. [Actūs 11:26 Vulg.]

[...] and they taught a great multitude, so that at Antioch the disciples were first named Christians. [Acts 11:26 DRV]

Destination for Paul at the end (A.D. 53) of his 2^nd journey, with St.[?] Silas and perhaps also St. Timothy.[18:22]

Alas, the city was notoriously vulnerable to earthquakes. Especially devastating ones had occurred in 148 B.C. and A.D. 37, 115 (while Trajan was present with an army), 526, 528, and 588. The cruel combination of the quake of 528, and the sacking of the city by the Persian Chosroes in 538, ended the city's era of greatest glory.

[ "D.G.H." (David George Hogarth, M.A.) 1910: "Antioch" (except "Synods of"). Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2 p. 130--132 ("Asia Minor" line-map: same vol. tip-in, p. 760/761). ]

Antioch in Pisidia

Center of Roman civil & military administration in S. Galatia in Apostolic times. Approximately 100 miles W. of Iconium.

Visited by Apostle Paul on his 1^st journey (A.D. 45--48), with St. Barnabas.[Acts 13:14--51, 14:20--22]  Implied as visited again by Paul on his 2^nd journey (A.D. 50--52), with St.[?] Silas and perhaps also St. Timothy.[Acts 16:1--4]  Both journeys made, at least in part, during the reign of Claudius (r. A.D. 41--54).

[ (anon.) 1910: "Antioch in Pisidia". EB XI, vol. 2 p. 132 ("Asia Minor" line-map: same vol. tip-in p. 760/761). ]

Aquileia [ D R A F T ]

A Roman colonial town founded ca. 180 B.C., near the right bank of the Turrus Fl. (modern Torre? River), a few miles inland from the N. coast of the Sinus Tergestinus (modern Gulf of Trieste), at the head of the Hadriaticum Mare (modern Adriatic Sea). Situated where mountains nearly extend to that sea's lagoons [@], the strategically narrow land was chosen with the military goal of blocking expansion by the Illyrians. Within decades, it became well connected by Roman roads to the interior of Italy, making it an important commercial center while Rome was still a republic.

Local tradition credits St. Mark with founding its episcopal see, having been dispatched to there by St. Peter, before sending him to Alexandria. The New Testament provides no evidence for either ecclesiastical milestone, although Mark gets no mention in ca. 50--60. The first bishop of Aquileia suffered martyrdom (ca. 70), being venerated as St. Hermagoras, according to other traditions. By the time of the Council of Aquileia (381), its host, St. Valerian, was documented as a metropolitan.

Under the empire, Marcus Aurelius chose it (A.D. 168) for the major Roman military base for its eastern & northern frontiers. Thus it became a major military target: Local inhabitants fled into the region's lagoons to escape the approaching Huns of Attila, who thoroughly destroyed the city (452). The rebuilt city [#] was destroyed again by the Lombards (590). And destroyed by an earthquake in 1348.

[Note @: The ancient site is now farther inland, because the Adriatic has receded from its ancient coastline.

[Note #: Rebuilt by those local inhabitants who decided to return, even though the Huns left so little to return to that “it was afterwards hard to recognize its original site” [Shahan 1907]. So many refugees chose instead to seek permanent safety among the lagoons; the result is known in modern times as Venezia (Venice). ]

[Sources: Thomas Shahan 1907: "Aquileia" Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01661c.htm> (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010).

Joseph MacRory 1910: "St. Mark (Greek Markos, Latin Marcus)". Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 9. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09672c.htm> (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010). ]

Arabic

A Semitic language that was initially the language of inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula. The origin of the language is somewhat hazy, having characteristics that can't be explained simply as originating solely by evolution from a dialect of Aramaic.[#] 

The Arabic script (i.e.: writing system), like others for Semitic languages, is an abjad, not an alphabet. Text is written from right to left, the opposite of the modern languages of Western Civilization. It descended from the Aramaic script.[#]  The intriguingly named South Arabian script is substantially unrelated to the Arabic script.

Not only are all the letters of each Arabic word connected along a continuous line, but they also have different forms for different positions in each word. As a result, nearly every letter has 4 distinct forms:

• initial: at the beginning of a word;
• medial: in the middle of a word;
• final: at the end of a word; and
• isolated: standing alone (i.e.: as all text is written in other Semitic scripts, notably the square Hebrew script).

Arabic words transliterated or adopted into English have had multiple spellings in recent centuries, because written Arabic does not distinguish the front vowels that are written in English as ‘ i ’ and ‘ e ’, nor the back vowels that are written in English as ‘ u ’ and ‘ o ’. Thus the alternative spellings “Muslim” and “Moslem”, both considered correct.

See, e.g., various apparently authoritative pages on the Web:

• The linguistics-specialist Omniglot, which bills itself (not unreasonably) as “the on-line encyclopedia of writing systems & languages”, on Arabic: <http: //www.omniglot.com/writing/arabic.htm>.

[Note #: The webmaster is eager to find a reliable alternative to politically vulnerable Wikipedia as a source for technical details of the Arabic language and vocabulary (e.g.: words derived from the Semitic root “Š-L-M” ). Alas, he hasn't yet found one that's readily accessible on the spur of the moment. ]

[John F. Healey: “Alphabetic scripts in the Late Antique Middle East”, “Towards the Arabic alphabet”; § 4--5 (p. 236--242, 243--250). “The early alphabet” in Reading the Past. © 1990 The Trustees of the British Museum. Barnes & Noble 1998 edn., ISBN 0-76070-726-X. ]

Aramaic

A Semitic language that was initially the language of the Aramaeans, dating from sometime in the 2^nd millennium B.C.  It had been the lingua franca of the Middle East for 14 centuries: Aramaic became the native tongue for Israëlites during their Babylonian exile; it displaced Persian as the official language of the Persian Empire; in ancient Syria/Palestine, it not only replaced Phœnician eventually, but also Hebrew at about the time of the life of the Christ on Earth (during which it was most likely his mother tongue). Aramaic prevailed in the Middle East until the Islamic armies of the A.D. 7^th century extended their conquests beyond Arabia.

The Aramaic script (i.e.: writing system) was adopted from Phœnician. Text is written from right to left, the opposite of the modern languages of Western Civilization. The Aramaic script, like others for Semitic languages, is an abjad, not an alphabet.

The script is sometimes called Protohebrew, because the modern Hebrew script, known as square Hebrew, was adopted from a stylized late version of Aramaic.

See, e.g., various apparently authoritative pages on the Web:

• The linguistics-specialist Omniglot, which bills itself (not unreasonably) as “the on-line encyclopedia of writing systems & languages”, on Aramaic: <http: //www.omniglot.com/writing/aramaic.htm>.

[John F. Healey: “Script, language, and the alphabetic principle”, “Consolidation of the alphabet and export to the West”, “Alphabetic scripts in the Late Antique Middle East”, “Towards the Arabic alphabet”; § 1, 3--5 (p. 201--209, 221--235, 236--242, 243--250). “The early alphabet” in Reading the Past. © 1990 The Trustees of the British Museum. Barnes & Noble 1998 edn., ISBN 0-76070-726-X. ]

Armenia [ D R A F T ]

Native Armenian Hayk' ; mediæval Armenian Hayasdan (appending the Iranian suffix -stan, meaning “place”), honoring their legendary patriarch Hayk (ca. 2500 B.C.), whose descendant: the patriarch Aram, gained enough fame for his name to be adopted by foreigners to refer to his people.

An ancient country known to Herodotus, in the S.W. corner of the continent Asia, where the Tigris (Armenian “Teglath”) & Euphrates (Armenian “Aradsan”) rise, S. of Colchis, and E. of a grand “Syria” (Assyria?) that extends W. into Anatolia [25]. Mt. Ararat, reputedly the landing of Noah's Ark in the ebb of the Great Flood, is within the Armenian homeland. The borders of Armenia have varied dramatically as conquering dynasties have flooded and ebbed, e.g.: Arsacid then Sassanid Persians, Macedonians (d.b.a. Seleucids: 331 B.C.), vassalhood to Rome (Pompey: 66 B.C.), partition between Rome and Persia (A.D. 387), conquest by Muhammadan Arabs (653), Seljuk Turks (Alp Arslan: 1071), Mongols (1235), Timurids (i.e. “Tamerlane”), Ottoman Turks (Selim I: 1514), Muhammadan Persians (1639), and imperial Russians (Treaty of Turkmanchai: 1828).

Ethnically Aryan, speakers of an Indoëuropean language, the Armenians (Armenian “Hayq”) seem never to have had their homeland to themselves, with Kurds living among them since ancient times. Unlike Anatolia to the west, Armenia was never Hellenized; their culture was more-or-less Parthian/Persian, their language laced with Persian words, esp. related to government, hunting, the military, pagan religion, place-names, and trade. Their alphabet, invented ca. A.D. 400 by the Armenian monk Mesrop [*], and soon used in an Armenian-language version of the Bible completed in 410, albeit with its religious vocabulary adapted from Syrian. Armenians had converted to Christianity before the Roman emperor Constantine I; St. Gregory “the Illuminator”, who had been ordained and consecrated with the title catholicos by Bishop Leontius of Cæsarea (Cappadocia), baptized King Tiridates “some time after 261”, the latter decreeing Christianity the state religion. Their ‘Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin’ has stood, at for many centuries--since A.D. 303, according to their traditions. ;

Being triply out of place as Indoëuropean-speaking Aryan Christians in an empire ruled by Ottoman-Turkish-speaking Turkic-or-Semitic Mohammedans, and a subordinate minority in their own homeland by the 19^th century, the future for Armenians became the “Armenian Question” debated among the European powers. Britain, with nominal support from France and Russia, submitted a slate of reforms to Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II (r. 1876--1909) on 11 May 1895, reputedly intended to better the lot of Armenians in that waning empire.

(Text elided while the webmaster contemplates the extent to which the reported or claimed episodes of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Anatolia and the South Caucasus, during 1894--1897, and 1915--1917, collectively referred to as the ‘Armenian Genocide’, are sufficiently on topic to be presented or discussed on this Web site.)[†][‡]

This was unnoticed by most of the outside world, which was focused on the political tensions and localized wars in Europe, notably the Tripolitan War (1911--1912)(Italy against the Ottoman Empire) , the First Balkan War (1912--1913) and Second Balkan War (1913), and World War I (1914--1918).

After the end of World War I, “Ittihadists” who'd risen to leadership in the defeated Ottoman Empire fled, leaving rule in the hands of the sultan. In December 1918 in Paris, Boghos Nubar: president of the Armenian National Delegation, declared the independence of a United Armenia, stretching from the Kura & Araks (classical Greek «Αράξης» “Aráxēs”) delta on the Caspian Sea, westward to the Black Sea south of Batum; then westward along the N. coast of Anatolia through the cape of Sinop (classical Greek «Σινώπη» “Sinṓpē ” (reputedly then nautically the “safest” port “between Bosphorus and Batum”), then across Anatolia following a loosely concave arc south of Konya until a few dozen miles inland from the Gulf of Antalya and the Mediterranean Sea, then to the S. coast of Anatolia just west of Antalya; then E. along that coast just past the Gulf of Alexandretta, then ashore & E. near Antioch, crossing S.W. Asia S. of Diyarbakr and Van, but barely N. of Tabriz (Persia a.k.a. Iran), and returning to the Caspian Sea coast at approximately that latitude. One certainly couldn't describe that as a meek opening offer.

Victorious European allies occupied Istanbul (1918--1923) and other Ottoman territory, either to maintain order, or because they coveted them, e.g.: Greece landing on the once-Greek west coast of Anatolia. This provoked localized opposition, and stimulated less-ideological Turkish nationalists to organize, far from Istanbul and occupation forces. Armenians were denied an independent Western Armenia: an eastern section of Anatolia, from the Black Sea coast anchored by Trabzon, across the E. end of the Pontic Mountains, S.E. past Erzurum to a loosely semicircular buffer zone around Lake Van, as promised by the Treaty of Sèvres (France) (1920), but later rejected. It enjoyed a brief independence, which ended when it was conquered by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, absorbed as the ‘Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic’ (1921). Its territory recovered its independence in 1991, as the Republic of Armenia, with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now in the south Caucasus, it's surrounded (0--360°) by Georgia (N.), Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (E.), Iran and Nakhchivan (S.), and across the Araks River (classical Greek «Αράξης» “Aráxēs”), its genocidal neighbor Turkey (W.).

[ISO-3166 α-2 country-code: ‘AM’; ISO-3166 α-3 country-code: ‘ARM’.

Map 25: “Orbis Herodoti” (“orbisherodoti.jpg”). Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography.

Note *: A.A. Vaschalde (1911): “Mesrob (also called Mashtots)”. Catholic Encyclopedia.
< http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10211a.htm>.
For the Armenian alphabet itself, see either AncientScripts or Omniglot: < http://www.ancientScripts.com/armenian.html> or < http://www.omniglot.com/writing/armenian.htm>, respectively.

Note †: "C.W.W." 1910: “Armenia [:] History”. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 2 p. 564--568.

Note ‡: The reported genocide of Armenians by the Islamic government of the Ottoman Empire, a.k.a. the Turkish Empire, late in the 19^th C., and early in the 20^th C., is documented, e.g.:

• Benson 1917/1918: Crescent and Iron Cross. Project Gutenberg num. 10881.
  < http://www.Gutenberg.org/files/10881/>.
• Armenian National Institute (ANI), which provides substantial & focused detail on its Web site. Alas, it has 2 significant drawbacks: Not only is it plainly not a disinterested source, but it also exhibits the audacity to assert control over which Web sites may link to its pages at all, and how it will allow each Web site to do so (conditions which this nonprofit Web site rejects). ANI is obviously confused about the concept of the World Wide Web (including confusion about the customary sentence-structure that describes Web relationships via the English verb “to link”). <http://www.armenian-genocide.org/>. ]

as

Latin “as, ass·is” (m.). In the Roman system of weights & measures, the word was a term for the ‘whole’: It was not only the name for their pound, but also for their acre. As the basis for ancient Roman money, it was originally in the form of 1 pound of copper.

In that system, units were divided into twelfths, known as the “unci·a, -ae” (f.). In Latin, every proper fraction with 12 as its denominator had a distinctive short name; all, except for “uncia”, being 2 or fewer syllables (unless lengthened by their 3^rd declension endings).

How much copper is needed to equal the 1-pound weight of the ancient Roman “as”? Treating the U.S. penny as primarily copper, 10 pennies would be required for an ounce, so 160 pennies would be required for a pound (avoirdupois). That would hold true at least for the 95%-copper pennies minted early in the 20^th century (48 grains of metal per 1-¢ coin, and 480 grains to the oz.). Although U.S. coins from the penny all the way up in value to the silver dollar were token money even then, the once-silver lesser denominations were physically devalued by substitution of base metals beginning in the 1960s (i.e.: the Johnson Administration). For a pound (avoirdupois) in the mystery-metal of modern U.S. token money, try 82 ± 1 U.S. quarter-dollars (as weighed of lesser amount, then extrapolated), approximately a pair of standard $10-rolls of quarters.  (Unless coins are weighed in terms of troy weight, regardless of the nobility of the metal. Its ounce is the same: 24 gr./1 pw.; 20 pw./1 oz., thus 480 gr./oz.; but its pound is 25% lighter: only 12 oz./1 lb. troy.)

[Note _: ]

Asia

In Apostolic times, the Roman province [#] in central-west Anatolia shaped verrry approximately like an inverted triangle, including the W. coast of Anatolia from the middle of the S. coast of the Sea of Marmara (bordering Bithynia) [†], westward through the Dardanelles into the Ægæan Sea, then southward beyond the island Rhodes, then inland (bordering various Roman provinces over centuries of Roman reörganization, e.g.: Cilicia, Lycaonia, Lycia, Pamphylia, and Galatia), northeastward toward Ancȳra (modern Ankara), albeit dodging it in an arc remaining dozens of miles distant (arguably making the shape of the province more like a trapezoid), then due westward, back to the middle of the S. coast of Sea of Marmara. Its Roman capital was Ephesus; other prominent cities were Pergamum and Smyrna (modern Izmir).

Centuries later, Asia was elevated by the Romans from an imperial province to an imperial diocese[#] (probably in the reörganization of the empire by Emperor Diocletian).

Centuries earlier, more-or-less the same territory as the Roman province was occupied by the famously wealthy kingdom Lydia. It was absorbed by the Persian conquest under Cyrus (546 B.C.).

Cf. Pontus.

[Note #: There wouldn't be any ambiguity for Asia the province vs. Asia the continent in modern times, if only the Romans had followed a model much like the one they used for Africa (q.v.). So now we might have, e.g., an unambiguous “Asac·a, -ae” or “Asic·a, -ae” uniquely identifying the largest of the continents.

Note &dagger: Perhaps at the mouth of the Macestus River? It was the W'most border of Bithynia in the earlier times when the place of the province Asia was (instead) occupied, along the coast of the Ægæan, by Mysia, Lydia Mæonia, and Caria (N. to S.), and inland by Phrygia [Map 14: “Asia Minor” (“asiaminor.jpg”). Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography]. ]

Attalia

Latinized from classical Greek «Αττάλεια» (“Attáleia”). Ancient city in Pamphylia, on the W. side of the S. coast of Anatolia, at the head of the Gulf of Antalya in the Mediterranean Sea. Customarily considered to have been founded by Attalos II of Pergamon, as a base for his navy.

Visited by Apostle Paul on his 1^st journey (A.D. 45--48), with St. Barnabas.[Acts 14:24]  Now one of the world's most internationally visited tourism destinations.

Asia Minor" line-map: EB XI, vol. 2 tip-in p. 760/761.

■ b

brachygraphy

Manuscript or printed characters used as abbreviations akin to shorthand.

For the scholar or enthusiast, it's not merely a simple matter of learning to recognize additional characters. Some brachygraphic characters have different meanings, depending on their context; e.g.: the ‘Q WITH DIAGONAL STROKE’ has 3 different Latin meanings, 2 of which are relative pronouns, so it cannot simply be replaced with an ordinary ‘Q/’. Conversely, there are different characters that can produce or complete the same Latin syllable; e.g.: each of the ‘LETTER RUM ROTUNDA’, ‘SMALL CAPITAL RUM’, and ‘SMALL LETTER UM’ can produce or complete the Latin syllable “-rum”. These characters are not confined to manuscripts; they were cast into movable type and used on printing presses from their earliest days (ca. 1450) into the 17th century, including in printed Bibles. A transcriber must exercise restraint by not imposing her|his own interpretation, thus not substituting standard characters, even though doing so might make them easier for nonexpert readers to understand.

To provide the greatest opportunity for analysis of mediæval documents by computer software, each distinct character in a document, no matter how rare, must have a unique digital code.

Brachygraphic characters are problematic for current digital-computer character recognition technology:

• They violate the fundamental principle that text is 2-dimensional, e.g.: in Old Norse, small letters may appear centered above the letter on the base-line. In past centuries, e.g., the special vowel modification now indicated in German by an umlaut was previously indicated by printing a small ‘e’ centered directly over the vowel. In Old Norse, nearly 40 different letters can appear centered above. Latin uses some of those letters, plus some mediæval diacritical marks.
• Some of them verrry closely resemble the Indoärabic numerals, e.g.: ‘3’ and ‘9’.
• Some of (mediæval) abbreviations, resemble Carolingian letters, e.g.: the solitary high-crossed single-stroke letter ell for Latin “vel” could easily be misrecognized as a Carolingian ‘t’.

Cf. “mediævalist”.

■ c

calendar

There are 2 different calendars expected to be of principal interest to visitors to this Web page. In chronological order of their adoption:

• Julian calendar: mandated by C. Julius Cæsar as dictator of Rome, to begin use in 45 B.C.
• Gregorian calendar: approved by Pope Gregory XIII (s. 1572--1585).

And on other Web pages at this site:

• Roman Catholic liturgical calendar.

See also “Easter”: the primary reason for a pope to take a leadership role in what might otherwise be secular concerns of agriculture and maritime trade.

cardinal number

Any integer (i.e.: whole number) that is nonnegative, thus either positive or zero (0). The set of cardinal numbers is equivalent to the union of zero with the set of natural numbers . The cardinal number having the least value is 0, thus cardinal numbers are sometimes called “counting numbers”. In computing, the subject term is sometimes used as a more brief & abstract term for an unsigned integer (typically finite, because of implementations that typically conform to the limits of the underlying computer hardware).

In Latin grammar, they are the numbers that begin with the declinable sequence “ūn·us | -a | -um” (I), “du·o | -ae | -o” (II), “tr·ēs | -ēs | -ia” (III), continue with the indeclinable sequence “quattuor (IIII vel IV), quīnque (V), ...”, then resume being declinable at 200: “ducent·ī | -ae | -a (CC)”, excepting 1000 itself: “mīlle (M)”.  Although adequate for expressing the 4-digit years in modern A.D. dates, as a matter of convention--if not Latin grammar--years are expressed instead as ordinal numbers (e.g.: formal documents in Latin issued by the pope).[#]

[Note #: A table of numeric adjectives & adverbs, with notes (such as the note that allowed a correction above), is provided as “A Brief Guide to Latin Numerals” by the Later Latin Society of Hobart, Tasmania (Australia[!]). ]

Carolingian

Identified with or descriptive of, the Carolingian Empire of the mediaeval Franks. Typically as an adjective herein, it refers to the letter forms used in the manuscripts produced in that period--more or less.

These letter forms are familiar in modern times as ‘lower-case Latin’ or ‘lower-case Roman’ letters. Cf. Insular.

cathedra

Merely transliterated to English from the Greek «καθέδρα» (“kathédra”), meaning “seat” or “chair”. The equivalent English word from Latin is the parse-confounding noun “see”. The Greek cognate verb «καθέζω» (“kathézo”) means, i.a., “to establish”.

cave (!)

Poetic imperative of Latin “cav·eō, -ēre, cāvi, cautum”, meaning “to be on guard”, so this imperative is perhaps best translated as “Beware !” Classical pronunciation is not the same as the identically spelled English word for a void in underground rock accessible via a hole in the ground; instead, it's “ca-we^h” (‘a’ as in “cat”, not as in “law”).

The form more commonly seen in English: “caveat”, is actually a verb form: the 3^rd-person singular present subjunctive, having a specialized meaning. As the jussive subjunctive, it expresses an order or an exhortation, so “caveat” means “let her|him take heed”. Terse Latin clauses using the word, customary in the English legal system (e.g.: “caveat emptor” and “caveat viator”), have made the verb form into a de facto noun in English, more-or-less meaning a “warning”.

Celts

The people called “Κελτοί”, later “Κέλται” (“Keltoí ”, later “Kéltai ”) by Greek writers. They were the same people more commonly called “Gall·i, -ōrum” (m. pl.) by Roman writers, although the latter did sometimes call them “Celt·ae, -ārum” (f.[!?] pl.) instead [*].

[Note *: 2 reminders may be worthwhile about Latin during the classical period of Mediterranean civilization:
[ D R A F T ]

• ‘C’ had 2 distinct pronunciations, both of which also occur in modern English:
  • ‘K’, and
  • ‘G’ (always the hard G of English).
• ‘K’, derived from the Greek ‘κ’ (kappa), was neglected--practically abandoned-- by Latin except for 2 words, 1 of which was the name of a foreign city. ‘C’, which was pronounced the same as ‘K’, i.e.: always pronounced as the hard C of English (e.g.: “cat” pronounced identically to the naïvely misspelled “kat”). Never mind the popular pronunciation of the famous Boston team in the NBA.]

census

Latin “cens·us, -ūs” (m.). Not what you expected to see? The word is actually in the 4^th declension-- not the 2^nd declension much more common for words whose nominative singular ends in “-us” (short final vowel). Thus, its genitive singular is identical to its nominative and accusative plurals; each is “censūs” (long final vowel). In particular, it is never “censi”, in any number or case, contrary to naïve assumptions by native speakers of English that any Latin singular ending “-us” must have a plural ending “-i”.

The Roman census not only counted its inhabitants, but also assessed the value of significant property owned by its inhabitants.

Cisalpine Gaul

Latin “cis”, prep. meaning “the near side of ” (poëtic English adj. “hither”) + “Alpīn·us | -a | -um” (from pl. “Alp·ēs, -ium”), adj. meaning “Alpine”. Thus, the lands on the near side of the Alps (relative to someone situated in Rome), immediately N. of Italia, from which it's separated on the E. side of the peninsula by the hydrologically minor--but famous--river known as “Rubico, -onis” (m.). The main feature of the region is the wide horseshoe-shaped Po Valley, formed on the N. side by the Alps, and the on the S. side by the Apennines arcing W. to reach the coast of the Ligurian Sea, with the namesake Po River between them, flowing E. into the N. end of the Adriatic Sea.

This was the southernmost land of the Gauls in Italia before imperial Roman times. Gauls under Brennus sacked Rome in 390 B.C., occupying all but the Capitol. They departed after 7 months for reasons lost to history, although bribery is not out of the question. Rome would fight 4 wars against Gauls arriving in central Italy from Cisalpine Gaul, in 367--345 B.C.  Fully 8 centuries would pass before Rome would be sacked again by any enemy (A.D. 410).

The subject's geographical opposite, on the far side of the Alps, was Transalpine Gaul.

Ciscaucasia

Lands extending northward from the north slope of the Caucasus Mountains. That mountain range stretches from near the E. shore of the Black Sea, running along a rather straight line from N.W. to S.E. (much like the diagonal stroke on the Latin letter ‘ N ’), toward modern Baku on the W. shore of the Caspian Sea. 

From Latin “cis”, prep. meaning “the near side of ” (poëtic English adj. “hither”) + Latinization of Greek «Καύκασος», meaning the Caucasus Mountains.

But the perspective implied by the crucial Latin prefix “cis”, is at odds with the history of the Roman Empire, which had no forts, settlements, provinces, nor tributary states on this N. side of the Caucasus Mountains.

More appropriate linguistically, would be the Russian «Пред(ъ)кавказ» (“Pred'kavkaz”), which would mean “Fore-Caucasia” or “Front-of-Caucasia” (a Russian term is preferred, because the geographic perspective is relative to someone situated in the capital of Russia, whether “Moskvá ” or “Sankt-Peterbúrg”). Although it follows the preposition-derived model of “Za + kavkaz”, languages as spoken by real people aren't so tidy. The conventional Russian term is actually «Северный Кавказ» ( “Severnıĭ  Kavkaz” [#]), meaning “North(ern) Caucasia”.

The subject's geographical opposite, on the far side of the Caucasus, is Transcaucasia.

[Note #: “Severnıĭ Kavkaz”: Transliteration herein of the first word ends with 2 nonASCII vowels whose appearance in some fonts may be confusing:

• ‘ ı ’ (‘dotless-i ’, a.k.a. ‘ i-without-dot’) transliterates Cyrillic « ы » (a single letter despite comprising 2 parts, which look like the Latin lower-case letter ‘ b ’ tightly followed by the Latin upper-case letter ‘ I ’).
• ‘ ĭ ’ (‘ i-with-breve’, commonly used in English dictionaries to signify ‘short-i ’) transliterates Cyrillic « й ».
• ‘ i ’ (the ordinary lower-case ASCII character) is used only to transliterate Cyrillic « и », named “izhe” (descended from the name for Old Slavonic « І »); this choice was made to reduce ambiguity in transliteration on this Web site.
• ‘ ï ’ (‘ i-umlaut’) transliterates Cyrillic « ї », named “ ii ” or “yi ”.

In the list of transliteration letters above, only the first 2 (shown in bold-face) are used in the definition of “Ciscaucasia”. ]

Classical Latin

[TEST: styled 'tr']

IMPCAESARIDIVINERVAFILO NERVAETRAIANOOPTIMOAVG GERMANICODACICONTIRIB POTESTXVIII IMP VII COSVIP FORTISSIMORPRINCIPISN SPQR

Inscription on the Arch of Trajan (A.D. 114) at Benevento [errors per engraving, uncorrected, in “Trajan”. World Book, 1924].

“[T]he formal, dignified, periodic Latin used by the literary aristocracy”[*] during the ‘classical’ period of Rome, ca. 200 B.C.--A.D. 100. This was a period of vigorous expansion for Rome:

• Roman consular republic's (509--27 B.C.) defeat of Hannibal of Carthage, by Scipio the Elder at Zam·a, -ae” (f.) (Greek “Záma, in Numidia: 202 B.C.), the final military action in the Second Punic War.
• Destruction of Carthage (146 B.C.).
• Defeat of Cn. Pompēius “the Great” (106--48 B.C.), by his rival C.I. Cæsar at the battle of Pharsāl·us, -i” (f.) (Greek “Phársalŏs, in Thessaly or Roman Macedonia: 48 B.C.), thus becoming de facto monarch of Rome. calendar revision by Cæsar (45 B.C.), then his assassination in the Senate (44 B.C.).
• Consent of the Senate to a de facto monarchy according to proposals ostensibly to “restore[] the republic”, by Cæsar Octavianus”, the postädoption C. Cæsar Octavianus (r. 27 B.C.--A.D. 14). Declaration by the Senate of Octavianus as “Augustus” (not a name but a title; see “name”). He would call himself “princ·eps, -ip·is”, meaning “first citizen”, instead of “imperāt·or, -ōr·is” (m.), previously meaning a “military commander-in-chief ”, but during the imperial era, taken to mean “emperor”. 'Twas he who issued the biblically famous “decree from Caesar Augustus [...] while Cyrinus was governor of Syria”, mandating a census of the empire [Luke 2:1--3].
• Burning of Rome (A.D. 64 ), presided over by Emperor Nero (r. A.D. 54--68). It was his idea of how to undertake an urban renewal project, but he blamed the Christian minority, thus beginning a period of religious persecution notorious even in modern times.
• Ascent to the imperial throne by Trajan (r. A.D. 98--117), under whom the empire achieved its maximum borders.

[TEST: styled 'div']

IMP.CAESARI.DIVI.NERVAE.FILIO NERVAE.TRAIANO.OPTIMO.AVG. GERMANICO.DACICO.PONT.MAX. ITRIB. POTEST.XVIII.IMP.VII.COS.VI. P.P. FORTISSIMOR.PRINCIPI. SENATVS.P.Q.R

Inscription on the Arch of Trajan (A.D. 114) at Benevento [corr. per photo by Joan Jahnige, Kentucky Educational Television: www.dl.ket.org].

Original ‘classical’ texts challenge readers not only with the antiquity of the language: 2 millennia (more or less), but also with the typical absence of punctuation, the scarcity of spaces between words, and the free use of abbreviations. E.g.: The inscription on 1 of the monumental arches named the Arch of Trajan [#](right) contains 10 abbreviations, but its sculptor kindly included dots to separate each word. Even ca. A.D. 400, well after the ‘classical’ period, it still hadn't occurred to all literate Romans that it might really improve readability to put more separating marks in an inscription than tiny dots between entire phrases, providing no separation at all between the words within the phrases.

