/
R
is the eighteenth letter in our
alphabet. In ancient Egyptian
there seems to have been no
clear distinction between the
sounds of » and Z, both of which
are liquid trills, the breath
escaping over the vibrating
edges of the tongue—in the one
case over the tip, in the other
over the sides (see L). Consequently the hiero-
glyphie picture of the ¢lioness,’ f_rom which our
letter [ is derived, was used almost interchangeably
with the picture of the mouth (see ALPHABET),
which became the source of the letter ». But the
Semites, who obtained th_eir_ :Llphabet from the
Egyptians, made a clear distinction b'et\\'een the
two sounds, and hence the two Egyptian symbols
were specialised, the tailed hiemt_ic form of' the
Egyptian picture of the mouth being exclusively
adopted as the Semitic sign for 7. I_b was callqd
resh, ‘the head,’ because in the hieratic form, 9, it
resembled the oval of the head supported on the
neck. In the lapidary writing of the Pheenicians
the letter became angular instead of rounded, and
the Semitic form, A, passed without alteration into
the earliest Greek alphabet. When the direction
of the Greek writing was reversed the form was
somewhat rounded, giving for the sound of r the
symbol P, which was called »26. The Semitic name
resh or rhos would become 720sa in Greek, but as
in Greek an s normally disappears between two
vowels, this would give 7hoa, and finally 740,
owing to the coalescence of the vowels. In the
primitive Greek alphabet, as in the Pheenician, the
forms of the signs for b, ¢, and r differed little, and
confusions arose. Hence the signs were differen-
tiated in various ways. In the early Greek alpha-
bet which found its way into Italy the tail of
P was curved round, giving the form B with a lower
loop, to denote &, while for ¢ the tail was short-
ened and finally disappeared, giving D. For r a
short tail was added, giving the form R, which
ultimately became R, while the form P was retained
to represent » in the Eastern alphabet and in the
Western to represent p. The tail of R began to
make its appearance in the Greek alphabet before
it was transmitted to Italy, but subsequently dis-
appeared, other ways of avoiding the confusion
between the forms having been invented