[Note *: Unattributed, but almost certainly the words of A.G.C. Maitland, who is solely credited with the 3rd edition being ‘completely revised’, because it appeared in an introductory essay for a new section that the addendum to the ‘Preface’ for the 3rd edition states is ‘additional material’, i.e.: new in that edition. Latin Fundamentals, p. 331).

Note #: Omitting the comma in the phrase “1 of ... arches named ...” is intended to indicate that the arch in Benevento under discussion is not uniquely named; i.e.: it's not the only imperial Roman monumental arch in the world that's called the “Arch of Trajan”. A few other places once ruled from Rome have their own “Arch of Trajan” (e.g.: Ancona (Adriatic coast of Italy) in A.D. 112; Alcantara (Spain) in 108). ]

Colchis

Latin “Colch·is, -id·is” (f.), Greek “Κολχίς”. An ancient country on the E. coast of the Black Sea, bordered on the N. by the Caucasus Mountains (Sarmatia being on the far slope), on the (N.)E. by ancient Iberia, on the (S.)E. by Armenia and the Montes Moschici, and on the S. by the Roman province Pontus.[19] 

Famed in Greek literature as the destination of the Argonauts, Ionian Greek colonies had been established there in ancient times from Miletus (Ægæan coast of Anatolia). The principal coastal city: Dioscurias, was one of those colonies; renamed Sebastopolis by the Romans, it's near 42°50 N., 41°10 E. at the far N. coast of Colchis, near the mouth of an “Anmhemus” or “Anthemus” River [ambiguous cursive engraved lettering]. The principal river, however, is the Phasis (“Phās·is, -id·is|-id·os” (m.), Greek “Φα̃σις”), its mouth near 42°10 N., 41½°W.  The geographical association was so close in classical times that Latin adjectives derived from the name of the river are synonymous with (English) “Colchian”. It began to be Romanized after the victory of Pompey over Mithridates.

[Map 14: “Asia Minor” (“asiaminor.jpg”). Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography. [This Web site typically uses the less ambiguous name “Anatolia”.]

Map 19: “Armenia, Colchis, Iberia, Albania, Etc.” (“armenia.jpg”). ibid. ]

Colossæ

Greek “Κολοσσαί”. A city or town in ancient Phrygia, in Anatolia, near 38°N. 29°E. in the valley of the Lycus River (Turk.: Churuk Su): a tributary of the Maeander, which drains to the Ægean Sea.

In Apostolic times, it was in the Roman province Asia. Home to the Colossians of Epistular fame (“ad Colossenses”), Colossae was part of a larger Christian community of Jews and Gentiles, “those who are at Laodicea and at Hierapolis” [Col. 4:13].

Constantine I

Roman Emperor who  adopted Christianity as the religion of  decreed toleration of Christianity within the Roman Empire. It was a protracted process, beginning with his victory over his imperial rival Maxentius (28 Oct. 312), rewarding his obedience to the vision or apparition of the Christian sign in the sky. In the following year (313), in the Edict of Milan he mandated toleration for Christianity. He “laid the foundation-stone” of Constantinople as his [new] capital (326), and “ceremonies of inauguration were performed by Christian ecclesiastics on 11 May 330, when the city was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin.”  However, he delayed his own baptism until shortly before his death (22 May 337).

Crusades

On 26 November 1095, Pope Urban II delivered a speech near Clermont (S.E. France) that stimulated the First Crusade.[†]  Although there were geopolitical and religious reasons that were plenty compelling, 9 centuries ago, to justify a war in the JudæoChristian Holy Land against the Muslim Seljuk Turks, it's also been suggested that Urban II was eager to find a task for Norman warriors that would be more productive for European civilization than their attacks on settled Christian populations.

[Note †: "E.Br." 1910: "Crusades". Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 7 p. 525--526 in 524--552. Or not really on “26” November, according to Louis Bréhier 1908: "Crusades". Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 4. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04543c.htm> (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010). ]

■ d

D.

The letter is used on this Web-site with 2 meanings:

• When immediately following the name of a person who has been canonized or beatified by the Church: the ecclesiastical honorific Doctor (q.v.).
• When in the context of days of the week: Abbreviation for Latin “Dies Domini” or “(Dies) Dominica” (postclassical adj. Dominic·us | -a | -um” meaning “Lordly”, and agreeing with the 5^th-declension poëtic-feminine noun “Di·ēs, -ēi”, even when omitted). Both phrases are customarily translated (the former, nearly literally, the latter loosely) as “Day of Our Lord”, i.e.: modern-English Sunday. This is the day for “the breaking of the bread”: “the 1^st day of the week”, as identified during St. Paul's 3^rd journey [Acts 20:7].
  
  The letter ‘D’ is useful by itself to distinguish Sunday from Saturday whenever the days of the week are most practically abbreviated by single letters. Sunday is never abbreviated herein as ‘S’, because another day has a more compelling claim on it: The day known to Christians as the Jewish Sabbath: the modern-English Saturday, which begins with ‘S’ not only in Latin, but also with its classical equivalent in Greek. Cf. ‘S’ and ‘Þ’ usage herein to complete the minimal unambiguous abbreviation of the days of the week.

denarius

Classical Latin “dēnāri·us, -i” (gen. pl. “-ium |-orum”) (m., sometimes n.): A specialized use of a substantive derived from “dēn·ī | -æ | -a”: the distributive-number adjective for 10, thus meaning “containing 10”, or “10 at a time”. As ancient Roman money, it was a silver coin originally valued as equal to 10 assēs, thus to 10 pounds total of copper. So contrary to commonly heard or read explanations, it's plainly not “about the same value as a penny”.[#]

[Note #: See the entry for as (above) for a comparison by metal & weight to 20^th-century U.S. coinage. ]

dicastery  [DRAFT]

From Greek «δικστήριον, , -ια», in Athens meaning the courts of justice.

diocese

Latinization, as “dioecēsis, -eos | -is” (f.), of Greek “δι·οίκησις, -̔η”, meaning not only “province” (loosely; cf. province) and “management”, but also “house-keeping”. Its root is the Greek “οικος”, meaning “house”, “dwelling”, or “camp”.

The middle of 3 hierarchical levels of territorial organization under late-postclassical Roman imperial rule, as reörganized by Emperor Diocletian (r. A.D. 284--305), while he and the empire were still persecuting Christianity. Each was ruled by a ‘vicar’ (“vicari·us, -i” (m.). Each diocese was roughly the size of a modern European country, and contained its share of the more than 100 provinces. Being in the middle of 3 levels, each diocese was part of 1 of the 4 prefectures[#]. For the ecclesiastical term that was derived from this Roman imperial concept, see “diocese”.

[Note #: Rand McNally Atlas of World History 1957 ]

diphthong

From the Greek «δι» + «φθογγή» (“di- + phthongé ”): literally “2 sounds” or “double sound”, i.e.: “double vowel”, pronounced as blended into a single sound (in the sense that both vowels are in the same syllable). Latin has 6 diphthongs:

• ‘ae’ = ‘æ’ (q.v.).
• ‘au’, classically pronounced as English ‘ou ’ in “house” (or “out!”).
• ‘ei’, classically pronounced as English ‘ei ’ in “eight”.
• ‘eu’, classically pronounced as English (short) ‘e’ + ‘oo’, rapidly, without pausing.
• ‘oe’ = ‘œ’ (q.v.).
• ‘ui’, classically pronounced as English ‘ui ’ in “quit”.
  Beware that this letter combination signifies a diphthong only in “cui ” and “huic”; after ‘q’ or ‘s’, the conventional rendering as ‘u ’ is misleading; it actually represents the semivowel more appropriately rendered as ‘v’, thus classically pronounced as English ‘w’.

Latin has no diphthongs that begin with ‘I’; cf. ‘J’. Nor does Greek have any diphthongs beginning with «ι».[#]

[Note #: Peter Giles ("P.Gi.") 1910: "Greek language". Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 12, p. 496--501. ]

distributive number

Numeric adjectives that can be considered a third type of number in Latin, in addition to the better documented cardinal numbers (so-called) and ordinal numbers. The subject numbers might sensibly be called “grouping numbers”, being translatable as “(number) at a time” or “(number) each”, or “set of (number)”, or some other meanings that are less straightforward (and will not be presented herein). These numeric adjectives are declined only with plural forms, including the first of the adjectives, which has the arguably singular meaning “1 each”.

Applying the meaning “set of (number)”, distributive numbers are arguably the most appropriate for deriving Latinate names for number-base systems. The most widely known example is binary, from “bīn·ī | -ae | -a”, meaning “set of 2 (values)”, numerically represented as 0 and 1 (or logically as ‘false’ and ‘true’). The English word derived from the ordinal: “secondary”, has the ordinal meaning “(number) 2 in importance” (the hypothetical word in corresponding form derived from the cardinal would be “duary”, but English instead has “dual ”). A lesser known example is ternary, from “tern·ī | -ae | -a”, meaning “set of 3 (values)”, logically represented as ‘false’, ‘true’, and either ‘undetermined’ or ‘null’.[**]

[Note **: A table of numeric adjectives & adverbs, with notes, is provided as “A Brief Guide to Latin Numerals” by the Later Latin Society of Hobart, Tasmania (Australia[!]): <http: //www.informalmusic.com/latinsoc/latnum.html>.  Cave !  An apparent needless redundancy and its departure from a paradigm (a.k.a. model) may indicate 1 error on that page: “sêdenî dênî ” (distributive) in the row for “XVI”, compared to “sêdecim” (cardinal) and “sêdeciêns” (adverb), also in the suspect row. And in the row for “VI”, “sênî ” (distributive, cf. “sēni ” per Cassell's), compared to “sextus” (ordinal) and “sexiêns” (adverb). So it looks as if the correct entry would be either “sêdênî ” (“sêdenî   dênî ”) or “sênî dênî ” (“sêdenî dênî ”). Absent access to its 19^th-century source[*], it'll remain unclear whether it's a typographic/typesetting error by its printer or publisher, or a cut-&-paste file-editing error by its modern pseudonymed transcriber. Alas! It's exactly the entry needed to discuss a name more appropriately derived from distributive numbers, for the base-16 notation popularly known as hexadecimal.

Note *: J.P. Postgate (ed.) (1890) 1891: The New Latin Primer. Cassell & Co.: London. ]

Dominical Letter

Letter or pair of letters that indicates the dates on which Sunday falls in a specific year. From postclassical Latin “(Dies) Dominica”, literally an adjective phrase meaning the “Lordly Day”, although much more commonly translated loosely as if the latter word were a possessive noun, as the “Day of Our Lord” or “The Lord's Day”, i.e.: modern-English Sunday.

For centuries, this datum was crucial to the Church, because the schedule for the liturgical year is dependent upon Easter. The early Church decided that Easter would be celebrated on a Sunday of the year that--loosely speaking [*]-- not only followed the Vernal Equinox, but also followed a full moon.

To determine the date of Easter in advance, the Church needed to combine astronomical calculations with days of the week. For many centuries, the only imaging instruments for astronomy were the paired flesh-&-blood optics in the human skull; there were very few people capable of performing the necessary observations and calculations-- especially if crippled by Roman numerals-- and their computing techology was the abacus. Astronomical data was customarily presented as tables of text, reproduc(e)able only as manuscripts, precluding significant economies of scale. So the experts neglected potential improvements in accuracy in favor of the practicality of tables simplified enough for nonastronomers to understand.

The Dominical Letter is also needed to determine the dates of the 1^st Sunday of Advent, the Feast of the Rosary (the first Sunday in October per Pope Pius V), and the Feast of the Kingship of the Christ (traditonally the last Sunday in October, per Pope Pius XI).

Because the early Church adopted the 7-day week, only 7 letters are required: ‘A’ through ‘G’. By assigning ‘A’ to 1 January, ‘B’ to 2 January, through ‘G’ to 7 January, the single letter of the date that's a Sunday encodes all the information needed about days of the week in a common year. A leap year, being an exception in other ways, customarily uses 2 letters. Because both the common year, with 365 days, and the leap year, with 366 days, have days remaining when divided by the 7 days/week (1 and 2 days, respectively), there's no pair of any 2 years in a row that can start with the same day of the week. Nonetheless, the day each does start with is easily predicted. The 7 letters can be visualized in a circle in which ‘A’ is next to ‘G’; as the years advance, the letters retreat by 1 step for a common year, and by 2 steps for a leap year (1 for the 1^st Sunday in the year, through the leap day, and 1 more for the Sundays folowing the leap day, through the end of the year).

The potentially most confusing case occurred in just the last few years: The Dominical Letter ‘B’, for all of the common year 2011, retreated twice for the leap year 2012: once to ‘A’, for Sundays in January and February 2012, and again to ‘G’ for March through December 2012. The letter retreats only once each, to ‘F’, ‘E’, and ‘D’, for all of the common years 2013, 2014, and 2015, respectively.

[Note *: See “Easter” for a more precise specification of its date. ]

Douay  [DRAFT]

The city in Flanders where the English College was founded in 1568 by the recently ordained English expatriate William Allen. The College was part of the new university founded there on behalf of Pope Paul IV (s. 1555--1559) to combat Protestantism, under the royal patronage of King Felipe II (r. 1556--1598) of Spain, Netherlands, Franche-Comté, Milan, and Naples, operating in the presumed safety of one of his dynastic lands (i.e.: Flanders being part of the Netherlands). The College had taken on the specific task of sustaining the Catholic faith in England from across the Channel, during the persecution of the Protestant reign of Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558--1603). Allen believed that Catholicism would return to England, and he was determined to be prepared for such a future: The College trained committed Catholic English-speaking laymen for the priesthood. It also prepared & printed literature in English debating & refuting Protestant propaganda, and arranged for its smuggling into England.

The English College was exiled in 1578 for political reasons [†], so it was evacuated for a number of years to Reims . Most notably, the Catholic scholars of the English College produced the 1^st-ever Roman Catholic Bible in English, fully traditional, cited nowadays as the DRV (q.v.). In (or after) 1593, the college began its return to Douay [#], where its Old Testament was published, in 2 volumes, in 1609 and 1610.

[Note †: What “political reasons”, exactly? The evacuation occurred during the years of turmoil in which the 17 provinces of Flanders a.k.a. the Netherlands: a dynastic territory of the Spanish crown, aligned into 2 groups of provinces, for a formal religious, cultural, and geographic split into predominately Catholic Walloon (i.e.: French-speaking) southern provinces, versus predominately Protestant Flemish (i.e.: Dutch-speaking) northern provinces. The period was marked by numerous agreements, mostly interprovincial:

• “Pacification of Ghent” (8 November 1576);
• “Union of Brussels” (January 1577);
• “Perpetual Edict”: the royally acceptable derivative of the above 2 agreements, signed by Don Juan of Austria (12 February 1577) as governor-general for the Netherlands, then ratified by his brother: King Philip II;
• “League of Arras” (5 January 1579) among the Catholic provinces, notably including Douay; and
• “Union of Utrecht” (29 January 1579) among 5 Protestant provinces.

The 1^st 3 agreements were unanimous in requiring evacuation from the Netherlands of all troops sent by the King of Spain (although the troops were commonly labeled “Spanish”, they were composed primarily of nonSpanish foreigners). That evacuation occurred promptly, in February 1577. Elizabeth I was aiding the Protestant rebels whenever her treasury could afford the aid and she deemed the aid not too provocative to Philip II. The exile from Douay overlapped much of the 2^nd half of the reign of Elizabeth I. It's certainly plausible that in the Catholic provinces, an institution named the English College could have been branded with guilt-by-association.

Note #: Few people know nowadays that the Beatles' pop classic “Back in the U.S.S.R.” used the music to the Catholic seminarians' drinking song “Back Here in Douay We Are”. ]

DRV

Summary:  Abbreviation for the Douay-Reims Version of the Bible.

(Its substantive entry has been moved to the “notions” Web page on this site; a link to that entry on its new page is at the side-header, i.e., the header immediately above, and to the left, of the colored background on which this entry appears.)

■ e

e.g.

Abbreviation for the Latin phrase “exemplī grātiā”, meaning “for the sake of example” (ablative, apparently of cause, not dative of purpose). Introduces a clarification to immediately preceding wording, as an incompletely enumerated list. Contrary to common misuse, “e.g.” does not introduce a definition, nor a prose clarification, nor a completely enumerated list; for these latter purposes, use “i.e.”. Because a list introduced by “e.g.” is incomplete by definition, it should not be concluded with “etc.” nor “&c.”, which would be cluelessly redundant.

empire  [DRAFT]

[.....]

Under late-postclassical Roman imperial rule, as reörganized by Emperor Diocletian (r. A.D. 284--305), while he and the empire were still persecuting Christianity, there were 3 hierarchical levels of territorial organization:

• prefecture (4).
• diocese (13).
• province (more than 100).

Ephesus

Ancient Greek city in ancient Ionia [*], on the W. coast of (modern) Turkey, along the left bank of the river Caÿster, but slightly inland from where its mouth flows into a demilune bay in the E. Ægean Sea, opposite the island Samos (modern Greece). Ephesus is at almost exactly the same latitude (ca. 38° N) as Athens (37°59 N, 23°44 E).

In Apostolic times, Ephesus was the capital and leading coastal city of the Roman province Asia. Home to the Ephesians of Epistular fame (“ad Ephesios”), their converts to Christianity were predominately Gentiles. St. Paul lived in and evangelized in Ephesus for 3 years ca. A.D. 53--56 [+].  St. Timothy was charged by Paul with care of the Christian community there, ca. 65 , as Paul continued on his last documented (i.e.: 3^rd) missionary journey, remaining until his martyrdom as bishop in the winter of 97. Local tradition honors the city as the final home of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the care of St. John the Apostle & Evangelist until her assumption into Heaven. St. John (?--101) was the city's bishop at the end of the 1^st century. John was arrested here in A.D. 95, when the city was within the Roman province Asia, and taken prisoner to Rome to a special, um, hot-tub prepared on the orders of Emperor Domitian (r. A.D. 81--96). The execution attempt having failed, John was exiled to Patmos, whence he returned to Ephesus on news of Domitian's death (a genuine conspiracy, by Romans!).

Ephesus was destroyed by the Goths in A.D. 262, but had recovered sufficiently by the 5^th century to host the Church's 3^rd General Council, in its Double Church of the Virgin Mary (a.k.a. “Deipar[t?]a”). Focused on the nature of the union of divinity & humanity in the Christ, it was convened on 22 June 431 by summons from Emperor-in-the-East Theodosius II.

["T.F.C." 1910: “Ephesus, Council of”. Encyclopædia Britannica (1910), vol. 9, p. 675--676.

"D.G.H." 1910: “Ephesus”. Encyclopædia Britannica (1910), vol. 9, p. 672--675.

Siméon Vailhé 1909: "Ephesus". Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 5. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http: //www.newadvent.org/cathen/05490a.htm>, retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010. ]

[Note *: Oddly, the Ionian Sea does not break along the shores of Ionia, but along the western coast of Greece, south of the adjoining Adriatic Sea.

Note +: Period of evangelization & residence by St. Paul given as A.D. 53--56 in prefaces to Epistles (p. 203, 213) to the Ephesians and Colossians (respectively). Corresponding prefaces to other epistles credited to Paul writing in Ephesus give specific years, e.g.: to the Galatians: A.D. 54, and 1 Corinthians: early 57, before Pentecost. (St. Joseph Edn. of the Holy Bible.) ]

epithet

From Greek “επίθετος” or “επιθήκη”, equivalent to Latin epitheca, -ae (f.), meaning (something) added & unnatural. To historians, it's an addition to one's name that's unrelated to birth or marriage, e.g.: “Christ” in “Jesus the Christ”, or “the Great” in Ælfred the Great” (849--899).

Cf. honorific.

■ f

fœderati

An ally of Rome. Classical Latin substantive of adj. “fœderat·us | -a | -um”, meaning “allied”. A nonRoman state or migratory people, that being more-or-less ‘barbarian’[#], was subordinate to Rome.

Fascinatingly, the classical Latin verb “fœd·o, -are” does not mean anything like “to align or join an alliance”, but instead, “to make filthy or defile”, from the adjective “fœd·us | -a | -um” (n.) meaning “filthy or horrible”. Might that have been how the Roman elite, egocentrically confident of their cultural superiority [#], described their fœderati?

[Note #: Emperor Valens (r. A.D. 364--378) had a notoriously unpleasant episode of Roman military overconfidence regarding Gothic & Alanic barbarians, near a place called Hadrianopolis. ]

FRO

The abbreviation of “For the Record Only”, used by cave-explorers to document an opening in the ground that is so insignificant as to be not worth any further exploratory effort nor subsequent visits. In the context of information sources for traditional Catholicism, it's used on this Web site for identifying or marking:

• Web sites or other sources not worth much--if any at all--attention from traditional Catholics; or
• untimely (or belatedly inspired) content that the Webmaster wants to retain for use in the future (typically a comparable time in the next liturgical year).

FSAS

The abbreviation for the Neolatin name “Fœder– Stat– Americæ Septentrionalis”, meaning “United States of North America”. It's not clear why the Church would have chosen “Fœder–” instead of the more literal “(Con)junctus”, which means to be united, not only literally connected (together) by a yoke, but also figuratively in other ways that seem completely compatible with the sense of being, in the case of the U.S.A., union among equal states according to the the U.S. Constitution. The name adopted by the Church seems more appropriate for the U.S.A. as governed initially under the Articles of Confederation. In classical Latin, “fœd·us, -er·is” (n.) means a league, e.g.: between states, including by an agreement. But by imperial times, a fœderatus of Rome, although an ally, was subordinate to Rome, not treated as Rome's equal.

Depending on the grammatical-case-determining endings of the 2 initial words (replacing the dashes), the phrase may be intended grammatically as possessive, i.e.: equivalent in English to prefixing “of the”.

■ g

Galatia

In Apostolic times, a land-locked Roman province in the center of Anatolia, bordered on the N. by Bithynia and Pontus, on the E. by Cappadocia, on the S.E. by Cilicia, on the S.W. by Lycia and Pamphylia, and on the W. by Asia. Its Roman capital was Ancȳra (modern Ankara: capital of modern Turkey).

Centuries later, Galatia was split across 2 dioceses, its N. half being assigned to Pontica, and its S. half being assigned to Asiana.

The Galatians, of Epistular fame, were Gauls who had originally arrived in lands of the N.E. Mediterranean as invaders [†] from the Danube in 279--275 B.C. [#]. The Gallic invaders split into 2 fronts: One front was promptly defeated at Delphi (Phocis, modern Greece) (279 B.C.), whence they retreated northward to capture Hellenistic Thrace. Gauls from the other front crossed into Anatolia, and roamed the peninsula, raiding their neighbors, until their conclusive defeat by Attalus I of Pergamon (ca. 230 B.C.).

[Note †: It seems safe to assume that they had been attracted by the crumbling sound of the Macedonian a.k.a. Alexandrian Empire and its successors. Alexander of Macedon died in Babylon in 323 B.C., at age 32, without a suitable natural heir. So it came to pass that his generals divided the empire as their spoils. Soon the same generals were fighting wars to increase or defend their individual shares. Antigonos lost Anatolia and his life at battle of Ipsus (301 B.C.), which Lysimachos survived but lost Thrace regardless. He lived until battle of Corupedion (281 B.C.), after which Seleucos, who already had assembled the largest share, annexed Anatolia.

Note #: From a Romanocentric chronological perspective, those were the same years that the Romans, who were then masters only of central Italy, were fighting a war (280--275 B.C.) against Pyrrhus of Epirus (predecessor--at least geographically--to modern Albania). The Roman goal was to annex southern Italy, then occupied by established Greek colonies, who had invited Pyrrhic intervention. ]

Galicia

The westernmost of 2 lands in Europe whose name is commonly Anglicized as “Galicia”, occupied in ancient times by Gauls. As the Roman province “Gallaecia” in N.W. Spain, including Cape Finisterre, it was bounded on the W. by the Atlantic Ocean, on the N. by the Bay of Biscay, on the E. by the Navia River, and on the S. by the Douro River. Its ancient capital was Santiago de Compostela.

During mediæval times, Galicia changed hands every century-and-a-half or 2 centuries, i.e.: Conquered by the Suevi in A.D. 411; taken by Leovigild of the Visigoths in 585; conquered by the Moors in 734; recovered for Christianity by Alphonso I of Asturias in 739. Afflicted by Norman raids in the 9^th & 10^th centuries, it began to enjoy stability in the late 11^th century, as a culturally Spanish possession of either Castile or Leon.

(Cf. Galicja.)

Galicja

The Polish name for the easternmost of 2 lands in Europe whose name is commonly Anglicized as “Galicia” [*] (Russian “Galytsiya”, probably «Галици́я»), occupied in ancient times by Gauls. This region in S.E. Europe, extending from the E. slope of the Carpathian Mountains to the upper Bug River, is now split between Poland and, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine. Once a mediæval Russian principality, ruled by a prince from the original historic Russian dynasty: the House of Riurik, thus considered then a part of the “West Russian lands”. Its capital Halicz a.k.a. «Галич» (identical spelling in Ukrainian and Russian, but different pronunciations, thus different transliterations: “Halych” for Ukrainian, but “Galich” for Russian) is on the Dniester River, and now in the Ukrainian part. Noted for the success of its agriculture, its trade was primarily with the West. Part of the extensive Russian lands conquered by the Mongols in 1240, an unsuccessful revolt led by its Prince Daniel Mstislavich was punished (along with neighboring Vol(h)ynia) by a devastating Mongol attack in 1260.

After its originally Vol(h)ynian ruling dynasty died off in 1340, it was conquered by King Casimir the Great of Poland in 1349, a change that eventually Polonized it into a Roman Catholic country. Taken from Poland by Austria in the First Partition of Poland (1772), it was captured by the Russian army in the opening year of World War I, but recovered by Austria-Hungary in 1915. Poland took advantage of the defeat of Austria-Hungary and the revolutionary chaos in Russia (1920) to recover some territory it once held, including Galicja. A more authoritarian Polonization, reportedly including forced conversions to Roman Catholicism, and confiscation of Orthodox churches [†], were among grievances that stimulated development of a nationalistic revolutionary movement in Galicja. But under the cover of the Soviet-German Nonaggression Pact of 1939, the Soviet Union Poland brazenly assimilated Galicja, along with other countries and large parts of still more countries outside Soviet borders, in 1940. Western European allies failed to intervene in what the Soviets rationalized as “diplomatic and military steps of a precautionary nature [...] to provide for national safety”[‡] for the expected Axis invasion that did indeed thunder in a year later. Following the Allied victory in World War II, eastern Galicja, ethnically mostly Ukrainian, was awarded to the Soviet Union, and western Galicja, ethnically mostly Polish, was returned to the resurrected Poland.

(Cf. Galicia.)

[Note *: The Polish name “Galicja” is used herein to avoid confusion with the identically Anglicized former province “Galicia” in N.W. Spain.

Note †: (anon.): “Western Ukraine under Polish rule”. (Encyclopædia) Britannica CD 2000.

Note ‡: George Vernadsky 1969: A history of Russia, 6th rev. edn.  Yale Univ. Press: New Haven (Conn.). ISBN 0-300-00247-5. (vii)+531 pp.  Prof. Vernadsky looks less like an eminent Yale scholar, and more like a Soviet apologist, when he complains that “the Anglo-Saxon countries appear consistently to have misunderstood this need” [p. 420, 421--422]. So, the author of this Web page supposes, did the Hungarians, whose nationalistic revolt against their Soviet-aligned communist national government was “brutally crushed” by Soviet tanks in 1956 [conceded in 5 scattered sentences total, p. 464, 466, 473], and also the Czechs & Slovaks, whose efforts at liberalizing communism in Czechoslavakia were rewarded with a Soviet invasion & (military) occupation in August 1968 [half a sentence, p. 477]. ]

Gauleiter

German “Gau, ~(e)s, ~e (m.)”: region or province + “Leiter, ~s, ~ (m.)”: leader.[*]  A Nazi term for a regional leader, used by some traditional-Catholic writers in pointed criticism of regional leaders of the Novus Ordo hierarchy who have demonstrated special hostility to traditional Catholicism.

[Note *: In German, even common nouns are capitalized, unlike in English. The notation above using tildes (‘ ~ ’) indicates genitive singular and nominative plural. ]

Gauls

The people more commonly called “Gall·i, -ōrum” (m. pl.) by Roman writers, they were the same people as the «Κελτοί», later «Κέλται» (“Keltoí ”, later “Kéltai ”) of Greek writers. Sometimes called “Celt·ae, -ārum” (f.[!?]) by Roman writers.

Gauls under Brennus sacked Rome in 390 B.C., occupying all but the Capitol. They departed after 7 months for reasons lost to history, although bribery is not out of the question. Rome would fight 4 wars against Gauls arriving in central Italy from Cisalpine Gaul, in 367--345 B.C.  Fully 8 centuries would pass before Rome would be sacked by any enemy (A.D. 410).

For many people in the U.S.A., the primary Roman word has survived to modern times mostly as a learnèd adjective referring to France, especially popular in unflattering phrases [†], e.g., “Gallic arrogance”. But the word--or its cognates--has survived in other forms, e.g.:

• Galatia: Region, once a Roman province, in the center of Anatolia;
• Galicia: Region in modern N.W. Spain, whose people were known to the Romans as “Gallaec·i, -ōrum” i.q. “Callaec·i”.
• Galicia: (Polish “Galicja”, Russian “Galytsiya”): Region in S.E. Europe, once a mediæval Russian principality, and briefly a mediæval kingdom recognized by the pope, now split between Poland and Ukraine.
• Gaelic and Gaels: Native language of Ireland & Scotland, and the people who speak it.

[Note †: The author of this Web page has long been amused that “gall·us, -i” (m.), identical to the singular word for a (single) Gaul (i.e.: a Gallic person), means “rooster” (ahem). The corresponding feminine form “gall·a, -æ” (f.), which one might expect to mean “hen”, instead means “oak gall” a.k.a. “oak apple”. (“gallin·a, -æ” (f.) is the actual word for “hen”.) ]

gens

Directly from Latin “gen·s, -t·is” (f.), meaning “clan”, i.e.: a group of families (who are) connected by descent from a common ancestor. Derived from Latin “geno ”: an older form of “gigno, gignere”: to beget or bear.

“gen·s, -t·is” was also used for a tribe or people, and the grander notion of a nation, and the geographic concept of a district or country. This was the word used by C. Iulius Cæsar as the level of distinction between foreign natives or barbarians that he encountered--and often conquered--e.g.: Suev·i, -orum. More than a century later, the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus (ca. A.D. 55--120) generalized the plural “gentes” to mean “foreigners”. During the Enlightenment, it meant “nations” in our modern sense, e.g., Christian Wolff's seminal work (1749): Jus Gentium Methodo Scientifica Pertract[at]um (Law of nations studied by the scientific method).

But Latin also had “trib·us, -ūs” (f.) for 1 of originally only 3 divisions (i.e.: Ramnes, Tities, Luceres)-- but later 35--of the Roman people. This was the common noun used by St. Jerome for the tribes of Israël, in both the Old Testament and New Testament of his Vulgate.

gentile

Latin adjective “gentil·is, -e”, literally meaning “of a clan”, from “gens”. Used as a substantive (m.), it literally means “clansman”, i.e.: a member of the same clan. It's the basis for “gentilit·as, -at·is” (f.): the “relationship” between members of a clan, and was Anglicized into the modern concept of “gentility”.

Greenwich

Royal borough on the south bank of the Thames River, in which the historic Royal Observatory of England is situated. Thus the defining point for the international-standard prime meridian (often capitalized) since 1884.

Although downriver from the City of London, it was 1 of 28 metropolitan boroughs in the County of London[*] (1900--1965), but now 1 of 32 London boroughs in Greater London (1965--present).

[Note *: County was established in 1889. Parenthesized pairs of dates indicate the periods that specific organization of boroughs were in effect. ]

Gregorian calendar

The modern solar calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII (s. 1572--1585), who approved the completed project on 24 February 1582. It was a reform of the then-current Julian calendar: a solar calendar named after C. Iulius Cæsar.

Over the centuries after his assassination, it became obvious that the Julian leap-year remedy, even when applied correctly, compensated by nearly ¾ hour too much (i.e.: total accumulated over the span of 3 common years plus 1 leap year). Or more noticeably, 3 days in each quadricentury (i.e.: 4 centuries). When the Julian calendar went into effect, the Vernal Equinox fell on 25 March, but by the Council of Nicæa (A.D. 325), it had retreated in the calendar to 21 March.[*] This was a problem for the Church because the date of Easter, plus many of the most holy movable feasts, depend on it. That council applied the easiest remedy: It removed astronomers from the equation, by decreeing an artificial ecclesiastical vernal equinox, to be permanently set at 21 March (where it remains, even now in the 21^st century).

Secular activity that depended on the natural seasons needed a practical solution for stablizing dates for equinoxes & solstices, but the necessary advances in astronomy & mathematics would not be made until well after the millennium. Pope Clement VI convened an invitational astronomy conference in Avignon, which resulted in at least 1 written report & proposal (1354). The unresolved problem and proposed remedies were discussed in detail at the Councils of Constance (1417), Basle (n.d. in 1431--1437), 5^th Lateran (multiple sess. in 1512--1515), and Trent. By the conclusion of the latter, the astronomical equinox had retreated by 10 more days in the calendar, to 11 March.[*] So a vote the final session (4 December 1563) directed Pope Pius IV (s. 1559--1565) to complete the work of the council by reforming the Breviary and Missal; that implied reform of the perpetual calendars they contained.

At last, science had advanced within reach of a solution. But it wouldn't be a legacy for Pius IV; he died from "Roman fever" (i.e.: typhoid) not quite 2 years after the council had ended. It was about the same time that his successor, now revered as Saint Pius V, began his papacy (s. 1566--1572), or perhaps a little earlier, that Aloisius Lilius, a professor of Medicine at the U. of Perugia, began his 10 years of work on a solution to the calendar. Before he could complete it, Pius V published the reformed Breviary (1568), including a new perpetual calendar, but the latter was so badly flawed that it was abandoned. Pius died from a kidney stone after only 6 years in office, so the calendar manuscript of Lilius would be completed under the next pope, who would become the namesake of the calendar. Alas, there would be no public scientific triumph for the mysterious Aloisius: He passed away of unknown causes, in an unknown year, at an unknown age. So it was his brother Antonius Lilius who presented his manuscript to the "papal Curia": A manuscript that was never published, and is now lost.[†]

Whether as a result of that presentation, or a personal determination to complete the tasks remaining from Trent, Gregory XIII created a papal commission to recommend a calendar reform. Christopher Clavius: a Jesuit mathematician & astronomer, established as a highly respected instructor at the Collegium Romanum (Rome), was successful in presenting & defending Lilius as his principal advocate. Readers who enjoy the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat on the small scale of commissions and their episodes of ‘review & comment’ are referred to detail provided by the articles cited below.[&Dagger]

The commission decided that the tradition of the Church was more important than the historical Jesus, because it rejected 24 March: the date of the equinox in the year of His Crucifixion & Resurrection, and the 25 March of Iulius Cæsar, settling the issue (on 17 March 1580) in favor of resynchronizing the equinox at 21 March: its date during the Council of Nicæa.

This reform did not change the number of days in any of the Julian months. Instead, by incorporating the relatively complicated “Nineteen Years' Cycle of Epacts” of Lilius, the new method for calculating the date of Easter, via the Paschal Full Moon [#], yielded so much an improvement that every quartet of Gregorian years is only 2 minutes and a handful of seconds longer than the real year according to astronomical data. As the Greorian calendar stands, 35 centuries, more or less, are expected to pass before the accumulated error is as much as a single day.

[Note *: Each intercalary day of the Julian solar calendar overcompensated by 44 min. 52 sec. (i.e.: total accumulated over the span of 3 common years plus 1 leap year). It may be worth a reminder, here, that the 100^th year of the Julian calendar would be the modern A.D. 55, not A.D. 45. More precisely, the Julian calendar overcompensated in time by 44:52 (i.e.: excess total over the span of 3 common years plus 1 unconditional leap year), according to the article “Reform of the Calendar”, by John Gerard (1908) in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Note &dagger: Born Aloigi Giglio, according to the article “Aloisius Lilius”, by John Hagen (1910) in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Note &Dagger: Born Christoph Clau, according to the article “Christopher Clavius”, by Adolf Müller (1908) in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Note #: Calendrical calculations on this Web site follow the extensive analysis of the date of Easter in “Frequently Asked Questions About Calendars”, by Claus Tøndering. ]

■ h

Hebrew [ D R A F T ]

Originally the West-Semitic language of the Israëlites of the Old Testament.

During its thousands of years of history, Hebrew has been written in 2 different scripts, each being an abjad:

• Ancient Hebrew, adopted directly from the Phœnician abjad.
• Square Hebrew, which was adopted from a particular style of Aramaic abjad.

See, e.g., various apparently authoritative pages on the Web:

• The “Systems of transliteration, citation of proper_names” used by the Jewish Encyclopedia: <www.jewishencyclopedia.com /systems_of_transliteration_citation_of_proper_names>.

[John F. Healey (1990) 1998: § 3: “Consolidation of the alphabet and transport to the West” (p. 222--229) in Reading the Past. © 1990 The Trustees of the British Museum. Barnes & Noble 1998 edn., ISBN 0-76070-726-X. ]

Hierapolis

A city or town in ancient Phrygia, in Anatolia, near 38°N. 29°E. in the valley of the Lycus River (Turk.: Churuk Su): a tributary of the Maeander, which drains to the Ægean Sea. In classical times, it was a pagan religious site, famous for the white mineral formations produced by its springs.

In Apostolic times, it was in the Roman province Asia. It was part of a larger Christian community of Jews and Gentiles, identified in the Epistle to the nearby Colossians (“ad Colossenses”) as “those who are at Laodicea and at Hierapolis” [4:13][@], explicitly credited to the preaching of Epaphras [Col. 1:4--8; 4:12--13]. The whereabouts of St. Philip are last documented as settled for a time in Cæsarea [Acts 21:8] in Samaria [Acts 8:5], but according to tradition, he later preached in Scythia, then finally Phrygia, where he died in (this) Hierapolis, reputedly his see, at an advanced age.

[Note @: It is not the Hierapolis in N. Syria, nor is the above Laodicea the Syrian one a.k.a. Latakia on the E. coast of the Mediterranean due E. of Cyprus. ]

honorific

Title or grammatical form of address that identifies or recognizes honors earned by, or conferred upon, a person. Latin “honōrificus | -a | -um (m.|f.|n.)”, meaning “honoring”, or more literally: “causing honor”. From Latin “hon·os, -ōris” (m.), meaning the same as “honor” in English. An honorific may appear in various positions:

• preceding a name (e.g.: “Bishop” in “Bishop Patrick Taylor”); or
• dividing a name (e.g.: “Cardinal” in “Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani”); or
• following a name (e.g.: in formal writing, “, Ph.D.” in “Michael V. Gannon, Ph.D.”); or even
• completely replacing a name (e.g.: in directly addressing Bp. Taylor, “Your Excellency” ).

[ To distinguish the former 3, an honorific that precedes the name might be called a prehonorific; an honorific that divides the name might be called an interhonorific; and an honorific that follows the name might be called a posthonorific. To distinguish the latter 1, it might be called a vocative (a repurposing of the name of the grammatical case used in Latin for direct address). But who in her|his right mind would indulge in the fussiness of distinguishing the 3 former cases? Anyone responsible for designing a database identifying people (e.g.: a name-address-&-phone database), that's who. Especially when seeking a favor or vote, it's important to be able to store a person's full name with honorifics, so that any honorifics that ought to be combined with a particular surname can be reliably plucked out to generate an appropriately deferential greeting. Software must recognize, e.g., that in “Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani”, “Cardinal” is not his middle name, and the appropriate salutation for correspondence in English would be “Dear Cardinal Ottaviani”. A designer might also want to allow for software to transform an honorific, e.g., for “Michael V. Gannon, Ph.D.”, to deformalize the salutation into “Dear Dr. Gannon”. ]

Honorifics (preceding the name) that identify the degree of individual honor conferred by the Church:

• ‘Bl.’ is for “Blessèd”, from Latin “beātus | -a | -um” (m.|f.|n.), meaning “happy” or “blessed”; a participle of “beö, -are”, meaning “to gladden” or “make happy”.
• ‘S.’ is for “Saint”, from Latin “sanctus | -a | -um” (m.|f.|n.), meaning “holy” or “sacred”; a participle of “sancio, -ire”, meaning “to hallow” or “make sacred”.

Honorifics (following the name) that identify individual categories for veneration, whether dating from the early centuries of Christianity, or resulting from (formal) beatification or canonization by the Church:

• ‘Ap.’ is for “Apostle”.
• ‘Arch.’ is for “Archangel”.
• ‘C.’ is for “confessor”, from Latin “confessi·o, -onis” (f.), meaning “acknowledgment” or “confession”, from “con·fiteor, -fiteri, -fessus sum” (deponent v.), meaning “to acknowledge or confess” or “to make known” (publicly), from “fateor, fateri, fassus sum” (deponent v.), assigned exactly the same translation as its derivative prefixed by “con-”. [Cassell's].
  
  In earliest centuries, a Christian who was called before a hostile authority, e.g.: an imperial Roman official, to answer charges arising from their faith, but who avoided the death of a martyr, although possibly surviving torture or other physical battery to do so. In later centuries, the term was extended to ascetics, on the principle that they practiced a “prolonged [...] bloodless martyrdom”. In more recent centuries (albeit with no accounting here for laxity resulting from Vatican II), “confessors were those who had lived a holy life and closed it by a holy death in Christian peace”, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia article “Beatification and Canonization” (1907).
• ‘D.’ is for Latin “doct·or, -oris” (m.), meaning a “teacher” or learnèd person, from “doc·eo, -ere, -ui, doctum”, meaning “to teach”, related to Greek “δοκέω”. This honor is reserved for ‘Doctors of the Church’: The great postApostolic teachers & theologians, [....] e.g.: Sts. Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, Jerome, Gregory, and Thomas of Aquino.
• ‘E.’ is for ecclesiastical Latin episcop·us, -i, from Greek “επί·σκοπος, -̔ο”, meaning “overseer” or “guardian”, but Anglicized into “bishop”. It has a fascinating similarity to Latin “expisc·or, -ari” (deponent v.), meaning “to fish out”, from “pisc·or, -ari” (deponent v.), meaning “to fish”, plus its derivative “piscat·or, -oris” (m.), meaning “fisherman”.
• ‘Ev.’ is for “Evangelist”, i.e.: St. Matthew the Apostle (a.k.a. Levi), St. Mark (a.k.a. John Mark), St. Luke the physician, and St. John the Apostle.
• ‘M.’ is for ecclesiastical Latin “mart·yr, -yris”, from Greek “μάρτυρος, -̔ο, -̔η”, meaning “(one who bears) witness”. Although such a literal translation of the Greek-derived martyr is not much different from that of the Latin-derived confessor, they are plainly distinguished by the traditional requirement that a martyr died for her|his Christian faith.
• ‘P.’ is for Latin “pāp·as, -æ|-atis” (m.), Greek “πάππας”, literally the endearment “páppas”, for “πατήρ” (“patér”), meaning “father”, but rendered in modern English as “pope”. Plausibly related to Classical Latin “papp·us, -i” (m.), meaning “old man”, or the genealogically more precise Greek “πάππος”, meaning “grandfather”.
• ‘V.’ is for Latin “virg·o, -inis” (f.), meaning “maiden” or “virgin”. It has a metaphorical similarity to Latin “virg·a, -ae” (f.) meaning “(a) green twig” (used also in the sense of the punitive implement made from 1 or more twigs).

Cf. epithet.

hour

From Greek “ ̔ώρα” (f.) and Latin “hora, -ae” (f.). The minor division of daytime & nighttime for the classical Greeks and Romans, being 1/3 of each of the 8 major divisions of day & night, for a total 24 numbered minor divisions per cycle of daytime + nighttime from sunrise to sunrise [@]. They had divided day & night each into 4 major divisions called quarters, each containing 3 hours. The length of a daytime hour varied according to the time between sunrise & sunset, and the length of a nighttime hour according to the time between sunset & sunrise.

[Note @: The examples use the Anglicized form of the Latin word for each hour or quarter. ]

HS.

Abbreviation for the Latin “sesterti·us | -a | -um” (prefixed “se[mi]s” subtracted from “tertius”), meaning amounting to 3 minus ½, thus 2 ½. Used as the substantive “sesterti·us, -i” (m.), it's the sesterce: an ancient Roman silver coin that had the value of 2 ½ of the copper as. In terms of a more familiarly named ancient denomination, a sesterce is 1⁄4 denarius.

Considering that there are no Latin numbers at all, whether cardinal or ordinal, whose name starts with ‘H’, the abbreviation “isss ... a puzzlement”. Yet it does actually have a straightforward explanation [†]:

“Numerals are usually distinguished from letters in the ancient period, down to the end of the [Roman] republic, by a stroke drawn through them, as in [...]  IIS  duo semis (sestertius) [...]; it was afterwards put above them [....]”

[Note †: “Inscriptions”. Encyclopædia Britannica (1910: vol. 14 p. 631) (quoted parentheses theirs; bracketed text elided or inserted by the author of this Web page). One of the obvious reference sources was no help: “Not a true H” Cassell's Latin teased [p. xiv] (any readers remember the childhood sing-song taunt: “I know something you don't know”, followed by “nyah, nyah, nyah, NYAH, nyah !”)? ]

■ i

i.a.

Abbreviation for the Latin phrase “inter alia”, meaning “among other( thing)s” (neuter adj. used substantively as a plural pronoun, the object of a preposition that requires the accusative case).

i.e.

Abbreviation for the Latin phrase “id est”, meaning “that (thing) is” (neuter demonstrative pronoun). Introduces a clarification to immediately preceding wording, either in prose, or as a completely enumerated list. Contrary to common misuse, “i.e.” does not introduce an example nor an incomplete list; for these latter purposes, use “e.g.”.

I.P.A.

Acronym for the International Phonetic Alphabet.[#]

[Note #: Not to be confused with the acronym for India Pale Ale, regrettably out-of-scope for this glossary. ]

i.q.

Abbreviation for Latin “idem quod”, meaning “the same as”. Identifies 2 alternative names or terms by which the same person or thing might be recognized by a reader. Often preferable to customary use in English of its grammatical conjunction “or” to express the same situation, which is frequently confusing because of the ambiguous uses of that word (in English). E.g.: How should a self-taught reader interpret a history containing the phrase “Octavian or Augustus”? A choice between 2 different people, or just alternative names for the same person? However, seeing the phrase “Octavian i.q. Augustus” gives the reader at least a hint of one man's name change from the personal Gaius Octavius to the title “Augustus”, meaning “consecrated”, “holy”, or “majestic”, granted him in 27 B.C. as the emperor of Rome.

ibid.

Abbreviation for the Latin adverb “ibidem” = “ibi” (adv. meaning “at that place”, or less literally: “therein”) + “-dem”, the combination meaning “in the same place”. Used as “ibid.” in English for citations, in successive references, it signifies at least the author & title of the immediately preceding work; by itself, it means that everything is identical, including the page number.

Iconium

Latinized from classical Greek «Ικόνιον» (“Ikónion”). Many centuries later, Turkified to “Konya”. Ancient city in Galatia, in south-central Anatolia. Approximately 100 miles E. of Antioch in Pisidia.

Visited by Apostle Paul on his 1^st journey (A.D. 45--48), with St. Barnabas.[Acts 14:1--6, 20--22]  Strongly implied as visited again by Paul on his 2^nd journey (A.D. 50--52), with St.[?] Silas and perhaps also St. Timothy.[Acts 16:1--4]  Both journeys made, at least in part, during the reign of Claudius (r. A.D. 41--54). Once capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum.

Asia Minor" line-map: EB XI, vol. 2 tip-in p. 760/761.

id.

Abbreviation for the Latin adjective or pronoun “idem”, meaning “the same (one)”. Used as either “id.” or “idem” in English for citations, in successive references, it signifies the author of the immediately preceding work, but not the title &c.

IHS

Summary:  Abbreviation for Latin “Ies–”, assimilating the Greek “Iēsous”.

(Its substantive entry has been moved to the “notions” Web page on this site; a link to that entry on its new page is at the side-header, i.e., the header immediately above, and to the left, of the colored background on which this entry appears.)

incipit

English editorial or typographic term from the Latin 3^rd-conjugation verb “incip·iō, -ere, in·cēpī, -ceptum”, meaning “to begin”. The form seen in English: “incipit”, is actually the Latin verb form “incipit”: the 3^rd-person singular present indicative, meaning “it begins”. It's become a de facto noun in English, referring to the first few words in the body of a document or vocal music, used as identification e.g.: the papal encyclical “Pascendi Dominici Gregis” (“Of tending the Lordly flock”)[*], and the operatic aria “O solo mio”, respectively. Documents identified by an incipit customarily use it instead of a title, not as a mere supplement to a title.

At least for the Latin documents, the incipit might be written in an exceptionally large size, or embedded in elaborate graphic artwork, or printed in a distinctive larger typeface. An incipit in Latin, after translation to English, often does not resemble a title (nor a headline) for an essay (nor an article). That's because unlike in English, the literal meaning of a sentence in Latin does not depend on the order of its words. So, sometimes the extracted words are not the subject of that sentence, but, e.g., a prepositional phrase, or a more challenging single construct, or even words that belong to a few separate grammatical constructs.

[Note *: Unlike many papal documents, the 1907 encyclical in the example also does bear a title, in the modern sense, above the Latin body text: “De modernistarum doctrinis” (“On the teachings of the modernists”). But because having a title in the Latin original is not customary, fewer people seem to use or recognize it. Although quite a few essay-like titles appear on English translations of papal documents, e.g.: “On religious unity” for the encyclical known from its incipit as “Mortalium Animos” (“The minds of men”), their common absence from the official Latin edition creates the impression that the apparent titles were really terse summaries added by translators.

incunabula

Documents, esp. books, surviving from the earliest years of printing: A.D. 1440--1457 to 1500.[#]  Metaphorical use of Latin “incūnābula, -ōrum”(n. pl.): “swaddling clothes”, from “cūnābula, -ōrum”(n. pl.): “cradle”.

Craftsmen in Mainz (Germany)--or perhaps Haarlem (Holland)-- invented printing with movable type, perfecting it to a degree practical for books. The earliest surviving printed document bearing an authenticated written date was a 31-line indulgence, identifying it as sold on 22 Oct. 1454, as authorized by Pope Nicholas V that year on behalf of the kingdom of Cyprus. The first printed book issued with a printed date, name of printer(s), and place of printing was the ‘Mainz Psalter’, on 14 Aug. 1457, by Peter Schoeffer de Gernssheym & Johan Fust. The former actually credited himself in the colophon of a textbook: “per Petrum de Gernssheym. in urbe Moguntina cum suis capitalibus” (“[done] by Peter of Gernssheym in the city [of] Mainz with his [own] possessions”--CP translation). The strong similarities among 8 families of early type gives evidence that the partners also printed 1 of 2 early bibles: the Bible-of-42-lines (B⁴²) a.k.a. Mazarine Bible, some time before 15 Aug. 1456 (authenticated date that rubrication was completed).

What about Johan Gutenberg of Mainz and Strassburg , apparently born Hans or Henne Gansfleisch? Conventional wisdom credits him with other early printed documents, including the Bible-of-36-lines (B³⁶). That credit requires reading a lot into surviving documents (esp. a legal one from 1455 that summarizes a lawsuit brought against him by Fust, mentions, e.g., “tools” and “the work of the books”, but never anything as specific as a “printing press” or “type”). Unlike Schoeffer & Fust, Gutenberg never printed his name in books, including those later attributed to him as printer, and he never claimed credit for inventing any printing technology. One scholar: J.H. Hessels, who published an extensive review of available evidence [*] on the origin of printing, considers that evidence most favorable to Lourens Janszoon Coster of Haarlem, as most-likely inventor of cast-metal movable-type printing, during the years 1440--1446. Coster had been a printer using carved wood blocks before he used movable type.

[Note #: Sources doing their best not to be Eurocentric credit China (Song Dynasty) with creating movable type, and Korea (Goryeo Dynasty) with creating metal movable type, both centuries before any craftsmen in Germany or Holland. Be that as it may, Korea was still writing with Chinese characters, so both Oriental movable-type systems, which required handling thousands of different characters, were arguably not practical. Korea did not devise its much simpler writing, now known outside the Orient as Hangul, until the reign of King Sejong the Great (Joseon Dynasty): almost exactly the same years as movable-type printing was invented for the Latin alphabet in Europe.

Note *: "J.H.H." (John Henry Hessels) 1911: “Typography[:] I. History of typography”, Encyclopædia Britannica vol. 27, p. 509--542, was the basis for this entry on this Web page. That E.B. article presents the conclusion favoring Coster in his book published in 1882: Gutenberg: An historical investigation. ]

indiction

Presumably postclassical Latin “indicti·o, -on·is”, derived from the 4^th principal part of 3^rd-conjugation classical Latin “²indīc·o, -ere, indix·i, indict·um” (meaning “to proclaim or make publicly known”), thus a noun (apparently f.) meaning a thing proclaimed.[*]

It was a 15-year cycle of official assessment of property for taxation by the Roman Empire.[$]  Various dates are given for the beginning of the cycles; they are further complicated by conflicting dates for the beginning of a year: Not only 1 January as mandated by the Julian calendar, but also the 1 September that starts each year of the Era of Constantinople (5509/8 B.C.) popular in the East, and other dates near the autumnal equinox. The most commonly encountered year for the beginning of the first cycle is A.D. 313; the most practical for modern times begin with the 1 January civil new-year's day (those beginning near the autumnal equinox use A.D. 312). Others begin with 3 B.C., although that may be more a simplification of calculation than a matter of Roman history. The (year of the) indiction: i, is easily calculated from the civil A.D. year: y, via a linear equation:

    i = ((y + 2) mod 15) + 1

where “mod” (i.e.: an abbreviation for modulus) is the arithmetic function whose result is the integer remainder from division (e.g.: 72 mod 15 = 12).[#] Each addition is an initial or a final adjustment: “+2” adjusts the year for the cycle nearest to A.D. 1 (the addition actually being the subtraction of “-2”, representing 3 B.C. in the arithmetic of continuous chronology); “+1” converts the cardinal-number range 0--14 into the natural-number range 1--15 that could be expressed with the Roman numerals “I” through “XV”.

The number of the cycle containing the 15 years was reportedly of no interest--or nearly none-- to those whose lives were affected by it. But the (number of the) cycle of the indiction: j, is easily calculated via a similar equation:

    j = ((y + 2) div 15) + 1

where “div” (short for integer division) is the arithmetic function of division that discards its remainder (in computer hardware, division whose result is a pair of integers: the first being the integer part of the quotient, the second one being a remainder that's less than the divisor, all values being cardinal numbers, e.g.: 72 div 15 = 4).[#]

So taking the indiction with the longest reach: back to 3 B.C., thus the simplest arithmetic, e.g.: the destruction of the Second Temple, in Jerusalem, as predicted by the Christ [Mt. 24:1--2], conclusively dated to A.D. 70, was in indiction ((70+2) mod 15) +1 = ((72) mod 15) +1 = (12) +1 = 13. The indiction cycle, had anyone cared, would've been numbered ((70+2) div 15) +1 = ((72) div 15) +1 = (4) +1 = 5  (1^st: 3 B.C., 2^nd: A.D. 13, 3^rd:A.D. 28, 4^th: A.D. 43, 5^th: A.D. 58).

[Note *: Following other models, e.g.: “imped·io, -īre, -īvi, -īt·um” (ignoring its mismatch as 4^th-conjugation), meaning to ensnare, its attested derivative “impedīti·o, -onis” means a thing ensnaring (note “-ped-”), or loosely, any hindrance.

Note $: Why 15? With its origin associated with taxes, the cycle of an indiction might be expected to be related to Roman measures and weights, thus valuable metals as money, but all of those were duodecimal: based on 12 or its multiples. Yes, 12 halved = 6, and 6 sesterti·i = 15 ass·es, but that's a really iffy reach. It's not a simple fraction of the human life-span: the “sæculum” was most literally considered to be the duration of 1 human generation. So why 15? Eeet's a puzzlement!

Note #: The “mod” function can be simulated on an ordinary calculator by using the ‘÷’, ‘-’, and ‘×’ keys: Having used ‘÷’ to obtain the quotient, subtract away the whole number that's left of the decimal point, leaving a number with a decimal point and digits only to the right; if they're not all zeros, then multiply them by 15: That's the integer remainder, thus the result of “mod” that you're seeking. ]

Insular

Identified with or descriptive of, the early mediaeval Celtic culture of Britain & Ireland. Typically as an adjective herein, it refers to the letter forms used in the manuscripts produced in the period between the Roman evacuation and the Norman conquest.

These letter forms are somewhat familiar in modern times as ‘lower-case Celtic’ or ‘lower-case Gaelic’ letters or fonts. Cf. Carolingian.

ipso facto (rarely i.f.)

Latin phrase meaning “by the deed itself” or “because of the deed itself” (ablative of agent or cause, respectively, with the intensive pronoun “ips·e, -īus”).

Israël

The land in ancient Chanaan that was given by God to the Israelites, a gift made explicit as a direct quote from God to Moses, in the Old Testament book Numbers [33:50--56]:

50 Where the Lord said to Moses: 51 Command the children of Israel, and say to them: When you shall have passed over the Jordan, entering into the land of Chanaan, 52 Destroy all the inhabitants of that land: Beat down their pillars, and break in pieces their statues, and waste all their high places, 53 Cleansing the land, and dwelling in it. For  I  have given it to you for a possession.[*]  54 And you shall divide it among you by lot. To the more you shall give a larger part, and to the fewer a lesser. To every one as the lot shall fall, so shall the inheritance be given. The possession shall be divided by the tribes and the families. 55 But if you will not kill the inhabitants of the land: they that remain, shall be unto you as nails in your eyes, and spears [lancæ] in your sides, and they shall be your adversaries in the land of your habitation. 56 And whatsoever I had thought to do to them, I will do to you. [emphasis added]

The boundaries of the land were identified as a direct quote from God to Moses [Numbers 34:3--12]:

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Command the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: When you are entered into the land of Chanaan, and it shall be fallen into your possession by lot, it shall be bounded by these limits: 3 The south side shall begin from the wilderness of Sin, which is by Edom: and shall have the most salt sea for its furthest limits eastward: 4 Which limits shall go round on the south side by the ascent of the Scorpion and so into Senna, and reach toward the south as far as Cadesbarne, from whence the frontiers shall go out to the town called Adar, and shall reach as far as Asemona. 5 And the limits shall fetch a compass from Asemona to the torrent of Egypt, and shall end in the shore of the great sea. 6 And the west side shall begin from the great sea, and the same shall be the end thereof. 7 But toward the north side the borders shall begin from the great sea, reaching to the most high mountain, 8 From which they shall come to Emath, as far as the borders of Sedada: 9 And the limits shall go as far as Zephrona, and the village of Enan. These shall be the borders on the north side. 10 From thence they shall mark out the grounds towards the east side from the village of Enan unto Sephama. 11 And from Sephama the bounds shall go down to Rebla over against the fountain of Daphnis: from thence they shall come eastward to the sea of Cenereth, 12 And shall reach as far as the Jordan, and at the last shall be closed in by the most salt sea. This shall be your land with its borders round about.

After its conquest ca. 1400 B.C., centuries passed before the Israelite tribal settlements in Chanaan developed into the kingdom of the unified tribes of Israel (1052--972 B.C.), under the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon. Jerusalem did not become the capital of Israel until after David captured it, from the Jebusites.

Beware that the ‘AE’ ligature is not appropriate for “Israel’: Spelling the name as “Isræl” would not be correct. The subject name, which appears, in various forms, 2377 times in the Clementine Vulgate, should most properly be spelled in Latin as “Israël”. However, the common omission of the diëresis is not incorrect; doing so merely eliminates a useful (but increasingly obscure) clue to pronunciation.

In modern times, the name refers to a tiny republic created in 1948. How tiny?  8,020 sq. mi.[#], a trifle larger than either Massachusetts or New Jersey, but a fraction smaller than New Hampshire or Vermont [##], or than either of the Mediterranean islands Sicily or Sardinia.[###] 

[Note *: “ Ego enim dedi vobis illam in possessionem. ” How much plainer about God's intention for Chanaan could He be? 

• “dedi”: 1st-person perfect active, the person being indicated by the inflected “-i” ending: God saying “I have given” (as a true perfect, it would be implying “not only have I already done so, but it also stays given”).
• “Ego”: 1st-person personal pronoun: “I” is redundant because it's already implied by the inflected ending of the verb, so it's presumably used for emphasis, as typographically added in the English passage above. Feel free to visualize a momentary bolt of lightning or fountain of fire as an alternative form of divine emphasis.
• “illam”: feminine accusative singular demonstrative pronoun, accusative singular to identify a single gift, feminine being customary for names of lands, i.e.: “that yonder”: Chanaan, which is across the Jordan River, yet to be crossed as God is speaking to Moses (in the Vulgate, the name of the patriarch is unexpectedly expressed by the undeclined noun “Moysen”).
• “vobis”: 2nd-person dative plural pronoun, dative pronoun to identify the recipient(s) of the gift(s), i.e.: “to yall”: the Israelites.

Note #: Area given for Israel as 8,020 sq. mi. (Rand McNally 1987: “Gazetteer of the World”. Rand McNally Desk Reference World Atlas, p. 225--295) exceeds the 7,993 given in 1965 (Rand McNally 1965: “World Political Information Table”. Rand McNally World Atlas, p. 186--190), so it likely includes territory accumulated as recently as the last “Arab-Israeli Wars” (1967, 1973), but it also likely excludes the Sinai Peninsula, which was returned to Egypt per their 1979 peace treaty.

Note ##: Smallest U.S. states (increasing area): Rhode Island: 1,058 sq. mi.; Delaware: 1,978 sq. mi.; New Jersey: 7,521 sq. mi.; Massachusetts: 7,867 sq. mi.; New Hampshire: 9,014 sq. mi.; Vermont: 9,276 sq. mi.; and Maryland: 9,874 sq. mi.  Largest U.S. states (increasing area): (California: 156,573 sq. mi.); Texas: 262,840 sq. mi.; and Alaska: 571,065 sq. mi.; the 2 largest total 833,905 sq. mi.  (Rand McNally 1965: “State Areas and Populations”. Rand McNally World Atlas, p. 212).

Note ###: Mediterranean islands: The Italian islands Sicily: 9,926 sq. mi., and Sardinia: 9,301 sq. mi.; the French island Corsica: 3,367 sq. mi.; the Republic of Cyprus: 3,572 sq. mi. (including the part illegally occupied by Turkey); ; and the Greek island Crete: 3,238 sq. mi. (Rand McNally 1965: “Principal Islands of the World”. Rand McNally World Atlas, p. 193). ]

Ittihadist

The political party, known in English as the ‘Young Turks’, widely viewed as long-overdue reformers, who had revolted against the decrepit Ottoman Empire in 1907, then gained control of it in a coup de'etat in 1913. The revolutionaries were formally named the Ittihad ve Terakki Jemiyeti, translated as the ‘Committee of Union and Progress’ (CUP), which nowadays has an ominously Marxist ring to it. They continued the policy promoted as ‘Pan-Turkism’, which had been initiated by Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II (r. 1876--1909).

[Note †: The systematic genocide of Armenians, whose most devastating episode (1915--1918) was directed by the Ittihadist government of the Ottoman Empire during and after World War I, is documented herein in the entry “Armenia”.

■ j

J, j

The first letter of the personal name of Our Lord Jesus in modern English--and in quaint Latin texts from recent centuries. His name has only been spelled with this letter for 5 or 6 centuries; neither Latin nor early English had a separate letter ‘J’ distinct from ‘I’ . Originally, the fishing-hook shape we now know as the letter ‘J’ was just an embellished ‘I’, sometimes used when it was the initial letter of a word. In Latin, it's common for an apparent vowel pair to begin with ‘I’, but the pair is not a diphthong. Instead, the ‘I’ is pronounced like the modern English consonantal ‘Y’.  E.g., Latin “iugum, -ī ” (n.), literally pronounceable as English “ee-oo-gum”[*] was pronounced instead as English “yoo-gum”[*]; the word survives in modern English with little modification-- and the same literal & figurative meanings-- as “yoke”. In Latin, ‘J’ became reserved for the sound it still has in modern German (and in the International Phonetic Alphabet), which is the same as the modern English consonantal ‘Y’ in “yes”.

That simple situation changed in A.D. 1066, when the Normans became the last successful invaders of Britain, bringing their own language onto the shores of an island whose people spoke regional dialects of Old English (a.k.a. Anglo-Saxon). They imported a huge quantity of French words, using their own pronunciation of ‘J’: ‘dz^h’ (as in modern English “judge”). Changes such as this one would be among the transformations from the language of Anglosaxon Britain into Middle English.

[Note *: In the example Latin word, both ‘u’ are short, thus those vowels would be classically pronounced as ‘oo’ as in English “hook”.]

Judæa [ D R A F T ]

Latin “Iūdæ ·a” (Greek «Ιουδαία»), which appears, in various forms, 100 times in the Clementine Vulgate. In English, usually spelled either “Judaea” or “Judea”.

Made a tributary territory to Rome after conquest by Pompey (63 B.C.). Ruled by nonRoman surrogates, notably the Idumæan Herod “the Great” (r. 37--4 B.C.): builder of the port Cæsarea, the city Sebaste (originally Samaria), and the rebuilder of the Second Temple [Mk. 13:1] (Jerusalem, ca. 22--? B.C.). This was the Herod who gave the command to kill the Holy Innocents, thus during whose reign, the Christ was born in Bethlehem, and escaped with his parents to Egypt.

The sucessor of Herod “the Great” was his son Archelaus (r. 4 B.C.--A.D. 6 | 7), who survived his dysfunctional family long enough for Herod to designate him as his heir. But the Romans reined him in, allowing him to rule roughly half of his father's kingdom: not only Judæa, but also Idumæa and Samaria--and those only with the lesser title ethnarch, not as "king". There's a theory that Archelaus was the subject of the Christ's story of a “certain nobleman”, (“homo quidam nobilis”) hated by his citizens (“cives eius oderant eum”), and the coins (“decem m⟨i⟩nas”) that he entrusted to his servants [Lk. 19:12--27]; its lesson for Christianity seems far too obscure to merit its customary label as a ‘parable’[£].

Judæa became a Roman imperial province when Archelaus was deposed (A.D. 6 | 7). One of its provincial governors was the infamous procurator Pontius Pilate (r. A.D. 26--36).[**]

[Note *:

Note **: Note for Mt. 27:2. St. Joseph (Textbook) Edition of the Holy Bible.

Note £: Credited to "Exp. of the Gospel of St. Luke", by a MacEvilly. “26[...] from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken from him. 27 But as for those my enemies, who would not have me reign over them, bring them hither and kill them before me.” ]

Julian calendar

The Romans are notorious among historians for an awkward calendar. Perhaps an exaggerated sarcastic British accent, as displayed by the Monty Python comedy troupe, would be appropriate:

“ Great imperial administrators of Classical Western Civilization?  Oh, suuure!  They conclusively kicked Carthaginian  gloutós («γλουτός»), and they organised censūs throughout their empire, spanning Britannia to Judæa. But they couldn't get a simple calendar right! Even a child can count from 1 to 28, 29, 30, or 31; why wouldn't they? Oh! Excuuuse me! From I to XXVIII, XXIX, XXX, or XXXI. ” [#]

The Romans reckoned days of the month relative to 3 days named for their position in each month:

• Kalends: “Kalend·ae, -ārum” (f., pl. only);
• Nōnes (uncapitalized in a primary reference): “Nōn·ae, -ārum” (f., pl. only);
• Ides (macron over initial letter not shown herein): “Id·ūs, -uum” (f., pl. only); N.B.: 4^th declension.

Those were noteworthy, during the imperial period, as the days of the regular meetings of the Senate.

The 1^st of those days, as they would be counted in modern times, was the Kalends; it was the day for certain official public announcements, and quite sensibly, it was the 1^st day of each month. Where's the problem? The Romans reckoned days by counting backward--never forward--from it. The 2^nd and 3^rd of those named days were the Nōnes and the Ides. When was the Nōnes? Always 9 days (inclusively) before the Ides. So when was the Ides? It depends. Sigh.

Somewhere in antiquity, the Ides seemed intended to divide a month nearly in half, creating a half-way point (more or less). By custom, the ancient Roman calendar allowed ad hoc manipulation by Roman officials, even as substantially as inserting whole temporary months, yet despite seemingly unlimited power to keep their calendar synchronized with the solar cycle--and the annual seasons--they failed. In 47 B.C., the year before C. Iulius Cæsar put the first part of his reform into effect, the vernal equinox occurred on 5 June.[*]

The Romans had muddled along despite their ancient calendar's obvious flaws, until C. Iulius Cæsar, as dictator of Rome, advised by astronomers or mathematicians (whose identities seem to've faded into the mists of history), devised a calendar much more in sync with the solar cycle, in which the vernal equinox fell on 25 March.[**] He mandated that it be placed into effect beginning with A.U.C. 709 (the year that modern Christians would call 45 B.C.), and that became known as the Julian calendar:

• The Ides would be the 13^th day of Ianuarius (January), Februarius (February), Aprilis (April), Iunius (June), Sextilis: later Augustus (August), September (September), November (November), and December (December), so its Nōnes would be the 5^th day of the month.
• The Ides would be the 15^th day of Martius (March), Maius (May), Quinctilis: later Iulius (July), and October (October), so its Nōnes would be the 7^th day of the month. These were the only 4 Roman months before the Julian calendar that had 31 days; no other months had more than 29 days.[*]

Clear as mud? An example might be helpful. Or at the least, more effectively illustrate the confusing aspects. Consider the liturgical year for 2010:

Holy Week &c. 2010 according to the Julian calendar
feast or ferial day	Julian date (Latin)	Julian date (translated)	modern date
Palm Sunday	a.d. V Kalendas Apr.	5th day before Kalends of April	28 March
Monday of Holy Week	a.d. IV Kalendas Apr.	4th day before Kalends of April	29 March
Tuesday of Holy Week (Paschal Full Moon)	a.d. III Kalendas Apr.	3rd day before Kalends of April	30 March
Spy Wednesday	pridie Kalendas Apr.	day before Kalends of April	31 March
Maundy Thursday	Kalendis Apr.	Kalends of April	1 April
Good Friday	a.d. IV Nonas Apr.	4th day before Nōnes of April	2 April
Holy Saturday	a.d. III Nonas Apr.	3rd day before Nōnes of April	3 April
Easter (Sunday)	pridie Nonas Apr.	day before Nōnes of April	4 April
Easter Monday	Nonis Apr.	Nōnes of April	5 April
Easter Tuesday	VIII Idus Apr.	8th day before Ides of April	6 April

Beware that there was never a “2^nd day before” any named day in the Roman calendar. That's because they did not have the concept of a “day before” that modern readers would expect. The Romans counted time inclusively--including both the starting and ending day, so although the “ante diem” (“day before”), customarily abbreviated “a.d.” (often as lower-case “a.d.”), indicated the direction of the count, the Romans used a number that's greater by 1 than modern readers would expect.

There might be a simple explanation: Consider the millennia-old technique of counting on fingers, e.g., for the date of the Paschal Full Moon (in A.D. 2010) in days before the Kalends of April, which by definition is the modern 1 April (middle of the table above). So 1 April gets the 1^st finger; 31 March gets the 2^nd finger; 30 March gets the 3^rd finger: a total of 3 fingers. And the preposition “before” expresses the direction relative to the objective. So 30 March must be the “3^rd day before the Kalends”!  Should a Roman have been expected to think of it in any other way? [##]

An example of a Roman leap year is T.B.A. (the common-year example in the table above might already have caused too many headaches).

[Note #: Actually, because of counting relative to named days, any day of the month could be identified by using numbers never greater than 19, but depending on the month, sometimes only 18, 17, or 16.

Note *: “[...] the calendar had fallen into such confusion that in the year 47 B.C., the year preceding the one in which Julius Caesar carried out his reform, the vernal equinox came on or about June fifth.” Roscoe Lamont 1919: “The Roman calendar and its reformation by Julius Caesar”. Popular Astronomy (vol.?) 27, p. 584 in 583--595. Accessible as PDF: <http: //adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1919PA.....27> (5 consecutive dots appear in the original URL), “courtesy Maria Mitchell Observatory, provided by NASA Astrophysics Data System”.

Note **: In the Julian solar calendar, its unconditional quadrennial intercalary day added too much time, overcompensating by nearly ¾ hour over 4 years. Or more noticeably, 3 days in each quadricentury (i.e.: 4 centuries). It may be worth a reminder, here, that the 100^th year of the Julian calendar would be the modern A.D. 55, not A.D. 45. By the Council of Nicæa (A.D. 325), because of early errors that would be made in applying the intercalary days, the astronomical vernal equinox would retreat by even more in the calendar than would otherwise be expected: by 4 days, to 21 March. By the conclusion of the Council of Trent (1563), the astronomical equinox would retreat in the calendar by 10 more days, to 11 March. More precisely, the overcompensation in time was 44 min. 52 sec. (i.e.: excess total over the span of 3 common years plus 1 unconditional leap year), according to the Catholic Encyclopedia article “Reform of the Calendar” (1908).

Note ##: The finger-counting hypothesis occurred to the author of this Web-page as an inspiration, some time between mid 2011 and mid 2012, after years of puzzlement; he has not seen it in any (other) sources. Nonetheless, it'd be quite a surprise if someone else hadn't already thought of it in the last few centuries. ]

■ k

■ L

Latin

The Indoëuropean language of a population in the west-central Italian peninsula, whose cultural center was a riverside city known as “Roma, -ae” (f.). 7¼ centuries after its founding, Rome had grown into an empire, nearly encircling the Mediterranean, and Latin was the language used to administer it.

When the Christ was born, the Roman Empire ruled His native land: Judæa, the southernmost section of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. His parents: Joseph & Mary, were making a journey to comply with a census decreed by the empire's first emperor [Luke 2:1]. Following His crucifixion and resurrection, Latin was adopted by the expanding Catholic Church as the language of its sacraments in the West. Within 3 centuries, Christianity, i.q. Catholicism, became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

For centuries--1²⁄₃ millennia-- Latin provided a strong bond of unity among all Roman Catholics. Less than a year before he opened Vatican II, Pope John XXIII wrote: “The Catholic Church has a dignity far surpassing that of every merely human society, for it was founded by Christ the Lord. It is altogether fitting, therefore, that the language it uses should be noble, majestic, and non-vernacular.” It ain't a matter of nostalgia; see especially the extensive article “The necessity of Latin for the Roman Catholic Church” at the Traditio Network.

Considered more-or-less chronologically instead of geographically, at least 7 dialects or varieties of Latin can be identified:

• Ancient Latin.
• Classical Latin.
• Vulgar Latin i.q. sermō plēbēius: The speech of the plebeians (“plebs , plēb·is” (f.!)), which coëxisted with the classical variety.
• Vulgate Latin.
• Ecclesiastical Latin i.q. “Church Latin”.
• “Lawyer(ly) Latin”: Apparently a specialized use of the English pronunciation.
• New Latin a.k.a. “Neo-Latin”: The postRenaissance Latin (A.D. ≥ 1500) exemplified by European scientific literature. The neologisms for scientific names, e.g.: the binomial zoological classification system of Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné: 1707--1778). Mongrelization of Latin and Greek, i.e.: combining Latin and Greek roots into a (single) compound or hyphenated word, is not at all unusual, e.g.: “Neo-Latin” itself.

Lordly

Literal translation of postclassical Latin adjective “Dominic·us | -a | -um” into English. When routinely capitalized, it refers to “Our Lord  Jesus the Christ”. Often loosely translated with the possessive “Lord's” (which literally should be limited to the genitive singular of the corresponding classical Latin noun, i.e.: “Domini”).

■ m

m.

Abbreviation of Latin “meridies”, derived from “medii dies”, meaning “mid-day”. This is the same time-of-day as the modern “noon”. It divides each 24-hour day into 2 parts:

• Latin “ante meridiem”, abbreviated “a.m.”, meaning “before mid-day”, including the morning and forenoon hours.
• Latin “post meridiem”, abbreviated “p.m.”, meaning “after mid-day”, including the afternoon and evening hours.

English “noon” is the modern form of the Middle English “nōnes” (q.v.).

Mid-day is not the same as having the sun straight overhead: Popular tourism promotion of “sunny Italy” notwithstanding, the mid-day sun is never straight overhead anywhere in Italy, in any season, whether at noon or at any other time of day. Rome and Vatican City, e.g., both lie at 41°54' N. latitude, which is practically the same as downtown Chicago, or from the perspective of the U.S. East Coast, only ¹⁄₄° N. of the “Kennedy Compound” at Hyannis Port, but ¹⁄₂° S. of Cambridge (Mass.). In northern Italy, Venice (Venezia), Milan (Milano), and Turin (Torino), all situated between the 45°N. and 46°N. lines of latitude, are closer to the North Pole than to the Equator. The northernmost line of latitude (i.e., parallel) where the sun can appear straight overhead is the Tropic of Cancer (23~½°N), although only on the summer solstice (ca. 21 June) for observers right on that line. To Floridans, the line seems near-at-hand [#], because it crosses the Straits of Florida between Key West and Havana. But to Europeans, it lies exotically distant, spanning the Sahara Desert of Africa, and crossing the Hejāz of Arabia between Madina (ca. 25°N  40°E) and Mecca (ca. 21°25'N  39°50'E). To Europeans, it's so far to the south, that in Classical Latin, “meridian·us | -a | -um”, as an adjective, means “south”, “southerly”, or “southern” [*].

[Note #: E.g.: Orlando's Sacred Heart Traditional Catholic Church is located verrry near 28°30½'N  81°24'W, which makes Orlando farther south than anywhere in the traditional Holy Land: Not only Jerusalem (31°47'N  35°14'E), but even Cairo (at 29°52'N  31°20'E), is farther north than Orlando.

Note *: “australis” is another Latin word used to mean “southern”, as in “Terra Australis”, thus the modern name for kangaroo-intensive “Australia”. It's derived from “auster, austr·i ” (m.): “the south wind”, and broadly, “the south”. Perhaps surprisingly, this latter (arguably) redundant word seems not to have been assimilated into Latin from the seafaring Greeks; their words for the S.E., S., and S.W. winds were “ε̑υρος” (“ȇuros”), “νότος” (“nótos”), and “λὶψ” (“lìps”), respectively. ]

majuscule

Typographic letter forms that, since the days of printing with movable type, have been commonly called upper case.

Maryland [ D R A F T ]

The modern state of Maryland originated with the Maryland Charter granted by King Charles I , during his unilateral Personal Rule, to the Catholic convert Sir George Calvert a.k.a. Lord Baltimore (1632). Calvert intended the colony as a refuge for Catholics, but that's not the way the colony evolved. In England, Catholics were more harshly discriminated against than the dissenting Protestants (notably Puritans). Yet Catholics were far less willing than Protestants to immigrate from their British or Irish homelands to colonial Maryland, so they were a minority not only on the first 2 ships of settlers, but also remained a minority throughout the colony's history. Catholics were able to be persecuted in Maryland after Charles I and his royalists were defeated in the English Civil Wars (1642--1651) by the Parliamentarians, who openly hated Catholics.

[Note *: This is a preliminary entry, likely to be reörganized, if not disappear by having its text dispersed to other entries. Obviously, unless Catholicism in Maryland can be emphasized herein, there are far more authoritative sources on line for reading the secular history of the colony & state. ]

mediæval | medieval

Adj. literally signifying the “Middle Age(s)”. Neolatin from Classical Latin “medi·um, -i”: middle + “æv·um, -i” (n.): age. The ages were defined in retrospect, from the perspective of relatively modern European historians. “Middle Age(s)” typically refers to the age(s) between the “Classical Age(s)” and some much-later but much-less-agreed-upon time.

For the end of the “Classical Age(s)”, thus the beginning of the Middle Ages, there are a few compelling candidates for the line separating the ages:

• 402: Capital of the Roman Empire-in-the-West was moved to Ravenna by Emperor Honorius (r. 395--423).
• 410: Rome was sacked by the Visigoths led by Alaric, which began “the twilight of the [Western] Roman Empire”.
• 476: Last of the emperors of the Roman Empire-in-the-West: Romulus Augustus, was deposed by the barbarian Odovacar.
• 622: Muhammad fled from Mecca to Madina (both in W. Arabia): an event venerated by Muhammadans as the Hegira. His life was at risk because his preaching had made him increasingly unpopular with influential pagan Arab leaders in Mecca (W. Arabia), and his own influential protectors had passed away. This unconventional date for the line is suggested by the Pirenne Thesis (q.v.).

For the end of the Middle Ages, a narrow line is difficult to draw, but somewhere around A.D. 1500 seems to be about right, as exemplified from the dates below:

• 1095 (26 Nov.): Pope Urban II delivered a speech in Clermont (S.E. France) that stimulated the First Crusade.
• 1215: King John “Lackland” of England accepted the Magna Carta at Runnymede. The document was advocated by English barons, with the support of Archbishop Stephen Langton of Canterbury, but was opposed by Pope Innocent III, despite having excommunicated John only 6 years earlier (1209) for confiscation of Church property.
• 1223: Mongols in the horde of Chingis a.k.a. Genghis Khan routed a huge Russian army (assembled as a rare episode of unity by Russian princes) at the Kalka River. The Mongols would win victory after victory, ending their onslaught only after the death of Chingis in 1227, because of the hordes' customary withdrawal to Mongolia to meet to elect the next khan. The Mongols would return westward in 1236 to invade Europe.
• 1233: Pope Gregory IX established the Inquisition, assigning the Dominicans to investigate Albigensian heresy in southern France.
• 1292: Marco Polo returned from his travels in the Far East.
• 1338--1453: Hundred Years War pitted England and Flanders vs. France
• 1356: Holy Roman Emperor Karl IV issued the “Golden Bull”, which decreed procedures for electing his successors, conferring the status of elector on whomever held 7 specific offices at the time of an election:
  • 3 from the clergy, all archbishops of Roman-founded cities, i.e.: Köln a.k.a. Cologne (Colonia Agrippina), Mainz (Moguntium), Trier (Augusta Treverorum);
  • 4 from secular royalty/nobility, i.e.: the margrave of Brandenburg, the count Palatine of the Rhine, the duke of Saxony, and the king of Bohemia.
  Why not grant comparable privileges to any other kings in Europe? It may be sufficient to point out that this Holy Roman emperor not only was the son of the king of Bohemia, but also was himself the king of Bohemia, reigning as Karl I.  The “Golden Bull” remained in effect until 1806.
• 1384: Heretic John Wyclif(fe) of Oxford (England) died. Although originally merely a reformer, his theological treatises would later be promoted by John Hus of Bohemia. The socioëconomic revolutionaries dubbed Lollards claimed to be followers of Wyclif(fe).
• 1397: Greek scholar Manuel Chrysoloras arrived in Florence from Constantinople. He was the first public lecturer on Greek in Western Europe (1396--1400). This caused great intellectual excitement, because although books in Greek were avidly collected by the few who could afford books in the century before the invention of printing with movable type, practically no one in Western Europe understood Greek. By the year of his arrival, Florentine luminaries Dante (d. 1321), Giotto (d. 1337), Villani (d. 1348), Petrarch (d. 1374), and Boccaccio (d. 1375) had already died.
• 1415 (6 July): Heretic John Hus (B.Th.), who had served elected terms as rector of the University of Prague, was sentenced to death at the Council of Constance, then turned over to civil authorities, who burned him at the stake that same day. More than 5 years earlier, Pope Alexander V had issued a bull that decreed the surrender of all Wycliffe books, and renunciation of his (J.W.'s) heresies. Yet even afterwards, by his own writings, Hus had identified himself as a disciple of Wycliffe on theological issues. Hus had attended the Council of Constance after being invited to testify in his own defense. There he was put on trial, and received his sentence only after refusing to comply with conditions imposed by judgment of the council.
• 1440--1457: Craftsmen in Mainz (Germany)--or perhaps Haarlem (Holland)-- invented printing with movable type, perfecting it to a degree practical for books. Surviving early documents are referred to collectively as incunabula.
• 1453 (29 May): Osmanli a.k.a. Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople: capital of the Byzantine a.k.a. Eastern-Roman Empire. The Turks immediately made it their capital, distorting the imperial city's name into its modern form (Constantinople → Constantinopolis → ---stan----pol → Istanbul).
• 1455--1485: Wars of the Roses in England, named after the arms of the competitors for the crown of England: The white rose of Henry (future VII) Tudor of the House of York, vs. the (later) red rose of Henry VI and Richard III of the House of Lancaster. As if the 115 years of the Hundred Years War vs. France, just ended, hadn't been enough war for the English. Because of the uncertainty over royal rule, Parliament, which controlled the kingdom's money, increased in power. Eager for timely supplies during the long war, the king agreed not to change the wording of petitions presented to him, so the petitions began to be drafted as bills, and once approved by the king, became statutes in the modern sense.
• 1480 (Oct.): Grand Prince Ivan the Great of Moscow bluffed a Mongol army into retiring without battle, after months of facing each other across the Ugra River (Russia), ending centuries of supreme rule of Russia by Mongol hordes.
• 1492 (2 Jan.): Granada: the last Islamic stronghold in the Iberian Peninsula, surrendered to the Spanish Sovereigns: Fernando & Ysabella.
• 1492 (12 Oct.): The sailor on watch on the Pinta sighted land on a moonlit sea, on the first voyage of Cristoforo Colombo: a native of Genoa, sailing as Cristóbal Colón under a commission from the Spanish Sovereigns: Fernando & Ysabella.
• 1497 (24 June): Giovanni Caboto landed on the coast of North America near Cape Breton I. (Canada). Known by Anglophiles as John Cabot, he was a citizen of Venice, born in Genoa, sailing under ‘letters patent’ granted by King Henry VII of England.
• 1517 (31 Oct.): Martin Luther nailed his ‘95 Theses’ to the door of a church in Wittenburg (Saxony, modern Germany). It wasn't just any church; it was the church of the castle of the elector of Saxony.
• 1521: Henry VIII of England wrote Assertion of the Seven Sacraments, earning him the title “Defender of the Faith” from Pope Leo X.
• 1534: Henry VIII, having failed to get papal approval for his decision to divorce (1527--1533) his first wife: Catharine of Aragon, approved the “Act of Supremacy”, which designated the sovereigns of England “Protector and only Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of England”. Sir Thomas More, once keeper of the Great Seal, who'd resigned (1532) over Henry's remarriage and confiscation of Church funds (annates), when he later refused to take the oath accepting the Act, he was judged guilty of treason, condemned, and beheaded (1535).
• 1545--1563: Council of Trent focused the Church's response to the Protestant Revolt.
• 1599 (31 Dec.): Pope Clement VIII ceremonially opened the Holy Door of the newly completed St. Peter's Basilica.

mediævalist | medievalist

An expert in or student of mediæval history, literature, &c. Typically as an adjective herein, it refers to a special focus on documents produced in that period--more or less.

Documents produced from the Middle Ages into the the 17th century, provide the additional challenge of what are called mediævalist characters, including brachygraphic characters. These characters are not confined to manuscripts; they were cast into movable type and used on printing presses from their earliest days (ca. 1450) into the 17th century, including in printed Bibles. A transcriber must exercise restraint by not imposing her|his own interpretation, thus not substituting standard characters, even though doing so might make them easier for nonexpert readers to understand.

Nonbrachygraphic characters are problematic for current digital-computer character recognition technology:

• Some of them verrry closely resemble the Indoärabic numerals, e.g.: ‘2’ (‘R’-rotunda: originally from Beneventan in southern Italy), ‘6’ (Middle-Welsh-‘v’).
• Some of them, notably (mediæval) Insular letters, resemble Carolingian letters, e.g.: Insular-‘f’ & Insular-‘r’ potentially misrecognized as an incompletely-inked ‘p’.
• Some of them, notably mediæval-Nordic vowels, are ligatures that appear to be the result of bad kerning, but can include diacritical marks, and must not be separated into separate letters (potentially overcompensating to prevent common misrecognition of the consonant pair “rn” as the single nasal consonant ‘m’).

To provide the greatest opportunity for analysis of mediæval documents by computer software, each distinct character in a document, no matter how rare, must have a unique digital code.

meridian

Noun formed in English by dropping the inflected endings from Latin “merīdiān·us | -a | -um”: adjective derived from “meridies”, itself derived from “medii dies”, literally meaning “mid-day”. To the Romans, the adjective from which the subject word was directly derived also had the transferred meaning “southern”, because that's the direction in which the sun was seen at mid-day in Rome, regardless of the season.

In modern geography, an arc whose end-points are the 2 planetary poles (thus perpendicularly intersecting the Equator), identifying an arbitrary but identical quantity of global longitude (what might be called “westness” or “eastness”), along its entire length.

A prime meridian is a special case:

“a meridian proper to be employed as a common zero of longitude and standard of time-reckoning throughout the globe”
--Act of Congress, ‘approved’ 3 Aug. 1882[*] (authorizing hosting of, and appointment of delegates to, the International Meridian Conference [@], Annex I, p. 209)

Plausible meridians for ideal time zones, i.e.: ±7½°, in North America, include those passing through these places (almost all in the continental U.S.A.):

• 75°W.: Philadelphia, nominally at 75°10'W., within ²⁄₃ mi. of the Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE);
• 90°W.: New Orleans, nominally at 90°04'W., or Grand Isle, on the Louisiana coast (Jefferson Parish) at 90°00'44''W. (as perspective for snowbird readers, such a time zone's 82½°W. through 97½°W. span nearly perfectly encloses Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota);
• 105°W.: Denver, nominally at 104°59'W.;
• 120°W.: the northern ¹⁄₃ of the California/Nevada state line, which follows 120°W. (before reaching the S. shore of Lake Tahoe, the state line turns S.E., in a straight line all the way to the Colorado River, which might disqualify (the city) South Lake Tahoe, California, at 119°58'37''W., and favor instead the intersection of 120°W. with the lake's N. shore); or alternatively, the east end of Santa Rosa I., in the California Channel Is. (120°W. intersects the mainland coast in Santa Barbara Co., between Goleta and Gaviota, 2½ mi. W. of Naples Point );
• 135°W.: Whitehorse (Yukon, Canada) at 135°03'W.;
• 150°W.: Anchorage (Alaska) at 149°54'W., where the ideal meridian crosses land within its physical limit to westward sprawl: Kincaid Park at Point Campbell, where Cook Inlet splits into Turnagain Arm (S.E.) and Knik Arm (N.E.), extending at least 0°3 ¹⁄₃'W. of 150°W.;
• 165°W.: Nome (a seaport on the southern coast of the Seward Peninsula, Alaska) at 165°24'W. (way up at 64°30'N, the 24'E. to 165°00'W. is only about a dozen statute miles, where that ideal meridian crosses the headland of the city's namesake: Cape Nome; Nome has no railroads, but unlike practically everywhere else in Alaska west of 150°W., it does have a few roads out of town, albeit unconnected to any distant places in Alaska).

[Note *: No H.R. or S. bill numbers, nor P.L. number (i.e.: bill signed into ‘public law’) was given; elsewhere it was described as a ‘joint resolution’.

Note @: Formally the “International Conference held at Washington for the Purpose of Fixing a Prime Meridian and a Universal Day”, hosted in the Diplomatic Hall of the U.S. Department of State (District of Columbia), 1--22 October 1884. Protocols of the proceedings (i.e.: detailed minutes, although that phrase is arguably needlessly redundant). Pages cited for this conference are from this document, as scanned or transcribed by Project Gutenberg: <http: //www.gutenberg.org/files/17759/>. “Greenwich” appears on p. 6, 23, 190; “Jerusalem” on p. 22 (unattributed suggestion, mentioned without any details, by the president of the conference).

Middle English (M.E.)

Middle English: The language of England as transformed mostly by the Norman French language, brought forcibly to Britain by the successful Norman invasion in A.D. 1066. In the subsequent conquest, the nobility and ecclesiastic officials of England were replaced by Normans and others from the Continent having connections to the victors. Thus was the Old English (a.k.a. Anglosaxon) of King Alfred “the Great” of Wessex, replaced by the Norman French of Duke Guillaume “le Conquérant” of  Normandie, as the language of prestige in the conquered British lands.[#]

The new Norman ruling class, being the victors, were privileged to continue to speak their native language. The extant working class, never having had opportunities for advancement except the Church and the military, both of which were now dominated by their conquerors, continued to speak their native languages; would learning anyone's dialect of French help them plow a field or harvest a crop more efficiently? So it would be, that many decades would pass before much of the rulers' French entered the English dialects of those they vanquished [*].

[Note #: Perhaps surprisingly, the Norman French of these invaders from France was not the language of prestige in France itself. Across the Channel, it was the noticeably different Central French--the French of Paris--that was the standard. Middle English would absorb some words twice: once from Norman French, then the equivalent word from Central French (e.g.: “warranty” and “guarantee”, respectively).

Note *: E.g.: “vanquish” < M.E. “vencusche(n), venquisshe(n)” < O.Fr. “vencus” (past-pt.), “venquis” (past? pt.?), of “veintre” < Latin “vincere” (inf.), meaning “to overcome”. Despite the English word sounding so similar to “vanish”, the subject word does not have any connotation of extirpation (that means “wiping out”, in case any sports-announcers or sports-talk-hosts are reading this), nor of depopulating or devastating their lands. English “vanish” has completely different roots in French and Latin. ]

Miletus

Classical Latin “Mīlēt·us, -i” (m.), but adj. “Mīlēsi·us | -a | -um ”, from classical Greek «Μίλητος» (“Mílētos”). Its modern name has been Turkified as “Milet”.

An ancient city near 37 ½°N. 27 ¼°E.  on the S.W. coast of Anatolia (where it meets the waters of the Ægæan Sea ), in far-N. coastal Caria. Situated at the end of a point enclosing the mouth of an E.--W. oriented inlet known as the Latmic Gulf, it was also opposite the mouth of the Mæander River (which formed the coastal border with Lydia). The city was not so much “founded” by Ionian Greeks, as it was “conquered” from the Carians already inhabiting the locale. It was envied for centuries (especially until ca. 500 B.C.) as one of the wealthiest cities of the ancient Western world. Unfortunately for the Milesians, their long-advantageous coastal site was ruined by the forces of nature: 3 millennia of rising sea-levels, on top of 3 millennia of accumulated river silt that blocked the mouth of the inlet, transforming it from a marine harbor well-protected by offshore islands, into a silt-dammed lake.

Possibly visited by Apostle Paul after his departure from Corinth (ca. A.D. 52) that began his return to Judæa on his 2^nd journey (A.D. 50--52/53).[*]  Certainly visited by Paul on his 3^rd journey (A.D. 53/54--58), where it's famed as the locale of his farewell address.[Acts 20:15--17,18--38]  This last-numbered journey was made, for the most part, during the reign of Nero (r. A.D. 54--68). This was also where he once had to leave his fellow missionary Trophimus, because of the latter's illness.[2 Tm. 4:20][**] 

Sévérien Salaville 1911: "Miletus". Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 10. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10303c.htm>, retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010. (The article is much less detailed than an interested reader might've hoped.)

[Note *: A map in St. Joseph (Textbook) Edition of the Holy Bible (N.T.-p. 334) doesn't show a sufficiently fine level of detail. There's no mention of Miletus where it would logically belong in the narrative of Paul's 2^nd journey, after 1 ½ years in Corinth.[Acts 18] 

Note **: Trophimus was also mentioned as being in Jerusalem [Acts 21:29] shortly after Paul's 3^rd journey. The Catholic Encyclopedia places the illness of Trophimus in Paul's "Last years", after Paul was arrested for his 2^nd trial, for which he was first taken to Ephesus: provincial capital of Asia. Ferdinand Prat 1911: "St. Paul". Vol. 11. < http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11567b.htm#E>. ]

miniscule

The manuscript hand that replaced uncial for production of handwritten nonecclesiastical books or codices.

Typographic letter forms that, since the days of printing with movable type, have been commonly called lower case.

[Note #: Sir Edward Maunde Thompson ("E.M.T.") 1911: "Palaeography" § "[________]". Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 20, p. 563--567. For chronological perspective, Karl der Grosse (“Charlemagne”): patron of the manuscript hand that became known as “Carolingian Miniscule”, first Holy Roman Emperor, and sponsor of the Northumbrian educator Alcuin, died in A.D. 814; Alcuin: a monk and scholar, director of the cathedral school at York, “Master of the Palace School” of the Frankish royal court, and finally abbot of Tours, had died in 804. ]

■ n

name | -nomen [ D R A F T ]

From Latin “nomen, -inis” (n.). Latin had 3 categories of names:

• prænomen: familiar name, i.e.: the name called by one's family or friends. This is the name for which the Latin 1-to-4-character abbreviations are customarily used (i.e. customarily not writing it out in full). E.g.: “Gaius” (abbreviated as “C.”, not “G.”) in Gaius Julius Cæsar, or the preädoption Gaius Octavius.
• nomen ([¿]or genomen[?]): The gentile name, i.e.: the name of the gens or clan: a group of families (who are) connected by descent from a common ancestor. E.g.: “Julius” in C. Julius Cæsar, or “Octavius” in preädoption C. Octavius.
• cognomen: the family name within the gens, e.g.: “Cæsar” in C. Julius Cæsar, or “Cæsar Octavianus” in postädoption C. Cæsar Octavianus Augustus (“Augustus” was simply a title). Alternatively, an epithet, often attesting to military victories, e.g.: “Africanus” or “Germanicus” in Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus maior, or Tiberius Drusus Germanicus.

This Roman system of naming, which doesn't fit the English system prevailing in the U.S.A., encouraged the author-webmaster to assist fallible human memory by alphabetizing saints and other people according to their ‘first name’, even when a modern ‘last name’ could be inferred (e.g.: alphabetization as “St. Margaret Mary Alacoque” not as “Alacoque, Margaret Mary”).

natural number

Any integer (i.e.: whole number) that is nonnegative and nonzero, thus positive. Thus, the natural number having the least value is one (1). A computerist or mathematician attentive to such things would insist that when Roman numerals are used for counting, they're most correctly called natural numbers , contrary to their identification as cardinal numbers in at least one textbook (i.e.: Latin Fundamentals).

Nazareth

An ancient town in inland Galilee, about 5 mi. N.W. of the landmark Mount Thabor (i.q. Tabor), recognizable by its very distinctive profile.[+] The town is situated on a convex plateau above the plain of Esdraelon, at an elevation of approximately 1,200 ft. (above sea level). It's only 20% closer to Tiberias and the shore of the Sea of Galilee than it is to the Mediterranean Sea.[*] 

It was the hometown not only of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the time of the Annunciation, but also of her spouse St. Joseph. After their return from Egypt (ca. 4 B.C.), it was St. Joseph's house into which they settled with Jesus, and where the Holy Family continued to live from His childhood until the beginning of His adult public life (ca. A.D. 30). So it was that “He shall be called a Nazarene” (q.v.) [Mt. 2:23][†].

Captured in A.D. 637 from the Byzantine Empire, in the first waves of the Muhammadan invasions that had expanded northward from the Arabian Peninsula, conquering Syria (636), Iraq (637), and Palestine (Jerusalem falling in 638).

[Note †: James F. Driscoll 1911: "Nazarene". Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 10. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10724b.htm> (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010).

Note #: Barnabas Meistermann 1911: "Nazareth". Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 10. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10725a.htm>. (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010).

Note *: "Palestine in the time of Christ" (map), N.T.-p. 332; "Nazareth" (photo), N.T.-p. 315; and "Mount of the Transfiguration" (photo), N.T.-p. 319. St. Joseph (Textbook) Edition of the Holy Bible.

Note +: Barnabas Meistermann 1912: "Mount Thabor". Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14551a.htm> (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010). ]

New Spain [ D R A F T ]

Spanish colonial name for the audiencia (1527--1529), which was soon made a viceroyalty (1529[*]--____), for Spanish possessions N. of Panama in Central America (primarily Mexico, by land area) and Northern America (a zig-zag colonial border from Tejas, passing N. of the Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers Basins, to California). The latter, plus Coahuila, Sinaloa, Sonora (all 3 in N. Mexico ), and New Vizcaya (Luzon, Philippines) were later detached (1776) by the Minister of the Indies, into Provincias Internas that were ruled by a commandant-general  reporting directly to the Spanish crown.

[Note *: Although its viceroy didn't arrive until 1535.

Note #: The northernmost Spanish mission being San Rafael, in modern Marin Co. (San Francisco Bay Area, N. point of the Golden Gate). The imperially chartered Russian-American Company occupied lands around its Fort Ross, in modern Sonoma Co. ]

New Style (N.S.)

An alternative designation, abbreviated “N.S.” [*], to signify dates reckoned according to the Gregorian calendar.

It's especially relevant in the U.S.A. for the history of the British colonies in North America, because officially-Protestant Great Britain and its colonies had remained on the outdated Julian calendar until halfway through the 18^th century. By then, 11 days difference had accumulated between the dates according to the 2 calendars, which put the great mercantile power 11 days behind most of Europe; in 1700, even the Protestant states of Germany and the Netherlands set aside their resistance to this “popish” correction. This is why, e.g., the birthday of George Washington is now celebrated on 22 February (N.S.), instead of 11 February that was actually showing on the calendar the day he was born in Virginia. Great Britain and her colonies did eventually accept the Gregorian calendar, by skipping 3--13 September in 1752.

Its opposite is Old Style, abbreviated “O.S.”.[*]

This might be the only entry in these unofficial Web pages in which the word “New” is not an allusion to Vatican II, nor to the Novus Ordo religion that grew out of it.

[Note *: Presumed by the webmaster to be preferred by secular historians in the U.S.A. because it avoids an implicit concession to the Catholic faithful, disparaged as “papists”, that the correction of the calendar was a “popish” accomplishment, whose initial spread in Europe was among its Catholic states, accepting a “popish” decree (i.e.: the 1582 bull “Inter gravissimas”), and applying it to civil matters.

Consider that during the British colonial period, all of the chartered as degree-granting colleges in the future U.S.A.  were associated with Protestant sects to some degree. Listing them by their more recognizable modern names in order of chartering: Harvard (1650): Puritan (Congregational and Unitarian); William & Mary (1693): Anglican; Yale (1701): Puritan (Congregational); Princeton (1746): Presbyterian (officially nonsectarian); Columbia (1754): Anglican (committed to “religious liberty”); Pennsylvania (1755): Anglican (officially nonsectarian); Brown (1764): Baptist; Rutgers (1766): Dutch Reformed (Calvinist); Dartmouth (1769): Puritan (Congregational). (See “Colonial_Colleges” per Wikipedia: <http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Colleges>.)

There were no Catholic colleges in the colonies of British North America, although one was founded soon after the U.S. constitution had been ratified (1788). The history of Maryland made it the best place for a Catholic college to remedy their complete absence. The Maryland Charter had been granted by King Charles I , to the Catholic convert Sir George Calvert a.k.a. Lord Baltimore (1632). As the royally chartered proprietor, Calvert intended his colony as a refuge for Catholics, and indeed, the first Catholic college in the new U.S.A. was founded at Georgetown, then still in Maryland, in 1789, and started its classes in 1792 (cf. 1856 for the Maryland Agricultual College, which evolved into the public University of Maryland, in College Park). ]

noon ← nōne

The canonical hour “Nōne” sounds as if it could have a lot in common with our modern English “noon”, especially to someone aware that in Latin, unlike English, the quantity of a vowel [#] really is derived from the length or duration of the sound. This is indeed the source of the word for the canonical hour, simplified from Latin “nōna hora”, meaning the “9th hour” of the classical & mediæval day, which would be counted in modern times as 2–3 p.m. This was adopted in Old English as “nōn”, appearing centuries later in Middle English as “nōne” or “none” [†].

But how could the classical name of a midafternoon hour have been transformed into our modern English word “noon”: a synonym for midday? In classical times, the entire 3^rd quarter of the Roman daytime, which begins with the 7^th hour at 12 m., and ends with the 9^th hour at 3 p.m., was called “nōne”. But what about the 2–3-hour discrepancy between the modern 2–3 p.m.: the hour literally identified by “nōna hora”, and modern “noon”? It seems plausible [*] that somewhere around the time European culture abandoned the backward-counting Roman monthly calendar for the simpler and more useful forward-counting modern calendar, or about the time it traded hourglasses for mechanical clocks, the meaning of the word “noon”, retained as a matter of linguistic conservatism, had its meaning shifted to the beginning of the classical 3^rd daytime quarter.

In times of the day using the 12-hour clock, the modern “noon” is most correctly abbreviated as “m.”-- not “a.m.”, not “p.m.”, and not “n.”.

[Note #: The characterization of vowel sounds as ‘long’ vs. ‘short’, customarily marked, respectively, with a macron or a breve.
Note *: “Plausible” in the sense that the author of this Web page believes this to be so logical as to be likely to be true, but has yet to find corroboration in any of the references he's consulted. That may make this glossary entry not a whole lot more authoritative than a blog posting. Sigh.
Note †: The potentially confounding O.E. and M.E. words meaning “not one” (i.e.: modern “none”) were both spelled differently from the subject word, i.e., respectively: “nān” and “non”. ]

Norman French

The language of the Normans was not quite French in the modern sense.[#]  Only 1 ¹⁄₂ centuries had separated the granting of much of modern Normandy to the Norwegian Hrolf by the Carolingian King Charles III (A.D. 911) from the Norman invasion of England (1066).

That's exactly the same separation, in years, between the opening bombardment of the (North American) War Between the States (1861--1865), and the U.S. federal election for the Constitutional successor to 2-term President Obama (2016).

[Note #: It should be no surprise that a 950-year-old dialect of French “was not quite French in the modern sense”. But it might be a surprise that the Norman French of these successful invaders from France was not the language of prestige in France itself. Across the Channel, it was the noticeably different Central French--the French of Paris--that was the standard. The degree of difference between those contemporary dialects of French might be usefully enough illustrated by a pair of doublets (i.e.: words with the same meaning, from different languages) borrowed into Middle English:

• Norman Fr. “cattle” vs. Cen. Fr. “chattel”; and
• Norman Fr. “warranty” vs. Cen. Fr. “guarantee”.]

Normans

Late-Latin “Nordmann·i, -ōrum”: “North-men”. The chroniclers of the locales they raided were not particular about identifying their nationalities more precisely. Thus, in the British Isles, raiders might be labelled consistently as “Danes”, despite Scandinavian histories that authoritatively identified them as Norwegians. In general, the Danes and Norwegians raided lands to the S.W. and westward of Scandinavia, and the Swedes raided lands to the S.E. and eastward.

In the context of English history, the Normans can be considered Frenchified vikings. In A.D. 911, the Carolingian King Charles III “the Simple” had granted much of modern Normandy [@] to the Norwegian viking invader Hrolf (a.k.a. “Rollo”). In 1018, Normans had begun aiding Spaniards in Catalonia against the Omayyad caliphate of Cordova. Ca. 1060, a later generation of Normans began what would be 30 years of war against the Arab occupation of Sicily; it was finally recaptured for Christianity in 1090. In A.D. 1066, led by Duke Guillaume “le Conquérant” of  Normandie (modern N.W. France [#]), they sailed from French ports, and became the last successful invaders of Britain.

On 27 September 1066, the Norman invasion fleet sailed out of the R. Somme (from Ponthieu, a vassal county) for England. The fleet comprised 600--700 ships, transporting 7,000 men, plus horses for 2,000--3,000 knights & mounted esquires. The assembled invasion fleet had been waiting for nearly 1 ½ months for a wind favorable for crossing the English Channel.[†1] [†1½]

On 28 September 1066, the Norman invasion fleet landed unopposed at Pevensey (Sussex, S.E. England), one of the Cinque Ports. The invasion came as no surprise: King Harold Godwinson of England had been waiting for it, and had deployed defensive forces in the south of England-- including at the ports of Pevensey & Hastings-- thoughout the summer. But ca. 8 September, the defenders' provisions had been exhausted, leaving Harold no choice but to dismiss his forces. By then, the assembled invasion fleet had been waiting for a favorable wind for nearly a month-- and would wait for it nearly 3 weeks more.[†2]

Britain & Ireland were not the only victims of aggressive & ambitious Normans; the Normans who dominated southern Italy (1071) organized themselves as the Kingdom of Naples. On 26 November 1095, Pope Urban II delivered a speech near Clermont (S.E. France) that stimulated the First Crusade. Although there were geopolitical and religious reasons that justified his exhortation for a war against the Muslim Seljuk Turks plenty well enough for those times, it's also been suggested that Urban II was eager to find a task for Norman warriors that would be more productive for European civilization than their attacks on settled Christian populations.

For the linguistic impact of the Normans on the language spoken by the people of Britain, see the entries “Norman French” and “Middle English”.

8 centuries after the invasion, the Norman landing site: Pevensey, was no longer a port: The English Channel had receded a mile from the harbor.[‡]

[General notes: Herbert Thurston 1907: "The Anglo-Saxon Church [of Britain]". Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 1. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01505a.htm> (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010).

Herbert Thurston 1909: "England (Before the Reformation)[1066-1558]". Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05431b.htm> (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010).

Note @: Normandy comprises the 2^nd-largest peninsula of modern France, which ends in Cap de la Hague, plus land extending S.E. of the peninsula, but S. of the Seine (Brittany, to the S.W., is the largest peninsula of France).

Note †1: R. Allen Brown 1985: The Normans and the Norman Conquest, 2nd edn.  (Boydell Press: Woodbridge [U.K.? Va.?], ISBN 0-85115-427-1(h.b., xii+259 pp.), 0-85115-367-4(p.b.)), p. 130--133.

Note †1½: Gwyn Jones 1968: A history of the Vikings, 1st edn.  (Oxford U.: N.Y., xvi+504 pp.), p. ¿ 408¶3 -- 413¶2 ?

Note †2: Brown 1985, p. 133, 125, 131.

Note ‡: "Pevensey". Encyclopædia Britannica 1911, vol. 21, p. 338: Hastings was 1 of 5 original Cinque Ports; Pevensey was a ‘corporate member’ that was ‘attached’ to Hastings. "Cinque Ports". Encyclopædia Britannica 1910, vol. 6, p. 377--379. ]

Novus Ordo Seclorum

Late-Latin for “New Order of the Ages”, it appears as a motto on the reverse of the Great Seal of the U.S., and thus on the reverse of the U.S. 1-dollar bill. From Latin “sæclum” (originally the poëtic form of “sæculum”), which has a range of meanings, but in this instance, uses the grandest (albeit most nebulous) meaning, “the age” or “the times”.

The most prominent words on the seal: “Annuit Cœptis”, poëtically mean “He has favored our undertakings” [*]. The grammatically implied subject of the sentence is presumably “Nature's God”, the “Creator”, and “the Supreme Judge of the world”, to Whose “Protection of Divine Providence” the final sentence of the Declaration of Independence appealed.

[Note *: “Annuit, -ūtum” is apparently Mediæval Latin, from Classical Latin “adn·uo, -uere, -ui, -ūtum”, meaning “to assent to, or agree to, or be favorable to”, with the object of that favor being in the dative.

“Cœptis” is a neuter pl. perf. participle, sure enough, for the dative (and ablative) of the Latin defective verb “,, cœp·ĩ, -tus”, meaning “to have begun”, thus as a substantive, literally the “things [we] have begun”, or more poëtically: “[our] undertakings”.

So contrary to the context provided by the image on the seal, “annuit” is not a use of the noun “annus, -ī ”, meaning “year”, applying some irregular or archaic case-ending (e.g.: in the “u”-intensive 4^th declension), to mean something like “in the year”, which would seem plausible to introduce the “MDCCLXXVI” (A.D. 1776) at the bottom of the pyramid. ]

■ o

Œ, œ

The useful but overly-quaint-looking ‘OE’ ligature, indicating the Latin diphthong that might also be encountered as “ o͜e ” or “ o͡e ”.  Pronounced in Classical Latin as English “oi” in “oil” or “boil”. But “oi” in roots (and “o” in endings) of archaic Latin (which preceded classical Latin) had changed into ‘ u ’ in classical Latin. If the word had been assimilated later from classical Greek, the sound had been written in Greek with its corresponding letters «οι» (“oi ”).

The original Greek letters may be found transformed, e.g., following the archaic-Latin rule, from Greek «φοινίκεος» (“P^hoiníkeos”), to Latin “pūnice·us |-a |-um” (adj.), meaning, i.a. in Latin, “pink”, at least poëtically, although in Greek and more generally in Latin, various dark reddish colors from crimson through purple, whose dyes were credited to the Phœnicians.

Or following the assimilation rule, from Greek «Φοινίκη» (“P^hoiníkē ”), to Latin “Phoenīc·ē, -ēs” (f.), meaning “Phœnicia”: the seafaring nation that founded Carthage and Hippo as colonies on the south coast of the Mediterranean.

Old English (O.E.)

Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon (A.S.): The language of England that arose from the landing & settlement of Germanic invaders (adventus Saxonum): Angles (ethnically Scandinavian), Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians, in the Celtic lands of Britannia after the withdrawal of the Roman legions (A.D. 410--442). This language continued to change during the grim era of viking raids, opening with an initial probe in A.D. 787, but not beginning in earnest until a major raid on the east coast of Britain, victimizing the monastery on Lindisfarne I., off Northumbria (A.D. 793).

Old Style (O.S.) [ D R A F T ]

An alternative designation, abbreviated “O.S.” [*], to signify dates reckoned according to the Julian calendar.

Its opposite is New Style, abbreviated “N.S.”.[*]

[Note *: See the note under “New Style” for discussion of the inferred religious bias in this term. ]

or

English disjunctive conjunction, used to separate alternatives, commonly regarded as the grammatical opposite to the English conjunctive conjunction “and”. Alas, English usage of “or” is frequently ambiguous: Not only to present alternative persons or things that are all different from each other (e.g.: “eggs, bacon or SPAM™”), but also to present alternative names or terms for the same person or thing. How, e.g., should a self-taught reader interpret a history containing the phrase “Octavian or Augustus”? A choice between 2 different people, or just alternative names for the same person? This ambiguity could have been prevented by substituting the abbreviation of a Latin phrase for the ambiguous English conjunction “or”: “Octavian i.q. Augustus”, informs the reader that the man whose personal name is (Gaius) Octavius is the same man who has the title “Augustus”.

Latin has a set of grammatical conjunctions that can convey more precise logical meanings than those in English:

• “aut” indicates exclusive disjunction, i.e.: situations in which alternatives or choices exclude all the others, each being different from one another. In formal logic, it would be considered Latin for exclusive or, signified by the (mathematical) symbol ‘ ⊻ ’, for which the complete expression is true if and only if only 1 of its logical terms is true (i.e.: the complete expression is false if both of its terms are true).
• “vel” indicates inclusive disjunction, i.e.: situations in which alternatives or choices may be combined with some or all of the others, or in which alternative names or terms may be presented for the same person or thing. This is the same situation as expressed by the awkwardly redundant English legalism “and/or”. In formal logic, it would be considered Latin for inclusive or, signified by the (mathematical) symbol ‘ ∨ ’ (perhaps originating as an abbreviation for “vel”), for which the complete expression is true if any of its logical terms is true. Herein, the symbol ‘|’, used in some programming languages for inclusive-or, and much more reliably displayed on older computers, is used to separate alternatives such as adjective endings for the 3 grammatical genders (e.g.: “·us | -a | -um”), or alternative endings for the same case for the same word as used by different authors, e.g.: “dioecesis”.
• “seu” = “sive” (“si” + “vel”), which although related to English “or”, seems to be most useful when strung together for presenting positive or negative conditions and their consequences (to be translated, e.g., as “if ... or if ...” or “whether ... or ...”), instead of simply separating alternatives or choices.

ordinal number

Any number derived from a natural number, but used to express order instead of quantity. The ordinal number having the numerically least value is ‘first’ (1^st), because there is no concept of order that allows zero (0)[*].

In Latin, they are the uniformly declinable numbers that express position or rank, as distinct from counting. In English, this is the distinction between the sets { 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th }, and { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 }. Latin begins the former with the sequence “prīm·us, -a, -um (I.), secund·us, -a, -um (II.), terti·us, -a, -um (III.), quārt·us, -a, -um (IIII. vel IV.), quīnt·us, -a, -um (I.), ...”.

In contrast with modern English usage of Indoärabic or Roman numerals to express years A.D., in papal documents in Latin, it seems customary to write out the words for ordinal numbers (e.g.: the bull “Inter gravissimas”: in which Pope Gregory XIII decreed the use of his reformed calendar, contained 4 styles of identification for its date, i.a. “Anno [...] Millesimo Quingentesimo Octuagesimo secundo”: 1582). They are also used for identifying a year within the cycle of indictions, (e.g.: the same document: “Indictione decima”, also an example of ablative of time).

[Note *: No such concept except in computer science, in which “zeroth” and “0^th” are regarded as quite sensible in various contexts. Plus, possibly, in some branches of mathematics. ]

■ p

“Palestinian”

The Muslims whom the mainstream news media labels “Palestinians” are not ethnically “Palestinian”; they're ethnically Arab.  Absent a “Palestinian state” west of the Jordan River, ethnic-Arab Muslims are already the dominant populations of at least 11 countries in the Middle East (alphabetically):

• Bahrain: 240 sq. mi. (indep. island),
• Iraq: 167,934 sq. mi.,
• Jordan: 37,740 sq. mi. (whose claim to the “West Bank” of its eponymous river was ceded by its King Hussein to the PLO in 1975),
• Kuwait: 6,880 sq. mi.,
• Oman: 82,035 sq. mi. (90% ethnic Arabs),
• Qatar: 4,247 sq. mi.,
• Saudi Arabia: 830,045 sq. mi.,
• Syria: 71,502 sq. mi.,
• United Arab Emirates: 32,280 sq. mi.,
• Yemen Arab Republic: 75,294 sq. mi., and
• Yemen People's[sic] Dem. Rep.: 128,567 sq. mi. 

These listed Arab-majority countries occupy a total 1,436,764 sq. mi.[#]  Readers might be surprised at the vastness of Saudi Arabia, which by itself is only ¹⁄₂ % ( 0.463 % ) smaller than the combined areas of the 2 largest U.S. states: Alaska and Texas.

Israël has only 8,020 sq. mi. of surface area: That's only ¹⁄₁₇₉ ( 0.558 % ) of the total area of the 11 Arab countries listed above. Yet the U.S.A. is continually barraged with propaganda that insists that tiny Israel, which is a trifle larger than Massachusetts, but a fraction smaller than New Hampshire [##],  is the only possible home for people of the contrived “Palestinian” ethnicity.

That insistence might seem even more ridiculous than indicated by the first comparison, when one realizes the surprising truth that the Arab-dominated countries listed above occupy a greater area on this planet than the contiguous continental lands of 16 countries of the Cold-War Era in Europe, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean & North Sea, not only to the Iron Curtain, but also behind it (i.e.: East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland).[†]

[Note #: The total area of the 11 Arab countries in the bulleted list: 1,436,764 sq. mi.  Iran (636,331 sq. mi.) is omitted above because it's ethnically Persian; Lebanon (4,016 sq. mi.) is omitted because its population is ethnically & religiously diverse (at least by the standards of the Middle East: 2/5 Christian and 3/5 Muslim as of the date of the source, despite a religious civil war in 1975--1976). Egypt, Sudan, Libya, and other north African Muslim-majority countries are omitted despite the dominance of Arabic as their official languages, because some parts of their populations remain ethnically African (e.g.: Berber, Coptic, Nubian), in the presence of ethnic Arab majorities following mediaeval Islamic conquests.

Note ##: Sources for size comparisons to Northeastern-U.S. states and Mediterranean islands are at the entry “Israël” (on this Web page, above). Area given for Israel exceeds the 7,993 given in 1965 (Rand McNally 1965: “World Political Information Table”. Rand McNally World Atlas, p. 186--190), so it likely includes territory accumulated as recently as the last “Arab-Israeli Wars” (1967, 1973), but it likely excludes the Sinai Peninsula, which was returned to Egypt per their 1979 peace treaty (Rand McNally 1987: “Gazetteer of the World”. Rand McNally Desk Reference World Atlas, p. 225--295).

Note †: 16 European countries of the Cold-War Era (alphabetically): Austria: 32,376 sq. mi.; Belgium: 11,782 sq. mi.; Czechoslovakia: 49,373 sq. mi. (now split into Czech Rep. and Slovakia, both in 1993); Denmark: 16,630 sq. mi. (incl. Faeroe Is.); France: 211,219 sq. mi.; E. Germany (DDR): 41,770 sq. mi., and W. Germany (BRD): 95,981 sq. mi. (now combined into a united Germany); Hungary: 35,921 sq. mi.; Italy: 116,310 sq. mi.; Netherlands: 15,771 sq. mi.; Poland: 120,732 sq. mi.; Portugal: 35,555 sq. mi.; Spain: 194,908 sq. mi.; Switzerland: 15,942 sq. mi.; thus the total: 994,270 sq. mi.  Annexing the Scandinavian Peninsular monarchies: Norway: 125,188 sq. mi.; and Sweden: 173,742 sq. mi. (regional total: 298,930), thus the expanded total: 1,293,200 sq. mi.  (Rand McNally 1987: “Gazetteer of the World”. Rand McNally Desk Reference World Atlas, p. 225--295). Disqualifying the 4 major French, Greek, and Italian islands (total: 25,832 sq. mi.) in the Mediterranean Sea [‡] as plainly not “continental”: 1,267,368 sq. mi. , which is used for the comparison above.

Note ‡ (cited only in n. †): (“World Political Information Table”, p. 186--190), Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic islands (decreasing area): Great Britain: 88,756 sq. mi. (omitting Northern Ireland, “united” across the Irish Sea & North Channel); Iceland: 39,800 sq. mi.; Ireland: 32,596 sq. mi. (combining indep. Rep. of: 27,138 sq. mi., and U.K. Northern: 5,463 sq. mi.); Sicily: 9,926 sq. mi., and Sardinia: 9,301 sq. mi. (Italy); Corsica: 3,367 sq. mi. (France); Republic of Cyprus: 3,572 sq. mi. (including the illegally Turkish-occupied part); and Crete: 3,238 sq. mi. (Greece) (Rand McNally 1965: “Principal Islands of the World”, Rand McNally World Atlas, p. 193). Cross-checked island areas vs. political territories, via Rand McNally (1965: “World Political Information Table”. Rand McNally World Atlas, p. 186--190). ]

Pan-Turkism

An extreme policy of ethnic superiority and persecution during the last 3 decades of the Ottoman Empire, which had been initiated by Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II (r. 1876--1909), and continued by the Ittihadists (1913--1918), partially in response to a continual loss of territory that the governments of the Ottoman Empire considered theirs:

• First Serbian Insurrection (1804--1813) and Second Serbian Insurrection (1815--1817) , and the Treaty of Adrianople (modern Edirne)(1829) guaranteeing Serbian autonomy and religous freedom ;
• Russian-Turkish War (1806--1812); another between the same belligerents, except with Britain & France allied with the Ottoman Empire, known as the Crimean War (1853--1856) ; another Near-Eastern crisis, which heated up into another Russian-Turkish War (1877--1878); yet another declaration of war by the Russian Empire on the Ottoman Empire (1914);
• Greek War of Independence (1821--1832), whose intervention by British, French, and Russian fleets at the Battle of Navarino (i.e.: bay of Pýlos, S.W. corner of Morea, modern Greece) , (1827), waged with artillery at short range, devastated the Egyptian navy of the Ottoman vassal Mehemet Ali ;
• Russian expansion into central Asia by conquest of Kirghiz Steppe (1825--1855);
• Russian expansion into central Asia continued with conquest of Khanates of Bokhara (1868) , Khiva (1873), and Kokand , (all 3 in modern Uzbekistan: 1865--1876), notably including Tashkent (Uzbekistan: 1865), Samarkand (Uzbekistan: 1868), building Krasnovodsk (S.E. Caspian shore: 1869), and temporarily taking Kuldzha (1871) from China ;
• revolt on Crete (1866--1868), and insurrection on that island (1896--1898) with intervention by Greece, followed by evacuation of Ottoman troops, replaced by occupation by English, French, Italian, and Russian troops (1898--1909);
• insurrection in Herzegovina and Bosnia (1875) ; 2 insurrections in Bulgaria (1875, 1876), both suppressed by Turkish irregulars, later mooted in favor of Balkan nationalists by the bilateral Treaty of San Stefano (modern Yeşilköy, W. of Istanbul) (March 1878) and the multilateral Treaty of Berlin (July 1878), apparently tenuous until the declaration of independence (1908) by Ferdinand I, who styled himself tsar of Bulgaria ;
• independence of Balkan states, e.g.: Montenegro, Rumania, Serbia, via the bilateral Treaty of San Stefano (March 1878) and the multilateral Treaty of Berlin (July 1878), ;
• British military action in Egypt to defend the Suez Canal: shelling of nationalist fortificaions in Alexandria and occupation of Cairo (1882) ;
• Russian expansion into central Asia continued with occupation of Merv (Transcaspian)(1884), the latter near the frontier of Afghanistan, followed by a Russian attack on Afghan troops at Penjdeh (1885) , ; confirming British fears of a Russian threat to British India ;
• revolution in Eastern Roumelia (1885) , throwing off Ottoman control in this principality that had been split off from Bulgaria (its land S. of the Balkan Mts.) by the Congress of Berlin (1878), to reünite with Bulgaria (its land N. of the Balkan Mts. ) ;
• attack on Ottoman Macedonia by Greece (1897);
• Macedonian assassination of various Rumanians, followed by arrest of Macedonian leaders (1901), and insurrection in Ottoman Macedonia (1902--1903);
• Austrian Empire proclamation (1908) of annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina ;
• insurrection in Albania (1910), bloodily supressed by a Turkish army, followed by Albanian declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire (1912) ; and
• Tripolitan War (1911--1912) by Italy, seeking possessions along the Mediterranean coast of Africa, against the Ottoman Empire .

According to Pan-Turkism, the Ottoman Empire was to become home only to ethnic Turks, so residents of other ethnicities would be systematically removed or eliminated. The first area of lebensraum was to be secured by removing all Armenians.[†]  This was unnoticed by most of the outside world, which was focused on the political tensions and wars in Europe, notably the First Balkan War (1912--1913) and Second Balkan War (1913) , and World War I (1914--1918).

[Note †: The reportedly systematic genocide of Armenians by the Islamic government of the Ottoman Empire, a.k.a. the Turkish Empire, late in the 19^th C., and early in the 20^th C., is documented herein (albeit to a limited extent) in the entry “Armenia”.

Papal States [ D R A F T ]

More formally: the States of the Church (Italian Lo Stato della Chiese). Territory ruled by the sitting pope, as a temporal monarchy, for more than 1100 years (754--1870[&dagger]).

The territory began to be assembled in mediæval times. According to the Treaty of Verdun (A.D. 843), which divided Charlemagne's empire after his death, the early States of the Church were situated across the Italian Peninsula in a zig-zag band (a ‘ Z ’ rotated more-or-less 45° clockwise), from the Tyrrhenian Sea, N. of Naples, northward through Rome, then crossing the peninsula to the Adriatic Sea, extending along the Adriatic past the Po River, almost to Venice.

See, e.g.:

• An article in the Catholic Encyclopedia, published only 4 decades after the diplomatic indignity of the “Unification of Italy”, thus published while the sitting pope: Pius X, was the 3^rd of the 5 popes who considered themselves to be “prisoners of the Vatican”: Gustav Schnürer 1912: "States of the Church". C.E., vol. 14. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14257a.htm> (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010).

[Cf. Holy See.

Note &dagger: The entry “Unification of Italy” provides a more detailed historical ending. ]

Paschal Full Moon

Summary:  An astronomical event that's crucial each year for determining the date of Easter.

(Its substantive entry has been moved to the “notions” Web page on this site; a link to that entry on its new page is at the side-header, i.e., the header immediately above, and to the left, of the colored background on which this entry appears.)

Pirenne Thesis

An unconventional view of the transition between the ancient/classical age and the Middle Ages, first presented by Belgian historian Henri Pirenne in the 1920s.

His thesis argues that the most extensive and most permanent changes in Western civilization were not caused by the notorious invasions originating in the European forests (e.g.: Franks), nor along the northern seas (e.g.: Vikings, including the Normans, Goths [†]), nor even in the Asian steppe (e.g.: Huns, Mongols).

Instead, it argues that they were caused by the tide of Muhammadan invasions originating in the Arabian desert, which spread around and beyond the Mediterranean Sea (known in Roman-Greek times as “Mare Nostrum”). This era of change began with the Hegira (A.D. 622) of Muhammad. The followers he gathered hailed him as a prophet, but he did not confine his activities to preaching; he also led his followers on military conquests of neighboring tribes. By the time of his death, 11 years later (A.D. 633), his raiders and armies had begun to flood throughout--and soon afterwards, out of--Arabia.

Over the next century, the Muhammadan armies of his successors expanded northward to conquer Syria (636), Palestine (Jerusalem: 638), Iraq (637), Mesopotamia (641), and Georgia (733); expanded eastward to conquer Persia (652) and Transoxania (715); crossed the Indus into Punjab (713); expanded westward through north Africa to Morocco, conquering Egypt (642) and Byzantine Carthage (698) on the way; crossed the Strait of Gibraltar (710, 711) to conquer Spain (715), and crossing the Pyrenees into France (718), established themselves in its southern part. The only significant setbacks to the Muhammadan invaders in the 1^st century after the Hegira were their 2 major campaigns against Constantinople (674--678, 717--718), both failures--the latter practically annihilating the Muhammedan navy.

The Muhammadan invasions continued for centuries, producing widespread changes that have survived to modern times; not only in religion, where Muhammadism replaced paganism and Christianity, but also in language, where the Arabic or Ottoman Turkish of the conquerors submerged ancient tongues (notably Coptic in Egypt, and Greek in Asia), and replaced ancient scripts (notably Persian), of the cultures they conquered.

Conventional wisdom focuses on barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire as ending ancient/classical times, thus beginning the Middle Ages. But upon further review, Roman culture and its economy was not actually swept aside by northern barbarians. By A.D. 410, when declining Rome was first sacked during its imperial age:

• Church authors and leaders had already adopted Latin, the better to preach the message of the Christ to monolingual gentile residents in the Roman Empire-in-the-West. In A.D. 61, St. Paul and St. Luke had made landfall in Italy at Puteölī. They stayed 7 days with its Christian community, before continuing to Rome [Acts 28:13--14].
• Roman Emperor Constantine I had adopted Christianity, although it was a protracted process for him personally. In the Edict of Milan (A.D. 313), he imperially mandated toleration for all religions, including Christianity.
• Barbarians had begun to be converted to Christianity, e.g.: Bishop Ulfilas (Goth. Wulfila) (ca. A.D. 311--383), dubbed Apostle to the Goths, had devised an alphabet for Gothic from Greek, Latin, and Runic letters, then translated the Bible into it.
• St. Pachomius (A.D. 292--346), many centuries ahead of his time, established the first cenobium ca. 315--320, at Tabennisi (near Dendera, S. Egypt); his detailed rules and organization, assigning superior jurisdiction over all of the separate communities (10 before his death, but then still growing) to the chief monk of the chief community, made it de facto the first religious order.  St. Martin of Tours (ca. A.D. 325--397) established the first Western monastery, near Poitiers (360), among the Romanized Celt population of Gaul (Auvergne).  St. Honoratus (d. 429) founded an even more influential monastery on the island Lérins (ca. 400), off the S.E. coast of Gaul.

Although deservedly notorious for their destructive & bloody invasions, many northern barbarians would develop an admiration for Rome, and copy its customs and laws. Ordovacar (r. 476--493[?]), e.g., of uncertain--but certainly nonRoman--ethnicity, who ruled the Empire-in-the-West after deposing its final Roman-named emperor, was an Arian Christian who ruled in coöperation with the Roman Senate, and did not interfere with existing Roman administration. But that level of administration couldn't be maintained. Education suffered a widespread decline as the educated population fled or otherwise dwindled. The barbarians proved totally unsuited to replacing them; however, the Church, which was settling many formerly itinerant bishops & clerics into sees, began to fill the leadership & organizational vacuum in public activities and services for which the Roman Empire had previously been responsible.

Barbarians were typically absorbed into the populations they invaded, where the former's pure native Germanic or Asiatic tongues would give way to a barbarized variety of the local tongues, e.g.: Asiatic Bulgars became Slavicized Bulgarians; Vikings became Frenchified into Normans or Slavicized into Russians; Lombards became northern Italians; Vandals became Corsicans, Sardinians, or Sicilians; already-Christian Visigoths settling between Thrace and the Danube with imperial permission became the pastoral Moesogoths, thus eventually Bulgarians or Crimeans. After Rome abandoned Britannia to its Celtic natives, invading Angles, Friesians, Jutes, and Saxons combined with them to become Anglosaxons, and after later waves of “Danes” and Normans, the island became English. The major noteworthy exception in Europe seems to be the Magyars, who became the European people known as Hungarians (although they call themselves and their language Magyar), but despite a tongue that remained steadfastly nonIndoëuropean, even the Hungarians adopted the Christianity of Rome and the culture of Europe.

[Note &dagger: Are mere amateur historians expected to ignore the island named Gotland in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Latvia? ]

Pontus

Classical Latin “Pont·us, -i” (m.), from classical Greek «Πόντος»:

• (The) Black Sea , especially as “Pontus Euxīnus”, from classical Greek «Εύξεινος» (“Eúk͜seinos”), thus the “Hospitable Sea”.
• Independent kingdom along the S.E. coast of the Black Sea, especially that of Mithridates. Eventually surrendered to Romans.
• Roman province along the S.E. coast of the Black Sea, loosely in N.E. Anatolia. Once reduced in size by carving out Paphlagonia from its W. side. Centuries later, Pontus was elevated to an imperial diocese (probably in the imperial reörganization by Emperor Diocletian), occupying much of N. Anatolia.

Cf. Asia.

prefecture

Latin “praefectur·a, -ae” (f.).

Under late-postclassical Roman imperial rule, as reörganized by Emperor Diocletian (r. A.D. 284--305), while he and the empire were still persecuting Christianity, the prefecture was the largest of 3 hierarchical levels of territorial organization. Each was ruled by a ‘praetorian prefect’ (“praefect·us, -i”).

E.g.: ca. A.D. 400, there were 4 (Roman imperial) prefectures, each containing 2--5 of the 13 dioceses total [#]:

• Prefecture of Oriens a.k.a. the East : Dioceses (5) of Asia, the East (incl. Arabia Petræa, Palestine, and Syria), Egypt, Pontus, and Thrace.
• Prefecture of Gaul : Dioceses (3) of Britain, Gaul, and Spain.
• Prefecture of Illyricum : Dioceses (2) of Dacia, and Macedonia.
• Prefecture of Italy : Dioceses (3) of Africa, Italy, and Rome.

[Note #: Rand McNally Atlas of World History 1957 ]

province

Latin “provinci·a, -ae” (f.).

The lowest of 3 hierarchical levels of territorial organization under late-postclassical Roman imperial rule, as reörganized by Emperor Diocletian (r. A.D. 284--305), while he and the empire were still persecuting Christianity. Each was ruled by an imperial official whose title is commonly translated as “governor” or the more Latinate “procurator” [†].

E.g.: ca. A.D. 400, each of the more than 100 provinces was part of a diocese (and each diocese was part of a prefecture).[#]

[Note †: Latin has a word phonetically verrry close to the English word “governor”: “gubernat·or, -oris” (m.), literally “helmsman”. Yet St. Jerome, compiling the Vulgate from no-longer-extant documents potentially in St. Matthew's original Aramaic, and St. Luke's original Greek, chose different Latin words. E.g.: “præ·ses, -sidis”, as a substantive, was used for Cyrinus of Syria at the time of the birth of the Christ [Lc. 2:2 (Clementine)] and for Pontius Pilate during the Passion of the Christ [Lc. 2:2,11 (Clementine)].

Note #: Rand McNally Atlas of World History 1957 ]

Puteölī

Ancient port city in Campania (Italy) situated on the shore of the Bay of Puteölī, which is the south-facing westernmost lobe of the 3-lobed Bay of Naples [*]. At one time not only “the greatest commercial harbor of Italy” , but also, with its mineral springs, a resort popular with the classical Romans. According to 1 historian, “[u]nder the [Roman E]mpire, we find Eastern cults taking root here sooner than in Rome.”  Fascinatingly, according to St. Jerome, it was founded, as Dicaearchia ca. 520 B.C., by Samians, i.e.: residents of Samos, the Greek island just offshore of Ephesus.

Surviving to the present as Pozzuoli, it has almost certainly been absorbed into metro Naples (Greek Neapolis).

[Note *: Cf. 2-lobed Tampa Bay, both of whose lobes open to the south. ]

■ q

q.v.

Abbreviation for Latin “quod vide”, literally meaning “which see”, or more colloquially, “so go look over there”. Identifies a name or term under which more information is available to a reader.

It would be stretching its utility too much to say that “q.v.” is the ink-on-parchment equivalent of an Internet hyperlink, because actually finding the text thus referenced is an exercise for the reader. Use of the abbreviation in hard-copy documents (arguably) should be limited to situations where the location of the referenced text would be unambiguous--if not plainly obvious--e.g.: content presented in alphabetical order.

Unlike for hard-copy documents, it's easy to duplicate material on a Web page. But even freed from concerns about consumption of paper (or pricey ink-jet cartridges), duplication is undesirable from the requirement to keep the page as maintainable as practical by a single volunteer. So although some entries, especially those presenting historical events, might be more simply read if substantial duplication were provided to place those events into their historical contexts, editorial choices have been made about which of 2 (or more) entries should present details that are relevant to each of those related entries. So as these Web pages are being elaborated, “q.v.” is increasingly used to identify links[*] to other entries in which closely related information was placed, e.g., as split between “Unification of Italy” and “Vatican I”.

[Note *: But because many readers are likely to be unfamiliar with what “q.v.” abbreviates, the link on it reaches this definition entry. ]

quarter

The major division of daytime & nighttime for the classical Greeks and Romans, being 1/4 of each of day & night, for a total 8 of these minor divisions per cycle of daytime + nighttime. The length of a daytime quarter varied according to the time between sunrise & sunset, and the length of a nighttime quarter according to the time between sunset & sunrise. Each quarter was divided into 3 hours.

What did the Romans name their quarters? The Romans were notorious among historians for an awkward calendar (q.v.) that reckoned days of the month by counting backward. Alas, the Romans also named each quarter of their days after the hours that ended them [*]. That seems highly illogical in modern times, in which we count minutes from the beginning of an hour. Considering a sequence of examples [@] might be most helpful, beginning with the 1^st quarter of the day (modern 06:00–09:00 i.q. 6 a.m.–9 a.m.). Although that quarter begins with the 1^st hour (modern 06:00–07:00 i.q. 6 a.m.–7 a.m.), the Romans did not name it “Prime” after its first hour. Nope, they named it instead after its last hour: the 3^rd hour of the day, which ends at 9 a.m.; thus to the Romans, the entire 1^st quarter was “Terce”. At least the Romans were consistent. The entire 2^nd quarter, which begins with the 4^th hour at 9 a.m., but ends with the 6^th hour at 12 m., was called “Sext”. The entire 3^rd quarter, which begins with the 7^th hour at 12 m., and ends with the 9^th hour at 3 p.m., was called “Nōne”.

[Note *: The author of this Web-page is shocked-- just shocked! Cf. “calendar”.
Note @: The examples use the Anglicized form of the Latin word for each hour or quarter. ]

Quirinal

The site, in Rome, of the Quirinal Palace: the official papal residence for 3 centuries after its completion (1574) for Pope Gregory XIII (of eponymous calendar fame).

Alas, the ‘Unification of Italy’ (1870) included the conquest of almost all the other territory in Italy that until then had remained under the pope's temporal rule. When almost all of Rome was officially assimilated into the Kingdom of Italy, the Quirinal Palace was confiscated from the Church, to became the royal palace for that kingdom (Victor Emmanuel, prop.).

■ r

r.

Abbreviation for Latin “regēns” (present participle of “rego, regere, rexi, rectum”: “to guide or rule”), thus literally meaning, i.a., “ruling”. It precedes the date(s) of rule, and is provided as clarification that a given date or pair of n-dash-separated dates do not signify a ruler's entire lifetime. Academic custom seems to be that the first of 2 n-dash-separated dates does not identify a ruler’s birth, but the beginning of her|his reign; however, authors inside academia often seem to fail to clarify that for readers outside academia.

Cf. “regnāns” (present participle of “regno, regnare”: “to reign”): “reigning”. Cf. “s.” for “sedēns”.

Ravenna

A Roman city (44°25'N. 12°11'E. ) on the Italian peninsula, south of the Po delta, on the N.W. coast of the Adriatic Sea. Capital of the Roman Empire-in-the-West beginning in A.D. 402, having been moved from Rome by Emperor Honorius (r. 395--423).

Reims

Also spelled “Rheims”. The former Durocortorum: capital of the Remi (a.k.a. Rhemi) people of N. Gaul, whose land was added to the Roman province Gaul by C. Iulius Cæsar.

In the context of English-speaking Roman Catholicism, it was the archepiscopal see and site of the university to which the English College evacuated from Douay in 1578. Most notably, its Catholic scholars produced the 1^st-ever Roman Catholic Bible in English, fully traditional, cited nowadays as the DRV (q.v.). Its translation of the New Testament & Old Testament were completed in Reims. Its New Testament was published there in 1582, and was sometimes called the Reims Testament.

In the 20^th century, it made news as the city in N.E. France where Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, on 7 May 1945.

Rome

A disease-infested [†] city (41°54'N. 12°28'E. ) along the banks of the Tiber River, near the west coast of the central Italian peninsula, known in Latin as “Roma, -ae” (f.). According to tradition, it was founded in the 753^rd year before the birth of the Christ, with its population concentrated on the classical “7 Hills” inland of the left bank (i.e.: E. side) of the Tiber [‡]:

• Palatine (legendary site of the foundation of the city by Romulus);
• Capitoline;
• Aventine (closest to the bank of the Tiber); then farther inland, S. to N.:
• Caelian;
• Esquiline;
• Viminal; and
• Quirinal (highest of the 7 Hills).

Initially ruled by a series of kings, a popular revolt against Tarquinus Superbus in 509 B.C. culminated in his expulsion and the declaration of a republic. The Republic survived 500 years of military expansion around the Mediterranean (including through Anatolia), plus the political rivalries that arose from its military successes.

Gauls under Brennus sacked Rome in 390 B.C., occupying all but the Capitol. They departed after 7 months for reasons lost to history, although bribery is not out of the question. Rome would fight 4 wars against Gauls arriving in central Italy from Cisalpine Gaul, in 367--345 B.C.  Fully 8 centuries would pass before Rome would be sacked again, its internal tranquility ended by Visigoths under their king Alaric, in A.D. 410.

C. Iulius Cæsar led an army south across a river known as “Rubico, -onis” (m.); although hydrologically a minor river, it was then the eastern boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and Italia itself. The crossing ignited civil war(s), spanning 18 years (49--31 B.C.). The republic seemed no longer big enough for its 2 triumvirates: neither the First: Gn. Pompeius (“the Great”), M. Licinius Crassus, and C. Iulius Cæsar, nor the Second (43 B.C.): M. Antonius Triumvir, M. Aemilius Lepidus, and C. Octavius (i.q. C. Iulius Cæsar Octavianus). Other powerful leaders, notably M. Iunius Brutus and C. Cassius Longinus, were determined to retain the republic, but were swept aside, and 300 senators plus 2000 ‘knights’ were executed in a purge (43 B.C.) by the Second Triumvirate. The transformation from Roman Republic to Roman Empire was formalized by the Senate, conferring the title “Augustus” on Octavianus, as the first emperor (27 B.C.--A.D. 14) of the empire.

The Christ was born during the journey by Joseph & Mary to comply with the census decreed by this first emperor [Luke 2:1]. The Christ was crucified under the authority of the empire's procurator of Judæa: Pontius Pilatus.

According to 1 tradition, St. Peter had arrived in Rome in A.D. 42 (although the New Testament provides evidence contrary to such an early arrival), and was martyred in 67. In the interim, Rome had burned for 6 days in A.D. 64, and reigning emperor Lucius Domitius Nero (r. 54--68) blamed Christians for the resulting destruction of ²⁄₃ of the city.

Even far from Rome, the Apostles were not safe from imperial persecution: St. John was arrested in Ephesus in A.D. 95 on orders of Emperor Domitian, taken prisoner to Rome, and cast into a cauldron of boiling water outside the city gate at the Via Latina, a punishment that he miraculously survived.

4 centuries later (452), the once-persecuted Church would earn the gratitude of Romans, when Pope Leo I “the Great” (s. 440--461), accompanied by the senators Avienus and Trigetius, journeyed as ambassadors of Rome to the camp of Huns led by Attila, dubbed the “Scourge of God”, who had resolved to continue his invasion and conquer Rome. But meeting him outside Mantova (Eng.: Mantua) near the River Mincio (Po Valley, N. Italy), the ambassadors ended the immediate threat to Rome. Tradition says that it was not only Leo's pleas for mercy, but also the miraculous appearance of Sts. Peter and Paul  in bishop's vestments, bearing swords held defensively over the head of Leo, and as a plain threat to Attila, that convinced the King of the Huns to withdraw beyond the Danube to (modern) Hungary. Attila died in Hungary in the following year.

[Note †: Especially malaria and typhoid, the latter so prevalent before the 20^th century that it was dubbed “Roman fever”. On the Campagna (i.e.: plains) outside Rome, e.g.: the Trappist moastery of the Tre Fontane, 4 mi. S. on the Via Ardeatina, “in former times it was almost fatal to spend the whole summer there”.

Note ‡: What about the Vatican Hill !?  It's not among the classical “7 Hills of Rome” because it's inland of the right bank (i.e.: W. side) of the Tiber. ]

Rouen

From Latin “Rothomag·us, -i[?]” (mediæval “Rothomagens·i” presumably a derived adj.).

A city on the River Seine, roughly  ¹⁄₃ way upriver from the English Channel to Paris. The see of a Carolingian/Neustrian archdiocese, it was the original city granted to the Normans.

■ s

S. | s.

The letter is used on this Web-site with 3 meanings (the initial 2 in uppercase, the latter 1 in lowercase):

• When immediately preceding the name of a person who has been canonized by the Church: the ecclesiastical honorific “Sanct·us | -a” (m.|f.), customarily translated to English as “Saint” (q.v.).
• When in the context of days of the week: Abbreviation for modern-English “Saturday” (never herein for “Sunday”). Evolved through Old English “Sater(nes)dæg”, from preChristian Classical Latin “Dies Saturni”, meaning “Day of Saturn” [*].
  
  This day's claim on the letter ‘S’ is reïnforced by being known to English-speaking Christians as the Jewish sabbath. Perhaps assimilated by Latin most directly as a tranliteration from the Classical Greek nominative case «σάββατα», it's pronounced similarly to the late Classical Latin “Sabbata”.
  
  The letter ‘S’ is useful by itself to distinguish Saturday from Sunday (‘D’), whenever the days of the week are most practically abbreviated by single letters. Cf. ‘D’ and ‘Þ’ usage herein to complete the minimal unambiguous abbreviation of the days of the week.
• When immediately preceding a single year or a range of years: an abbreviation for Latin “sedēns” (present participle of “sedeo, sedēre”: “to sit”), thus literally meaning “sitting” (although more formally worded in English as “occupying”), used herein especially for any pope and the Holy Chair of St. Peter, but also applicable to any other level of episcopal see. It precedes the date(s) seated as pope (or bishop &c.) in his see, and is provided as clarification that a given pair of n-dash-separated dates do not signify a pope's (or bishop's &c.) entire lifetime. When a mathematical less-than sign ‘≤’ appears after the n-dash, it signifies that the 2^nd date shown is not that of his own death or resignation, but that of his successor's election or coronation (or consecration).
  
  Cf. “r.” for “regēns”.

[Note *: Saturnus was not only, since Cicero (106--43 B.C.), the outermost of the planets known in classical times, but also the ancient Italic god of agriculture (from partic. “satum” of “sero, serere”: to sow), bearing the earthy epithet “Stercutus” or “Sterculius”, as the god of fertilizing manure (Latin “stercus, -oris” (n.) ). The earliest surviving connection of Saturnus to this day of the week is surprisingly recent, not being attested until the elegiac poetry of Albius Tibullus (ca. 54--19 B.C.).

Note #: See also the discussion of the week, with special attention given to its use by the Catholic Church. ]

sæculum

Latin “sæcul·um, -i” (n.), a word with a range of meanings:

• literally, the duration of 1 human generation, taken by the Romans to be 33 ¹⁄₃ years. So, expressed as a formula in Roman numerals: C = III × sæculum.
• broadly, the maximum human lifetime, taken by the Romans to be 100 years. Perhaps merely a Latinization of an Etruscan concept: “The length of the longest life of all those born in the year in which the preceding oldest inhabitant died”.  Although the length reported for the 1^st inhabitant was a tidy 100 years, all later ones were longer, the longest having been 123 years. This mattered greatly to the Etruscans, because of their belief that their civilization would last 10 sæcula, reckoned from their appearance on the Italian Peninsula in approximately 1000 B.C.
• grandly but nebulously, meaning “the age” or “the times”.

Because all the classical meanings above express finite time, they are considered conceptually opposite from infinite time, i.e., eternity. English “secular”, from Latin “sæcularis, -e” means “worldly”, generally as distinct from “religious”.

San Agustin

The Spanish settlement on the site of the modern city St. Augustine[*] in St. Johns Co., Florida. It was the seat of the Adelantado de la Florida, who governed the land officially claimed for King Felipe II of Spain on 8 September 1565.  The settlement bore that name because the expedition led by the Asturian explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés first sighted the coast of La Florida on 28 August: the feast-day of St. Augustine of Hippo (Roman N. Africa). Menéndez de Avilés did not land until more than a week later (6 September).[†] It's the oldest permanently occupied European-established city in the modern U.S.A. 

The expedition of Menéndez de Avilés did not “discover Florida” in the Eurocentric sense; that honor belongs to the expedition of Juan Ponce de León, who first anchored off Florida, somewhere south of Cape Canaveral (Brevard Co.), on 2--8 April 1513. But if Juan Ponce met any Amerindians when he went ashore to formally claim the land, no record of that has survived.[*]

Historical records document San Agustin as the site of the “First Thanksgiving” (q.v.) in the modern contiguous states of the U.S.A. 

Florida was transferred from Spain to Britain after February 1763, which was the end of fighting in the Seven Years' War, whose theatre across the Atlantic in North America is known in the U.S.A. as the French & Indian War (1754--1762). Britain had captured strategically important Cuba after Spain entered the war in 1762 as an ally of France, thus an enemy of Britain. So much larger Florida-- Spanish since its Eurocentric “discovery”-- had to be traded to Britain by Spain as the price of regaining Cuba.

When U.S. Gen. Andrew Jackson recaptured Pensacola (Florida) on 25 May 1818, he ejected its Spanish governor, leaving San Agustin as the only significant place in Florida still actually under the Spanish rule that had been restored by the Treaty of Paris, which had formalized the British loss of the War for American Independence. The writing was on the proverbial wall. On 22 February 1819, Spain sold West & East Florida to the U.S.A. for $5 million, in what became known as the Adams-Onís Treaty, signed in D.C. by Minister Luis de Onís for Spain, and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams for the U.S.A.  It would not be until exactly 2 years later (22 February 1821) that Spain would ratify the treaty. Revolutions were spreading among its Latin American colonies, so Spain had delayed in hopes of securing a commitment from the U.S.A. not to recognize any of its colonies as independent countries. But after 4½ more months had passed, on 10 July 1821, Spanish troops & subjects evacuated San Agustin, which finally made the city part of the U.S.A. in fact as well on paper (i.e.: the treaty).

When the Catholic population of Florida had grown into being worthy of a see of its own, vere dignum et iustum est, that it was established on 11 March 1870 at the former San Agustin.[‡]

[Note *: For the possibly unexpected Spanish spelling of the city name, and for the expedition of the man who's identified with surprising familiarity as “Juan Ponce”, see Michael Gannon 1996: “First European contacts”. Chap. 2 (esp. p. 16--21) in Gannon (ed.) 1996: A New History of Florida. Univ. Press of Florida: Gainesville.

Note †: For the colonial geopolitical context of the expedition of Menéndez de Avilés, see Eugene Lyon 1996: “Settlement and survival”. Chap. 3 (p. 40--61) in Gannon (1996). See also, despite missing most 20^th-century scholarship, especially as motivated by the approach of the city's quincentennial (from Latin cardinal number “quīngentī | -ae | -a”) in 1965, (anon.) 1911: "St. Augustine". Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 23 p. 1016--1017.

Note ‡: <http://www.DoSAFl.com/>. Except that until 8 May 1968, Florida Panhandle counties (in this case, the 10 west of the Apalachicola River, i.e. (S.E.--N.W.): Gulf, Calhoun, Jackson, Bay, Washington, Holmes, Walton, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, and Escambia) were within the Diocese of Mobile (Ala.).  Alas, when the Novus Ordo church decided to elevate a Florida diocese to an archdiocese in 1968, it chose the one established only 10 years earlier in the city named Miami. Beware that students at Miami University in Ohio are insistent that Amerindians in the Ohio Valley have the right to that name.

Readers who are willing to risk the antiCatholic biases of Wikipedia might consider visiting the pages <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_Basilica_of_St._Augustine>, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Diocese_of_St._Augustine>, and <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine,_Florida>. ]

Santiago de Compostela

City and archepiscopal see in the N.W. corner of Spain. Formerly the capital of Galicia, it's situated on the E. slope of Monte Pedroso, between the Tambre and Ulla Rivers, approximately 40 mi. due E. of Cape Finisterre, and 32 mi. S. of the coastal city La Coruña. “The belief that St. James [the Greater] had preached in Spain was certainly current before A.D. 400. The relics of the saint were said, though the tradition cannot be traced back farther than to the 12^th century, to have been discovered in 835 by Theodomir, bishop of Iria [†][‡], who was guided to the spot by a star.”[*]  In Spain, this apostle is venerated as the patron “Santiago” (from Latin “Sanct-” + “Iacob-”) of the pilgrimage to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. The bull “Omnipotens Deus”, issued by Pope Leo XIII (1 Nov. 1884), confirmed the Hispanophile traditional identity of the cathedral shrine's relics, as the body of the apostle, plus 2 of his disciples (Athanasius and Theodorus).

[Note †: Iria was a Roman coastal outpost near the mouth of one of the 2 rivers (either the modern Sar or Sarela) that flows past Santiago. Ruins of a structure known as the Turret of Augustus have survived to modern times.[*] Therefore, it should not be confused with the Roman colony in Lombardy (Italy) also named Iria (its site possibly occupied by the modern town Voghera on the Staffora River).

Note *: (anon.) 1911: "Santiago de Compostela". Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 24 p. 191--192. The Catholic Encyclopedia article on this city does not report the charming tradition alleged by its British contemporary.

Note ‡: Or A.D. 813. (anon.): "Santiago". (Encyclopædia) Britannica CD 2000. It reports, in a doubly passive voice, that “a tomb discovered at nearby Padrón was said to have been supernaturally revealed to be that of the apostle St. James”. ]

Sea of Galilee a.k.a. Sea of Genesareth or Sea of Tiberias

The largest fresh body of water along the River Jordan, between the far north of the de jure modern State of Israel (1948), on its western shore, and the strategic Golan Heights held de facto by Israel since the Six-Day War (1967), on its eastern shore. In the ancient Kingdom of Israel, it was known as the Sea of Genesareth, and in Roman Palestine, as the Sea of Galilee (“[...] mare Galilææ”) [Mt. 4:18; Mc. 1:16], the same as the Sea of Tiberias (“[...] mare Tiberiadis”) [Jo. 21:1], according to John the Evangelist (“[...] mare Galilææ quod est Tiberiadis”) [Jo. 6:1]. The Evangelists reportedly never used the obvious “lac·us, -ūs” (m.), literally meaning a “hollow”, thus poëtically or otherwise classically, a “lake”. Although it's mentioned as Lake Genesareth in the Gospels, that's a kinder & gentler translation into English from the arguably insulting “[...] stagnum Genesareth” [Lc. 5:1], the noun literally meaning “standing water”, thus not only a “pond”, but also a “marsh”, or a “swamp”.

At “nearly 13 miles long”, and no more than “about 7 ½ miles” wide [#1], or perhaps 13 mi. long and a slightly more generous 8.1 mi. wide, with a shoreline of 33 mi., thus its water surface covering 64 sq. mi. (miles²) [#2], “lake” is certainly the most appropriate modern geographic term.

This biblical body of water has less than ¹⁄₁₁ the surface area of Florida's largest lake: Lake Okeechobee, over which were drawn, in the 20^th century, the converging borders of Okeechobee, Martin, Palm Beach, Hendry, and Glades Counties. This Floridan lake has 730 sq. mi. (467,200 acres) of water surface, situated an average of not quite 9 ft. above its famously shallow lake bottom, and is roughly half the size needed to qualify for a place on a list of the largest 40 lakes on Earth.[#3]

Much closer to the motivation for this Web-site, the biblical body of water has only ¹⁄₃ more surface area than what's now Florida's 3^rd largest lake: The somewhat harp-shaped Lake Apopka, straddling N.W. Orange and Lake Counties. At reportedly no more than 12.3 mi. long nor 9.7 mi. wide [#4], such a shoreline, if idealized into a circle, would extend 34.6 mi., enclosing 95.0 sq. mi. (60,800 acres) of water surface. Yet it reportedly covers only half that: 48 sq. mi. (30,800 acres).[#4]

[Notes #_:
1: Jeremiah Hartigan, 1912: “Sea of Tiberias”. Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14716b.htm> (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010).
2: Wikipedia article “Sea of Galilee”.
3: Wikipedia article “Lake Okeechobee”.
4: Wikipedia articles “Lake George”, and “Lake Apopka”, both of which even Wikipedia considers unacceptably flawed.[#5]  As shown on a DeLorme hard-copy 1:150,000 topographic map (A.D. 2000), Lake Apopka has an oblate semioval E. shore, and an S-curve W. shore. Cursory measurements of that shape gave it roughly 8 mi. length and 8½ mi. width, which makes the lake's reported length-&-width dimensions seem overly generous. Its shoreline, if idealized into a circle from the cursory measurements, would extend 25.9 mi., enclosing 53.5 sq. mi. (34,240 acres) of water surface. Before intensive agriculture began along the shores of Lake Apopka in the 20^th century, it had been the state's 2^nd largest lake. But in 1941, constructon of a levee along its north shore shrunk the lake by 20,000 acres, according to an article by the vacation-focused Lakelubbers.
5: Alerted by Wikipedia article “ List of largest lakes of the United States by area” to Wikipedia article-stub “Lake Kissimmee”, which shows its surface area as “141.43 km²”, thus 54.6 sq. mi., placing it 3^rd, which would drop Lake Apopka to 4^th. But that conflicts not only with the “Lake Apopka” article, but also with the “List of” article, where Lake George should be ranked at 66, and Lake Apopka in the high 90s, but both are completely omitted, instead. (Silly webmaster! Thinking that this comparison could easily & unequivocally be made by quick reference to authoritative sources!) ]

Sebast-

“Sebast-” is a popular root for naming a city with Greek connections, being derived most directly from «σεβαστός» (“sebastós”), meaning not only “reverenced or held in awe”, but also the synonymous “august”, so it was used as the Greek version of the emperor's own title: “Augustus”.

Thus far, 5 cities having a name with this root have become relevant to other entries on this Web site:

• Sebaste, the biblical Samaria: Near 32¼°N., 35¼°E., the capital of the Old Testament “North Kingdom” Israël. Conquered by Assyria in 722 B.C.
• Sebastia (modern Sivas) , whose location is confirmed by a map in a separate source as “Sebastia vel Cabīra [, modern] Sivas”: At 39°30´N., 37°02´E., shown near the N. bank of the river Halys (mod. Tur. Kizilirmak), then just inside Pontus [14].
• Sebastopolis on the E. coast of the Black Sea: Famous as the Greek colony previously named Dioscurias, at the far N. coast of Colchis, N. of the river Hippis (on another map, near the mouth of an “Anmhemus” or “Anthemus” River, its spelling confounded by ambiguous cursive engraved lettering), near 42°50´N., 41°10´E. [19].
• Sebastopolis in Galatia, originally named Carana: the site of a bridge over the river Scylax, and a prosperous stop on the route from Tavium to Sebastia. It had the epithet Heracleopolis, for its chief pagan god. The only “Sebastopolis” found (as subject) in the on-line Catholic Encyclopedia, it had been renamed to that as a Roman provincial city by apostolic times. It was a member of a conventus led by Neocæsarea. Imperial reörganizations repeatedly moved borders across it, in effect transferring it from Roman-allied Galatia into the provinces Pontus Galaticus (Octavian), then Cappadocia (Trajan), Armenia Secunda (per Justinian) and afterwards, variously “Armenia Secunda” or “Armenia Prima”. As a Christian center, it was a titular see, suffragan to Sebastia (q.v.). The river Scylax is shown crossing the border between Galatia and Pontus. Alas, a Sebastopolis, Heracleopolis, or a Carana that satisfies the description is nowhere to be seen; the same map does show a “Tavia” and the administratively related and historically significant city Zela [14].
• Sevastopol (a.k.a. Sebastopol), Russian « Севастόполь », on the N. coast of the Black Sea, on the W. side of the S. tip of the Crimean Peninsula: At 44°37´N., 33°31´E.  Founded in the 5^th-C. B.C. as the Greek colony Heracleotic Chersonese, it's situated at one of the largest roadsteads in Europe. Tatars founded the village Akhtyar nearby, in the A.D. 16^th-C.  Russian expansion annexed it all in 1783, designating it the principal imperial Russian naval station on the Black Sea, and giving it its modern Greek-derived name. It suffered devastating damage during the Crimean War (esp. 1853--1856), notably in the siege & bombardment that was begun by the allied English, French, and Turks in 1854. Although in Ukraine since the fall of the Soviet Union, the base contains space leased by the Russian Navy (a cynic might strongly suspect that the Russians made Ukraine an offer that it couldn't refuse).

[Map 14: “Asia Minor” (“asiaminor.jpg”). Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography. [This Web site typically uses the less ambiguous name “Anatolia”.]

Map 19: “Armenia, Colchis, Iberia, Albania, Etc.” (“armenia.jpg”). ibid. ]

sesquimonth

From Latin “sesquimens·is, -is” (m.), literally a period of time that spans “1 ½ months”. Thus, a sesquimonth is 1 of 8 parts of a year, albeit unequal, devised by the Roman historian Varro [@], to focus agricultural attention & effort on his own rural lands more precisely than was possible using the customary broad division of the year into 4 seasons.

IIII partēs	dies primus	[DRAFT] [*] VIII partēs	[DRAFT] [#] diēs	sesquimonths (sesquimenses)	res rusticae
ver XCI (91 days)	7 Febr.	8 Febr.-- 24 Mart. [25 Mart.]	XLV 45 [21+24]	primum a Favonio ad æquinoctium vernum
		25 Mart.-- 7 Mai. [28 Mai.]	XLIV 44 [7+30+7]	hinc [ab æquinoctio verno] ad vergiliarum exortum
æstas XCIV (94 days)	9 Mai.	8 Mai.-- 24 Iun. [24 Iun.]	XLIIX 48 [24+24]	ab hoc [vergiliarum exortū ] ad solstitium	Remove 1st combs from beehives (10 May); cut fodder; gather hay;
		25 Iun.-- 21 Iul. [2 Aug.]	XXVII 27 [6+21]	inde [a solstitio] ad caniculae signum	Harvest winter grain.
autumnus XCI (91 days)	11 Sextil. [11 Aug.]	22 Iul.-- 26 Sept. [24 Sept.]	LXVII 67 [10+31+26]	dein [a caniculae signo] ad æquinoctium autumnale (“dog days”)	Cut & stack straw; remove 2nd combs from beehives (before Arcturus has wholly risen: early Sept.).
		27 Sept.-- 28 Oct. [9 Nov.]	XXXII 32 [4+28]	exin [ab æquinoctio autumnalī ] ad vergiliarum occasum	Gather grapes (in dry weather). Begin sowing.
hiems XXCIX (89 days)	10 Nov.	29 Oct.-- 24 Dec. [25 Dec.]	LVII 57 [3+30+24]	ab hoc [vergiliarum occasū ] ad brumam	Harvest olives (Oct.--Dec.). Finish sowing. Remove 3rd combs from beehives (early Nov.).
		25 Dec.-- 7 Feb.	XLV 45 [7+31+7]	inde [a brumā] ad Favonium

Alas, the counted days given explicitly by Varro for the intervals he described (shown above) fail to match the astronomical phenomena he based his counts on. He erred worst on the conspicuous group of 6 stars in the constellation Taurus, known from the Greeks as the Pleiades («Πλειάδες»), although by the Romans as Vergiliae: His counts had them rising 3 weeks too soon, and had them setting 12 days too late.

[Notes @: Marcus Terentius Varro (116--27 B.C.), in § 27 & 28 of De Re Rustica. Customarily translated as On Agriculture, but a more literal title would be About Rural Matters. He began the manuscript in his 80^th year (36 B.C.).

Notes *: Extrapolations by astronomers or mathematicians of the dates of his cited astronomical phenomena as they occurred in his time are shown above in blue, within brackets)

Notes #: Days given as explicit counts by Varro total 365, even though they express intervals that one would expect to exemplify the inclusive counting typical of classical Rome. It's possible that either the on-line source, or an editor of an earlier published source, has modernized the counting, changing Varro's Roman numerals. Pondering Roman inclusive counting in the calendar of classical Rome (e.g.: as in the tabular example of Holy Week, under “Julian calendar”), the table above might conform best to their customs if the astronomical phenomena were treated as the end of an interval, instead of as its beginning. Using the Latin prepositions as indicators is inconclusive (at least for someone lacking a sheepskin dedicated to classical Latin): The tentative idea had been to assign days to the intervals thus:

• inclusively for “a(b)”, “hinc”, “inde”; but
• exclusively for “ad” (possibly also for the ambiguous “dein(de)” and “exin(de)”).

That's after counting backward from vernal equinox as reference, confirmed to have been 25 March this early in the the Julian calendar (i.e.: its 2^nd decade: 35--26 B.C.), and 21 March in A.D. 21^st-C. in the Gregorian calendar. All other days are counted forward from it. Dates for the A.D. 21^st-C. can be derived by subtracting 4 days from each date above. ]

Sinōpē

Latin “Sinōp·a, -ae” (f.) or “Sinōp·ē, -ēs” (f.), from classical Greek «Σινώπη» (“Sinṓpē ”). An ancient city at 42°N. near 35° E. , founded on the Black Sea central coast of Anatolia by Greeks from Miletus. Situated at Zephyrium Prōmontōrium: the E. point of a dual-point cape [@], for many centuries it was reputedly the nautically “safest” port “between Bosphorus and Batum”. The former capital of the Kingdom of Pontus. After Roman conquest and imperial reörganization, it became a part of Paphlagonia. The city's modern name has been Turkified as “Sinop”.

[Note @: Map 14: “Asia Minor” (“asiaminor.jpg”). Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography. (This Web site typically uses the less ambiguous name “Anatolia”.) ]

Smyrna

Latin “Smyrn·a, -ae” (f.) or “Zmyrn·a, -ae” (f.), from classical Greek «Σμύρνα» (“Smúrna”). An ancient city near 38°24'N. at 27° E. , at the head of the Gulf of Smyrna (Latin “Sinus Smyrnæus”), in ancient Lydia, on the western coast of Anatolia, at the N.E. corner of the mountainous 2-pronged Mímas («Μίμας, αντος, ὁ») peninsula (Turkish Karaburun). That gives the gulf its dog-leg shape, whose seaward end opens toward the island Lesbos (modern Greece), from which its original colonists came (distance ca. 20 mi.). In Apostolic times, a prominent city in the Roman province Asia. It was destroyed by earthquakes in A.D. 178 and 180, but rebuilt by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. A.D. 161--180). The city's modern name has been Turkified as “İzmir” (‘ İ ’ + “Zmir na ”).

[Siméon Vailhé 1912: "Smyrna". Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 14. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http: //www.newadvent.org/cathen/14060b.htm>, retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010. ]

[Note @: Map 14: “Asia Minor” (“asiaminor.jpg”). Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography. (This Web site typically uses the less ambiguous name “Anatolia”.) ]

Standard Time

Time based on dividing the 360° of global longitude by the Earth's approximately 24-hour daily rotational period, ideally creating 24 zones of time, each spanning 15° (360° ⁄ 24) of longitude, so that any zone is 1 hour behind the adjoining zone on its east, and 1 hour ahead (of) the adjoining zone on its west.

The modern international standard system is based on a prime meridian (often capitalized) that passes through England so as to intersect its Royal Observatory, in Greenwich.

In the U.S.A., Standard Time resumes on the 1^st Sunday in November [#] at 2:00 a.m. local Daylight “Saving” Time, by immediately resetting clocks to 1:00 a.m. local Standard Time (“fall back”: 1 hour analog counter-clockwise, or digitally subtracting 1). Then Standard Time advances into the following calendar year, without any additional resetting until March. Standard Time is suspended annually on the 2^nd Sunday in March [#] at 2:00 a.m. local Standard Time, by immediately setting clocks to 3:00 a.m. local Daylight “Saving” Time (“spring forward”: 1 hour analog clockwise, or digitally adding 1). Then time advances without any resetting until November, as above.

[Note #: Official U.S. overview and other authoritative information per U.S. Naval Observatory. For legal details, see U.S. Code Title 15, Chap. 6, Subchapter IX: “Standard Time”.

Cave !  This was changed in 2005 by Congress (P.L. 109-58), to become effective in 2007, so older computers still in service, thus for most households, running versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system released before that year, e.g.: Windows 9x, Windows Me, and Windows XP, have--and will continue to--incorrectly insist that Daylight “Saving” Time begins on the first Sunday in April, and ends on the last Sunday in October (readers might easily imagine how the webmaster here is certain of that). The latter was a fascinating coïncidence, being the traditional movable date for the Feast of the Kingship of the Christ. ]

suborn [ D R A F T ]

From Latin “suborn·o, -are”, literally meaning “to furnish” or “to equip”, more-or-less the same as the base verb “orn·o, -are”. Except that the prefix (“sub-”) bestows a distinctive conspiratorial sense: “to instigate secretly” [....]

Syria [ D R A F T ]

Biblically significant country in the Near East, bearing a name still argued over by scholars (cf. Assyria). It's bounded most certainly on its western half:

• on the north by the Taurus mountains (the Amānus, -i (m.), Greek « ’Αμανός» being the mountains separating it from Cilicia ) in S. Anatolia (modern S.E. Turkey);
• on its W. by the E. shore of the Mediterranean Sea; and
• on its S.W., by the Sinai Desert.

On its eastern half, its boundaries are more vague:

• Some ancient geographers, notably Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolemy, considered the E. boundary of Syria to extend from a S.E. corner in the Gulf of Aqaba (the N.E. fork of the Red Sea);
• projecting a line N.N.E. toward the sprawling Syrian Desert (Arabic “Badiet esh Sham”), which separates Syria from the Mesopotamian powers, and which is practically a northward extension of the Arabian Desert, perhaps up to 35°N. or so (near the latitude of classical Palmyra, modern Tudmur);
• passing W. of the site of the important Roman border fortress at Circesium (Arabic “al Busayrah”), where the Khabur River is the final tributary downriver, joining the left bank of the Euphrates near 35 ¼°N.; the N. limit of right-bank desert is given more conservatively in modern sources as the point where the Euphrates crosses the modern Syria/Iraq border, near 34 ½°N.;
• stopping where that N.N.E. line intersects the banks of the middle Euphrates River at Rakka (Greek “Kalliníkos”; Arabic “Ar-Raqqah”), where the Balikh River joins the left bank of the Euphrates at nearly 36°N., approximately 100 mi. E. of Aleppo (ancient Amorite or Aramaic, plus modern Arabic, “Halab(a)”; Latin “Beroea” (from Greek); its common name is Italianized from “Alep”);
• following the right bank of the Euphrates upriver--overall northward despite meanderings E. and W.--into the Taurus mountains.

Conquered by Pompey in 64--63 B.C. for the Romans. Almost a quarter-century later (40 B.C.), Roman forces repelled an invasion by the Parthians. Ca. A.D. 400, the East (including Arabia Petræa, Palestine, and Syria) was the favorite of the 5 dioceses of the Prefecture of Oriens a.k.a. the East. But when Muhammadan raiders and armies flooded out of Arabia, they first went northward, conquering Syria (636), taking extra time for Palestine (Jerusalem: 638).

It's possible that increases in evaporation of water might change the extent of desert terrain. Alarmism about “global warming”? Not in this case: Extensive construction of dams on the Euphrates, began in the 1970s, in projects by the governments of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.

[ "D.G.H." (David George Hogarth, M.A.) 1911: "Syria" (thru 1516). EB XI, vol. 26 p. 305--309 (2-col. line-map: p. 305).

Some of the EB XI text, without the 2-column engraved map, but with serious errors in continuity, is accessible at <http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Syria>. Cave !  The Web page is apparently a product of poorly designed or poorly configured OCR software, which having correctly begun the article with the text in the upper-left column, failed to remain in the left column when it encountered the page-wide vertically centered map in a page-layout whose implications for the reader are obvious in the volume as originally published in 1911. But instead of continuing with the text in the lower-left column, the OCR software skipped more-or-less seamlessly (i.e.: without inserting any visible indicators in the resulting text), to the text in the upper-right column. The OCR software also butchers Greek, erroneously showing «  ̓Άριμοι » (unquoted as originally published, but bearing a psilí breathing and an oxía accent) not in any reasonable transliterated form (e.g.: “Árimoi ”), but instead as the plainly wrong “ "Apt ot ” (beginning with a straight double-quote). Be these flaws as they may, that Web-site might be a worthy effort, except that its “License and Terms of Use” show signs of it being a cynical attempt by a “LoveToKnow Corp.” to assert a modern copyright over the 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia, which is now in the public domain. Especially audacious ‘claims its [...] copyright [..] and [...] intellectual property rights in [...] all information [...] on or interlinked with a LoveToKnow Corp. web site ([herein] “Content”)’. So perhaps it's legally most prudent to merely identify its URL, while deliberately refusing to provide an actual hyperlink. ]

■ t

Thanksgiving

A secular holiday of the U.S.A. 

(The substantive entry has been moved to the “notions” Web page on this site; a link to this entry on its new page is at the side-header, i.e., the header immediately above, and to the left, of the colored background on which this entry appears.)

time-zone [ D R A F T ]

Time based on dividing the 360° of global longitude by the Earth's approximately 24-hour daily rotational period, ideally creating 24 zones of time, each spanning 15° of longitude, so that any zone is 1 hour behind the adjoining zone on its east, and 1 hour ahead (of) the adjoining zone on its west.

The modern international system of standard time is based on a prime meridian (often capitalized) that passes through England so as to intersect its Royal Observatory, approximately 2 mi. south of 51°30'N., in Greenwich. The prime meridian divides the globe into Western and Eastern Hemispheres. Alas, that technically places Ireland, Portugal, Spain, all of the Bay of Biscay coastal lands, the Normandy and Brittany Peninsulas of France, plus west Africa from Morocco through Ghana, into the Western Hemisphere, despite being on the Old-World side of the Pond.[†] 

Be that as it may, at the International Meridian Conference held in 1884 [@], Greenwich had been the de facto prime meridian for more than a century, because of widely used tables that were computed to support Britain's maritime economy. Issued by the Royal Observatory, the tables were designed for calculating longitude, using the position of celestial bodies, as observed from ships on the open seas.[*]

The continental United States spans nearly 100 degrees of longitude: from 66°52'W. in eastermost Maine, to approximately 163°W. at the western end of the Alaskan Peninsula (i.e.: not including the Aleutian Islands, which extend westward across the antimeridian to 172°E.). For plausible meridians for ideal time zones, i.e.: ±7½°, in North America, shamelessly selected to favor places in the continental U.S.A.[@@], see “meridian” (above).

Had U.S. officials applied a ‘closest fit’ principle for assigning individual states, according to their boundaries, to ideal time-zones, e.g., an Eastern Time Zone no farther west than 82½°W., those zones would be quite different today:

• Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, plus their western neighbors, would be in the Central Time Zone.
• Florida might also be there; 82°30'00''W. crosses MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, and splits the eastern ¹⁄₃ from the western ²⁄₃ of the Interbay Peninsula (Tampa Bay), a trifle E. of Dale Mabry Blvd. The line also crosses the W. end of the city Alachua (in its namesake county).
• Ohio also straddles that longitude, which Ohioans might understand better as crossing the southernmost arc of the Lake Erie shoreline, in Erie Co. (83°W. crosses the state capital Columbus), but considering the Ohio River's history in defining the modern ‘Midwest’, Ohio geographically & culturally belongs with its western neighbors in the Central Time Zone.

By itself, Florida spans a trifle more than 7 ²⁄₃° of longitude: From 80°02'W., nearly a tangent to the easternmost beaches of the Atlantic Ocean in Palm Beach Co., to 87°38'W., nearly a tangent to the westernmost point of Escambia Co., where Dyas Creek (Baldwin Co., Alabama) flows into the state-border-defining Perdido River. So the state is a little wider than half of an idealized time-zone. In fact, the modern State of Florida is split across 2 time-zones:

• Eastern Time Zone: East of the Apalachicola River (known as the Chattahoochee River north of the Florida/Georgia border, where it separates the lower halves of Georgia and Alabama), whose mouth is almost exactly at 80°W. in the Panhandle; and
• Central Time Zone: All 10 counties west of the Apalachicola River, known half-seriously as “Lower Alabama” (“Baja Bama” has alliterative appeal as an alternative) and whose oceanfront is known self-effacingly as the “Redneck Riviera”.

[Note @: Formally the “International Conference held at Washington for the Purpose of Fixing a Prime Meridian and a Universal Day”, hosted in the Diplomatic Hall of the U.S. Department of State (District of Columbia), 1--22 October 1884. Protocols of the proceedings (i.e.: detailed minutes, although that phrase is arguably needlessly redundant). Pages cited for this conference are from this document, as scanned or transcribed by Project Gutenberg: <http: //www.gutenberg.org/files/17759/>.

Note †: Had the International Conference followed the precedent set for a prime meridian by Ptolemy in the A.D. 2^nd century, thus been drawn approximately 18--24° to the west, notably adopting the centuries old “Ferro Meridian” (based on El Hierro of the Spanish Islas Canarias (13--17 ²⁄₃°W.: west of the border nominally separating Western Sahara from Morocco), the Prime Meridian would've dodged all of the mainland of Africa, although not the Cape Verde Islands (22--25°W.: due west of the Cap-Vert Peninsula). It would've also passed through Iceland, which stretches from a little outside of 14°W. to a little outside of 24°W., and placed it in the opposite hemisphere from almost all of Greenland (which is much closer to Ellesmere I., Canada, being separated only by the Nares Strait).

Note *: Especially using the moon, via the lunar-distance method. Not only did the tables require extensive manual calculations onboard a ship, but they also provided less accurate results than their alternative: a sea watch (i.e.: a precision-built mechanical marine chronometer, like the one invented by John Harrison, which he sent on the first-ever successful transAtlantic sea trial for a marine chronometer, in 1761). Whereas the marine chronometer might work for decades, lunar and other astronomical cycles required the tables to be revised & printed annually, as the Royal Greenwich Observatory had done since 1767. so each ship needed a freshly printed copy bought for it every year. But it was far less expensive to invest in a sextant (a reflecting instrument first made in 1757, as a successor to the octant) and buy each year's nautical almanac containing the tables, than it was to invest in 1 sea watch. Those tables were calculated based on a prime meridian at the Royal Greenwich Observatory-- even in their translations into French.

Note @@: Selected by the webmaster of this site (a disclaimer provided on the off-chance that there was any doubt). ]

token money

In the context of precious metals (e.g.: silver), coinage deliberately minted so that the value of its precious-metal content is less than its face value. E.g., U.S. silver dollars minted early in the 20^th century (412.5 grains metal, 90% silver, the balance copper) contained approximately 50¢ worth of silver according to prevailing precious-metal values (specifically the early 1920s, thus after adoption of the gold standard in 1900, but before the financial disruptions of the Great Depression).

Transalpine Gaul

Latin “trans”, prep. meaning “across” or “the far side of ” (poëtic English adj. “thither”) + “Alpīn·us | -a | -um” (from pl. “Alp·ēs, -ium”), adj. meaning “Alpine”. Thus, the lands on the far side of the Alps (relative to someone situated in Rome).

The subject's geographical opposite, on the near side of the Alps, was Cisalpine Gaul.

Transcaucasia [ D R A F T ]

Lands extending southward from the south slope of the Caucasus Mountains. That mountain range stretches from near the E. shore of the Black Sea, running along a rather straight line from N.W. to S.E. (much like the diagonal stroke on the Latin letter ‘N’), toward modern Baku on the W. shore of the Caspian Sea. 

From Latin “trans”, prep. meaning “across” or “the far side of ” (poëtic English adj. “thither”) + Latinization of Greek «Καύκασος», meaning the Caucasus Mountains.

But the perspective implied by the crucial Latin prefix “trans”, is at odds with ancient history. To the Greeks and Romans, the S. side was their near side:

• Alexander “the Great” of Macedon defeated Persian forces of Darius III twice: at Issus (E. end of Cilicia, near its border with Syria, inshore from the head of the Sin[us] Issicus, the modern Gulf of Alexandretta, in the N.E. corner of Mediterranean: 333 B.C.) and Gaugamela (near Nineveh: 331 B.C.), gaining control of land extending past Lakes Van and Urmia, towards the S. slope of Caucasus.
• Trajan briefly held Armenia (A.D. 115--117) for the Roman Empire, but Emperor Hadrian retroceded them to the Parthians.
• Emperor Heraclius conducted a victorious multiyear campaign against the Sassanian Khosru II, passing through Armenia close to the S. slope of the Caucasus (A.D. 626), ending at Nineveh with the assassination of Khosru (A.D. 627).
• The Romans had forts, settlements, provinces, and tributary states on this south side of the Caucasus Mountains.

More appropriate linguistically, is the Russian «Закавказ» (“Zakavkaz”), meaning “behind the Caucasus” or “beyond the Caucasus” (preferring the conventional Russian term, because the geographic perspective is relative to someone situated in the capital of Russia, whether “Moskvá ” or “Sankt-Peterbúrg”).

This is a region in which the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union have fought the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey for territory. It's also the region in which Islamic Azerbaijan, plus the independent modern remnants of anciently Christian Armenia and Georgia, are situated.

The subject's geographical opposite, on the “near side of the Caucasus”, if only it were linguistically symmetric, would be Ciscaucasia.

Tridentum (Italian Trento) [ D R A F T ]

A city in modern northern Italy, which is situated on the left bank of the glacial valley of the Athesis Fl. (modern Adige River), where the Fersina flows into it, S. of the Alps, upriver from Verona (56½ mi. N.), and N.W. of Venice.[*]  Its Italian name Trento is derived from its Roman name Tridentum, itself derived from the Latin “tridens, -entis” (m.), meaning “3-toothed” or “3-pronged”, referring to the 3 hills surrounding the Roman town.

It had been within Roman territory since 15 B.C., sometimes in Cisalpine Gaul, sometimes in Rhætia. Although the Roman empire began to ebb, the city rose to the dignity of an episcopal see at least as early as 381, as documented by the presence of a Bishop Abundantius of Trento at that year's Council of Aquileia. Sometime afterward, Vigilius became its young bishop by local acclamation, and he was privileged to be guided by correspondence with St. Ambrose in Milan.

In recent centuries, Trento has been populated predominately by speakers of Italian. In the century following the Napoleonic Wars, it had been the capital of the Italian-speaking part of Tyrol (Ger. Tirol), but it was not part of the Kingdom of Italy; instead, it was one of the 15 crownlands in the Austrian Empire (had it not been for its tiny neighbor Vorarlberg, Tyrol would then have been the westernmost of them). Then it became part of lands in the southern Alps that were annexed by Italy, after the collapse of the Austrohungarian army, near the end of World War I, had allowed a final northward advance--up to the Alpine watershed--by a front of Italian troops.

In a Roman Catholic historical context, the English name “Trent” is more likely to refer to the oft-interrupted Council of Trent (1545--1563), than to the identically named River Trent in England [@].

[Note *: Francis Mershman 1912: "St. Vigilius" Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 15. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15426c.htm> (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010).

"W.A.B.C.": "Trent". Encyclopædia Britannica 1911, vol. 27, p. 247.

Cölestin Wolfsgrüber 1912: "Trent". Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 15. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15035a.htm> (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010).

[Note @: “Trent” is the name of a river in central England, whose confluence with the Ouse creates the Humber. Although the name might be Celtic, its etymology is unresolved. ]

Turkish (language) [ D R A F T ]

During the centuries of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish was written using the Arabic script that dominated the regions assimilated by centuries of Islamic conquests. But Turkish, which unsurprisingly is a member of the Turkic family of languages, is totally unrelated to Arabic, which is a member of the South-Semitic family of languages.[*] 

As successor to the empire after World War I, the Republic of Turkey conducted a Europeanization reform in 1928, in which it officially changed the official script for Turkish from Arabic to its own variation of the Latin alphabet:

• ‘ C ’ & ‘ c ’ ^{[A] [UBL] [W]} : substituted for English ‘ J ’ ≈ /dzh/.
• ‘ Ç ’ & ‘ ç ’ ^{[UL1S] [W]} : /ch/.
• ‘ Ǧ ’ & ‘ ǧ ’ (properly with the caron a.k.a. haček) ^[ULXB] , or because of wider availability, ‘ Ğ ’ & ‘ ğ ’ (perhaps passably with the similar-looking breve) ^[ULXA] : /g/y/ [#].
• ‘ İ ’ (dotted above) ^{[ULXA] [W]} & ‘ i ’ (dotted above, as in English) ^{[A] [UBL] [W]}.
• ‘ I ’ (dotless above, as in English) ^{[A] [UBL] [W]} & ‘ ı ’ (dotless above) ^{[ULXA] [W]} : a very short sound.
• ‘ Ö ’ & ‘ ö ’ ^{[UL1S] [W]} : pronounced as in German.
• ‘ Ş ’ & ‘ ş ’ ^{[ULXA] [W]} : /sh/.
• ‘ Ü ’ & ‘ ü ’ ^{[UL1S] [W]} : pronounced as in German.

This reform unwittingly put Turkey in position to benefit much earlier from the electronic-computer revolution than they could've if they'd been too conservative to dare to abandon the script of the sacred language of Islam. The input & output media of early computers were designed for the languages of their inventors, builders, buyers, and users. Nearly all were products of Western (a.k.a. Occidental) Civilization as it flourished after World War II, primarily in Western Europe and Anglophone North America. In particular, it was technically no more difficult to create the internationally standardizable character-set ISO-8859-9 (a.k.a. Latin5), which was designed to include all of the distinctive Latin-based letters of modern Turkish (above), than it had been to create comparably different character-sets to accomodate Western-European, Central+Eastern-European, or Scandinavian languages.

[Note *: For Biblical perspective, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Phoenician are West-Semitic languages; Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian are East-Semitic languages. Exactly where Sumerian belongs is still a mystery, although Indoëuropean, Semitic, Turkic, and other geographically plausible families have been ruled out.

Note #: Although the webmaster is not a speaker of Turkish, and not formally trained in linguistics, he supposes that a reader might get a sound close enough by using American-English pronunciation of letters in the name of the large cat species “jaguar” (pronounced “jag'-war”), albeit resyllabified to “ja'-g͡war”, then shifting its ‘ g͡w ’ sound to a ‘ g͡y ’ sound, as in a resyllabified “Ma-g͡yar' ” (from “Mag'-yar”: Anglicization of the name that the majority ethic group of Hungary (89.9%) calls themselves and their language).

Note A: American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) (A.D. 196__) = ISO 646: a 7-bit code with the numeric code range 0--127.

Note UL: Specific sets of characters incorporating national variations on the Latin alphabet, plus other marks or symbols, as defined & numbered in Unicode, i.e.:

• UBL: Unicode 3.0 (Oct. 1999) Basic Latin, code range U+0000--U+007F (0--127). Its characters and their code numbers are equivalent to those of ASCII.
• UL1S: Unicode 3.0 (Oct. 1999) Latin-1 Supplement, code range U+0080--U+00FF (128--255). ISO 8859-1 is an 8-bits-only character set that's typically found on Windows-based computers, plus some linux computers, built or reconditioned for the U.S. market; its characters and their code numbers (0--255) are equivalent to the combination of Basic Latin and Latin-1 Supplement.
• ULXA: Unicode 3.0 (Oct. 1999) Latin Extended-A, code range U+0100--U+017F (256--383).
• ULXB: Unicode 5.0 (July 2006) Latin Extended-B, code range U+0180--U+024F (384--591). Only 6 out of these 208 characters are in WGL4 (see note below).

Note W: Windows Glyph List 4 (WGL4), whose 652 characters are available in MS-Word 97, with more characters in its successors, thus presumably also Windows 98 and its successors. ]

■ u

U, u

Called the ‘yū’ (or ‘eū’?) in English, its shape originated with waw: the 6^th letter of the Phœnician abjad, initially a consonant whose sound was like the English ‘ W ’ that appeared 2 millennia later. The letter was reshaped and repurposed as a vowel by ancient Greeks, and also repositioned as the 1^st letter after the set of 22 letters that had been adopted from Phœnician. So it was initially positioned as the 23^rd letter in the Etruscan model alphabet. When the Ionian alphabet prevailed as the standard for the classical Greek, it settled in as the 20^th Greek letter. Its monumental form (‘ Υ ’) is best known by its Anglicized name upsilon, from Greek «υ ψιλόν, τό» (‘u psilon’), meaning “simple ‘ U ’ ”.

Its sound is traceable to the latter basic letter of both the Greek and Etruscan alphabets; in each it was exclusively a vowel, pronounced like English ‘ o̅o̅ ’ (e.g.: in “moon”), but in Attic and Ionic Greek, pronunciation soon changed to German ‘ ü ’. In the (retro)classical pronunciation of Greek as postulated by European scholars centuries later, it sounds like the corresponding letter in modern English “music”.

The monumental form of the classical-Latin letter can be found in several archaic Greek alphabets (notably Euboean) as a variant form of upsilon that omitted the lower vertical stem, leaving the upper diagonal arms (‘ V ’). As a Latin letter, its rounded form (‘ U ’), first appeared on monuments in Rome in the A.D. 2^nd century. There were variant Roman forms that were commonly written by hand (e.g.: the Rustica book hand of the late Western Roman Empire, in which diagonal arms seem to flow through a narrow rounded bottom, via what appears to be a continuous stroke). Despite conquest & rule of the Greek homeland by Rome in 146 B.C. (i.e.: the fall of Corinth), and romanizing resistance to Hellenism (notably by Emperor Justinian I closing the philosophical schools at Athens in A.D. 529)[#], the Greek letter didn't appear in purely Greek manuscripts in the rounded form of the corresponding Roman letter (‘ u ’) until miniscule had replaced uncial as the dominant book hand: late in the A.D. 9^th century[*].

Alas, even in the mediæval Latin alphabet, the different forms of the letter were not used to distinguish the 3 sounds for which it was used in classical Latin:

• short vowel pronounced like ‘ oo ’ in “book”; and
• long vowel pronounced like ‘ u ’ in “rude”;
• consonant pronounced like English ‘ w ’ (consider the pronunciation of French “oui”).

It would not be until the mediæval development of the Germanic languages, including Middle English, that ‘ U ’ would begin to be considered a distinct basic letter of the Latin alphabet.

[Peter Giles ("P.Gi.") 1911: "U" and "V". Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 27, p. 553 and 830. ]

[Note #: Maximilian Otto Bismarck Caspari ("M.O.B.C.") 1910: "Greece" § "2. History": "b. Postclassical": "I. The period of Roman rule" "II. The Byzantine period". Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 12, p. 461--463, 463--464.

Note *: Sir Edward Maunde Thompson ("E.M.T.") 1911: "Palaeography" § "Greek writing II--The vellum codices". Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 20, p. 563--567. Notably figs. 16 and 17, dubbed the “Oxford Euclid” (A.D. 888) and “Oxford Plato” (895), respectively. For historical perspective on that period, Ælfred the Great, who reigned as King of the West-Saxons (A.D. 871--899), was militarily preöccupied in at least 870--896 with leading (sometimes with Mercian allies) the ultimately successful defensive & offensive war to repel Danish viking invaders, who were determined to conquer all of England, and annex it to their Scandinavian homeland. ]

Unicode

Popular technical name for the Universal Character Set (UCS) Standard: an international digital encoding for printed or written characters. Its development organization: the Unicode Consortium, documents & presents its progress to-date, and continuing work, at <http: //www.unicode.org>.

Its compelling feature is allowing documents containing letters, numbers, symbols, and other characters beyond those in U.S.  ASCII, including those needed for Greek or Hebrew words, to be faithfully transcribed to computer files as text, i.e.: sequences of character codes. Not only are documents able to be stored digitally much more compactly as text than as images of pages, but once transcribed, text also facilitates additional scholarly analysis, notably generation of concordances. Hebrew and precomposed accented Greek text have been supported by the standard since the 20^th century. As noted at the top of this Web page, UCS is used herein for Greek and occasional Hebrew.

The table immediately below illustrates some UCS characters (the 1^st row being symbols, the 2^nd being letters, either nonLatin or from times long past) that may be useful for checking whether a browser can render them correctly (consider using a browser's ‘page-zoom’ feature to enlarge the characters on the screen):

• ·	† ‡	« »	⟨ ⟩	↑ → ↓ ←	◄ ► ⏭ ⏮ ⏏	⎈ ⏳	≜ ≈ ≤ ≥ ≠	∧ ∨ ⊻ ⊼ ⊽	∅ ∩ ∪	∀ ∃ ∄ ⋺ ∵ ∴
Æ æ	Œ œ	Þ þ	ſ	Ō ō Ŏ ŏ	Α α Ω ω	Ά ώ	א ת	Ꜿ ꜿ Ꝋ ꝋ	p̶ Ꝑ ꝑ

If any characters in the table immediately above are not being displayed properly (i.e.: none of those displayed should look like question marks nor outlined boxes), then the Unicode Consortium's own ‘help’ page: <http: //www.unicode.org/help/display_problems.html> might provide some useful solutions.

UCS supports the scholarly requirement that a faithful transcriber never expand abbreviations nor interpret brachygraphic characters. It has been designed so that each distinct character in a document, no matter how rare, has a unique digital code. 1 significant category of brachygraphic characters, known as mediævalist characters, were not confined to manuscripts; they were cast into movable type and used on printing presses from their earliest days (ca. 1450) into the 17th century, including in printed Bibles.

The recent UCS version 5 introduced the Latin Extended-D set (U+A720--A7FF), which contains the above Latin-alphabet brachygraphic characters (elsewhere called ‘letters with syllabic content’) and others found in mediæval documents. Latin Extended-D [PDF] has the potential to avoid the transliteration that was common among scholars in the 20^th century, which regrettably confounded the products of their study of mediæval manuscripts into uselessness for some fields of scholarly analysis [†].

[Note †: Everson (ed.): “Proposal to add medievalist characters to the UCS”. ISO Working Group Document N3027; PDF file only. ]

Unification of Italy

Parts of Italy had been ruled by nonItalians since the end of the Roman Empire-in-the-West; for many historians, that transition to rule of long-Roman Italy by foreign invaders defines the beginning of mediæval times.

The period that secular Italians would consider the crowning achievement of Italian unification coïncided with the ecumenical council known for almost a century simply as “the Vatican Council”, (now distinguished as “Vatican I”). Called by Pope Pius IX (s. 1846--1877) on 29 June 1868, his call followed, by less than a year, an attack on Rome by the expansionist Kingdom of Italy. The attack had been decisively repelled at Mentana (3 Nov. 1867) by the armies of the Papal States, assisted by French troops supplied by Emperor Napoleon III. A garrison of French troops would remain in Rome to protect the city. Then 2--3 months after the council had been called, unrelated political turmoil erupted in Spain. During September 1868, a revolution was proclaimed, revolutionary troops defeated royalist troops (at Alcolea), and the queen of Spain fled her country, allowing the revolutionaries to declare the throne vacant. In mid 1869, the constituent Córtes formally voted for Spain to remain a monarchy, leaving it to the government to recruit a king.

As the Vatican Council was opened at St. Peter's Basilica on 8 December 1869, the Spanish throne remained vacant, and international relations were heating up over the choice to be made among the royal families of Europe to wear the Spanish crown. One of the earliest (potential) candidates was disqualified; others declined Spanish offers of the throne. So it came to pass that an offer was made to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who was not only related--distantly--to King Wilhelm I of Prussia, but also related--distantly--to Emperor Napoleon III of France. France nonetheless objected to this Prussian candidate, and on 6 July 1870, the Duke of Gramont: Foreign Minister of France, spoke publicly, threatening war with Prussia if the latter did not withdraw the prince's candidacy. An ambassador of France: Count Benedetti, presented French demands in person to Wilhelm I (9 & 11 July), who rejected them and refused further discussion.

Back at the Vatican, the final vote on solemnly proclaiming the infallibility of the pope, as Roman Catholic dogma, was taken on 18 July, its result nearly unanimous in its favor. The very next day (19 July), France declared war on Prussia.

The prevailing opinion among alleged experts favored the French over the Teutonic upstarts in what would be remembered as the Franco-Prussian War. But within weeks, Prussia's armies repeatedly demonstrated their superiority in battle against the armies of France. Napoleon III apparently decided that French troops sitting out the war, guarding Rome and the Papal States against the expansionist Kingdom of Italy, were a luxury he could no longer afford, so the French troops were recalled from Rome, the last departing on 19 August. They made little practical difference to France: Napoleon III surrendered at Sedan 2 weeks later (2 September). But they made a biiig difference to Pius IX.

The expansionist Kingdom of Italy considered the recall of the French garrison a fortunate new opportunity to resume its military Unification. Italian forces once again marched on Rome, but this time, after a brief bombardment, they breached the Roman walls at the Porta Pia (N.E. wall at Via Nomentana, W. of near-by Campo Militare outside the walls), quickly capturing the city on 20 September 1870. The Italian occupation troops arranged & conducted a plebiscite in Rome with such amazing efficiency that the Kingdom of Italy was able to announce the favorable vote, assimilating Rome as its capital (2 October). Despite these major distractions, The Vatican Council continued its work, albeit on issues secondary to infallibility. Pius IX finally decreed an end to the council on 20 October 1870, in a bull in which he protested that the independence of the council would be ruined by Rome's assimilation into the Kingdom of Italy. Pius IX became the first of 5 popes who would become “prisoners of the Vatican”.

See, e.g.:

• Gustav Schnürer 1912: "States of the Church". Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14. Robert Appleton Co.: New York. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14257a.htm> (retrieved for CD Edn. 2.1: 26 Apr. 2010). This C.E. article was published only 4 decades after the diplomatic indignity of the “Unification of Italy”, thus was published while the sitting pope: Pius X, was the 3^rd of the 5 popes who considered themselves to be “prisoners of the Vatican”.

-us

Summary:  Oft-misunderstood Latin grammatical ending “-us”.

(Its substantive entry has been moved to the “grammar” Web page on this site; a link to that entry on its new page is at the side-header, i.e., the header immediately above, and to the left, of the colored background on which this entry appears.)

■ v

Vatican [ D R A F T ]

Anglicized classical name of the Roman hill on which the Basilica of St. Peter, and the modern headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, d.b.a. the Vatican City State, are now situated, on the far side--the right bank, thus W. side--of the Tiber River from the classical “7 Hills of Rome”.

From Latin adj. “Vātīcān·us | -a | -um”. Sometimes with explicit “coll·is, -is”, literally meaning “hill” (m.), or “mon·s, -t·is”, literally meaning “mount(ain)” (m.). Plural forms with those nouns signify the hill plus its surroundings. With explicit “ager, agr·i” (m.), literally meaning “land” (m.), signifying the Vatican countryside, whether cultivated or not, but notorious since classical times for its poor soils, thus producing--most unforgivably--poor wine.

Since mediæval times, the Vatican has been situated in the suburban/urban settlement known as the Borgo: an Italianization of Germanic “Burg, -/-en”, meaning a “fortified place”, as it was dubbed by the especially numerous & organized Saxon pilgrims (presumably acknowledging the fortification of the right-bank Mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian into Castel Sant'Angelo). Alas, being W. of the Campus Martius and N. of the wall-enclosed lands across the Tiber (Trans Tiberim, It. Trastevere), the Vatican and all of the Borgo were nevertheless outside all the walls of Rome: Outside even the major Roman wall expansion enclosing a much wider area of the de facto city in A.D. 271--275, by Emperor Aurelian (i.e.: Lucius Domitian Aurelianus, r. 270--275)[‡1] and Emperor Probus (i.e.: Marcus Aurelius Probus, r. 276--282)[‡2], collectively known as the Aurelian Walls. So it was that in 846, when Saracens decided on river travel for an expedition of plunder & pillage in the Italian Peninsula, there was only 1 option, there being only 1 navigable river in the Italian Peninsula: the Tiber. Entering from the Tyrrhenian Sea via the classical port at Ostia, plus the artificial channel at Porto, they were unable to penetrate the Aurelian Walls. But it wasn't a complete waste of time for those infidel raiders: They found conveniently located sites outside those Walls that were accessible for plundering--and worth their while--notably Old St. Peter's Basilica and St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls. It had been more than 5 centuries since the Church had been legalized by the Roman Empire, and nearly 4 centuries since Rome had suffered a major sack, that being by the Vandals in 455. [....]

In 852, Pope Leo IV (s. 847--≤855)[†] took up the defensive challenge to protect the Vatican and, more broadly, the Borgo. He took a barefoot hike on the W. side of the Tiber to establish the location of new walls, which he then had erected. Some of the later work was done, ironically, by Saracens whose next attempted major raid-by-sea (intended as an invasion?), in 849, was foiled by Italian intelligence sources and an overwhelming storm that scattered the infidel vessels.[#] The newly defined land became the eponymous Civitas Leonina: the Leonine City, which was then considered no longer a part of Rome (according to local customs, be they practical, or just issues of Roman pride). Be that as it may, the pope had seen to it that his immediate domain, from Castel Sant'Angelo on the right bank of the Tiber, inland & westward to Old St. Peter's Basilica, had become militarily defensible.

It wasn't until 1586 (Pope Sixtus V, s. 1585--≤1590) that Borgo was officially welcomed back to Rome as its 14^th rione.

Official residence of the pope since 1870, when the Kingdom of Italy, with its goal to unify Italy, whether by vote or by force, conquered almost all the territory in Italy then remaining under the pope's temporal rule, and assimilated almost all of Rome itself. The city's Quirinal Palace: the official papal residence for the preceding 3 centuries, became the royal palace of the Kingdom of Italy.

Pope Pius IX (s. 1846--1877) was left to get by with a few remnant properties, e.g.: the Vatican Palace and the (New) Basilica of St. Peter [@]. The pope famously became “a prisoner of the Vatican”. Although one edifice does have the word “Palace” in its name, by comparison with the Quirinal Palace, the Vatican was considered too hot and too malarial during the Roman summer. A German theologian wrote that during July at Vatican I, “the great heat was positively dangerous to members accustomed to a colder climate”. The inventions of practical air-conditioning and DDT (for depopulation of malaria-carrying mosquitos) were then many decades in the future.

[Note @: Vatican City includes [....]

Note ‡1 (≠): Emperor “Aurelian”, despite his birth name Lucius Domitian Aurelianus, was neither the famous Marcus Aurelius nor the “Domitian” (i.e.: Titus Flavius Domitianus, r. 81--96).

Note ‡2 (≠): Emperor “Probus”, despite his birth name Marcus Aurelius Probus, was also not the famous Marcus Aurelius.

Note †: Pope Leo IV did not become 1 of the 3 papal Saints Leo. The canonized Popes Leo were I “the Great” (440--≤461), III (795--≤816), and IX (1049--≤1055). (Alas, it's difficult to be optimistic about the prospects for future canonization of Pope Leo XIII (1878--≤1903); as a champion of antimodernism, he's out of step with the currently modernist-dominated Vatican of the 21^st century.) Popes Leo II and VIII seem not to have existed, although perhaps those numbers were fouled by antipopes.

Note #: Being infidels professing the same religion as those who'd plundered lands outside the walls of Rome just 3 years earlier, their enslavement by victorious Italians in 849, especially to build public works for the defense of the Leonine City, would've been morally acceptable (or so the webmaster assumes, and he looks forward to encountering passages in the New Testament that confirm that assumption). It wasn't just outside the walls of Rome where daily life could be devastated by the sudden arrival of infidel or barbarian raiders. It was also in 849 that Ælfred, future King of the West-Saxons, was born, in Wantage, Berkshire, England. Before he died in 899, he would earn his epithet, unique among all English rulers, as “the Great”; were it not for his intelligence and military talent, the Danish and Norwegian Vikings might have conquered all of England--if not Britain. ]

Vatican I  |  Vatican II

Summary:  The only 2 councils of the Roman Catholic Church, 1869--1870 and 1962--1965, respectively, that had been held at the Vatican during the nearly bimillennial history of the Church.

(Their substantive entries have been moved to the “notions” Web page on this site; a link to each of those entries on its new page is at the side-header, i.e., the header immediately above, and to the left, of the colored background on which this entry appears.)

■ w

W, w

Called the ‘double-U ’ (or ‘dub'yū ’) in English, it appeared in the A.D. 11^th century. It was derived by doubling the ‘ U ’: a basic letter of the mediæval Latin alphabet; the appearance of the letter in the Half-Uncial (a.k.a. Insular), Lombardic, and Modern-Uncial faces provide reminders of its origin.[*]  The letter's modern form looks as if it was derived instead by doubling the angular form of the classical-Latin letter ‘ V ’.[+] 

‘ W ’ is now considered the 23^rd basic letter of the Latin alphabet. In German, it's a voiced labiodental spirant, pronounced like English ‘ v ’; in English, it's a bilabial semivowel. Indeed, England's first printer using movable type: William Caxton, had the letter in his Type 2 font in 1477, through his Type 6 font in 1489.[#]  Caxton printed during the early years of Early-Modern English, when spellings for a given word differed among the various regional dialects of Britain.

[Note *: Hand-written by the Norman French as “uu” (see, e.g.: “Why is 'w' pronounced 'double u' rather than 'double v '?”: an excerpt from Oxford Companion to the English Language).

Note +: An early convention for printing English with movable type used “vv” instead of ‘ w ’. It's followed herein (albeit verrry experimentally) in transliterating Old English. The convention was used by printers for Early-Modern English nearly a century after Caxton (see, e.g., the title page for the 1582 “ NEVV TESTAMENT  of jesvs christ, translated faithfvlly into english ”, printed at “ RHEMES ”). Suppliers of movable type, predominately based in Continental Europe, didn't provide the newfangled ‘ w ’, because the letter was not in the alphabet of Latin, nor in the native alphabets of the European languages directly descended from it (e.g.: Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and French except for Norman French).

Note #: As verified by inspection of accessible images of documents that Caxton printed, so the statement is not the result of an exhaustive analysis, and thus not an exclusive list of his relevant fonts. (E.g.: Type-2 ‘ v ’ has a scythe left arm, and a nearly closed short right arm; ‘ w ’ is a doubled ‘ v ’: the left ‘ v ’ looks like a ligatured left-bracket; ‘ W ’ is broad, and the left & mid. arms end in hooks to the left.)  Fig. 3,5,6 in Henry Robert Plomer (Alfred W. Pollard: ed.) 1900: A short history of English printing: 1476--1898. Project Gutenberg num. 20393. <http://www.Gutenberg.org/>. ]

week

Calendar period comprising 7 days, noteworthy for being the only one not based on celestial motion (e.g.: sun, moon) or any other natural cycles.

Days of the week in classical, mediæval, and modern times
Classical Latin	Roman Catholic	Old English	English
Dies Solis	Dies Domini (Dies) Dominica	Sunnandæg	Sunday
Dies Lunae	Feria 2	Mōn(an)dæg	Monday
Dies Martis	Feria 3	Tīwesdæg	Monday
Dies Mercurii	Feria 4	Wōdnesdæg	Wednesday
Dies Jovis	Feria 5	Þursdæg	Thursday
Dies Veneris	Feria 6	Frīgedæg	Friday
Dies Saturni	Dies Sabbata	Sater(nes)dæg	Saturday

In pure classical Latin, the uninventive phrase “septem di·ēs, -ēi ” (m.): “7 days” was used to indicate a week. That the Romans seem not to have invented a word of their own[*] might best be explained by the modern week being a concept which came from ancient Egypt and the Judaism of the Old Testament. By the time of classical Latin, the Romans had also borrowed a word, with the same number of syllables and a related uninventive meaning, from Greek ( ἑβδομάς)  “hebdom·as, -adis” (f.): “7^th day”. That day was considered significant in preChristian times as the critical day for (recovery from)  disease. But the ancient Greeks did not have any concept that corresponds to the modern definition of a week as a period of 7 days. The Greeks instead grouped their days into a decade ( δεκά·ς, -δος (f.)) , containing exactly 10 days, which fit tidily into their months containing exactly 3 decades, thus 30 days.

By the time of the Vulgate, the concept of a week as a 7-day period was expressed in the Old Testament by a word whose stem is the same as the one borrowed into classical Latin, but simplified to the 1^st declension: “hebdomad·a, -æ” (f.).[&dagger]  It seems safe to assume that the word had come, along with other familiar borrowings from Greek (e.g.: “exodus”, “genesis”), from the 3^rd-century B.C. Greek of the Old Testament version that came to be known by the ironically Latinate name Septuagint. The first Bible for the Latin Church: the Vetus Itala (the Italian Antique, or more loosely: Ancient Italian (Bible)), was a direct translation into Latin from the Septuagint.

So it is that the concept of the week before Easter is expressed in the traditional Roman liturgy by the Vulgate word, thus for Holy Week: “Major Hebdomada”: “Greater Week”. Alternatively, as modern readers might expect, more literally, “Hebdomada Sancta”: “Holy Week”.

[Note *: It's unclear why the early Church didn't devise a word based on Classical Latin. Latin has distinct words--separate dictionary entries shorter than the obvious compound words or plausible contractions-- for concepts involving numbers that would be expressed in English with a phrase including that number. Among the plausible approaches that would be consistent with Classical Latin:

• Deriving a substantive from an adjective: Why not create a substantive “septēnāri·us, -i” (m.) or “septēnāri·a, -æ” (f.) from the adjective “septēnāri·us | -a| -um, (m.|f.|n.)”: “containing 7”? It could even have been slightly shortened unambiguously by dropping the final ‘i’ in the stem, thus “septēnār·us, -i” (m.) or “septēnār·a, -æ” (f.).
• Repurposing an ordinal substantive: “octava, -æ”(f.): “8^th (thing)”, was repurposed, from referring to the 8^th hour, into referring instead to a period of 8 days. Why not analogously repurpose the corresponding ordinal for 7, used as a substantive: “septima, -æ”: “7^th (thing)”, into a period of 7 days? That would have provided not only a more purely Latin-- but also a pleasantly alliterative-- name for Holy Week: “Septima Sancta”.
• Following the model of an extant noun: Analyzing “tridu·um, -i” (n.) = “tres” + “di·ēs, -ēi”: “period of 3 days”, why not “septuädu·um, -i” (n.) or “septēdu·um, -i” (n.)?

Note †: Especially God's command to Moses establishing the Pentecost of the Old Testament, which, with the recognition that counting by ancient Hebrews was inclusive, clarifies that a Hebrew week was composed of 7 days:

• “septem hebdomadas plenas”: “7 full weeks” [Lv. 23:15];
• “expletionis hebdomadæ septemæ, id est, quinquaginta dies”: “after the 7^th week be expired, that is, 50 days” [Lv. 23:16]
• See Gn. 29:27, Gn. 29:28, 2Par. 23:8, and Dn. 9:27, for 4 other instances in the Old Testament. ]

]

■ x | y | z

■ þ

Þ, þ

Called the ‘thorn’ in English, it's a potentially confusing but useful basic letter of the Latin alphabet; it's not a ligature of any letters. In the last decade of the 20^th century, international information-processing standards placed it immediately after ‘Z’ for alphabetic sorting in languages that had no customary place for it.

It's recognizable as the 3^rd letter of the Common-Germanic (a.k.a. Elder), Nordic, and Anglosaxon runic alphabets, which were used from the A.D. 1^st to 8^th centuries.  Christian missionaries, who had brought the Latin alphabet with them from Ireland to England, had no Latin letter for writing the dental fricative consonants of Old English (a.k.a. Anglosaxon), so they simply added the corresponding runic letter that was already used locally. It's the same single sound that the later Norman invaders stodgily insisted on spelling with the Latin letter-pair ‘th’ or ‘th’. The sound of this letter might also be encountered (e.g.: in dictionaries) in the phonetic notations ‘t͜h’ or ‘t͡h’.

• The letter ‘Þ’ is useful to distinguish THursday (derived from Old English “Þursdæg”), from Tuesday (derived from Old English “Tīwesdæg”), whenever the days of the week are most practically abbreviated by single letters.[#] 

[Note #: Cf. ‘D’ and ‘S’ usage herein to complete the minimal unambiguous abbreviation of the days of the week. ]

■ &

&c.

Abbreviation of Latin “et cetera”, meaning “and so on” (more literally: “and the other things”). From adj. “cēter·us | -a | -um”, collectively meaning “the other” or “the rest”. Typically used as pl. “cēter·i | -æ | -a”. Analogously to e.g.”, which should introduce only lists that will be left incomplete, “et cetera” should conclude only lists that are known not to be complete. The typewriter and ASCII character ‘&’ is derived from a centuries-old handwritten ligature for Latin “et”, typically meaning “and”[#].

[Note #: But only typically: Latin “et”, whose use as a conjunction is likely familiar to readers who have no better than a sketchy knowledge of Latin, can also be used as an adverb, its meaning then being “also” or “even”. Even official documents from the Vatican will sometimes use it this way. ]

The author of this page is neither a priest nor a member of any religious order. He was baptized a Roman Catholic during the reign of Pope Pius XII, in the same decade in which the council known as Vatican II was summoned, and was confirmed a Roman Catholic a few years before that council concluded its deliberations. He's had formal training in Latin, and can plod his way through some Greek. The author accepts, for the nonce [<ME: “the/n ones” ←“then ones” (dat.) = “(for) the once”], that except for his words themselves, readers have little else by which to judge him.

Sources routinely consulted by the author of this Web page are presented on a separate Web page within this site.

Mindful of the strong emotions sometimes evoked by the world-wide struggle to defend traditional Roman Catholicism, the author will endeavor to keep this page free of controversy that would be divisive among the traditional Catholic faithful. Nonetheless, this Web page may be helpful to Catholics attempting to preserve-- or return to-- the 19 centuries of Catholic tradition in their faith, to identify & illuminate some of the entities, issues, and terminology that may be encountered around other Catholics and nonCatholics.

In general, the author has strived to avoid issues of faith best referred to a fully traditional priest or to fully traditional publications, preferably bearing a copyright before 1950 , plus a Nihil obstat and an Imprimatur. He's focused instead on historical, linguistic, and lexicographic matters.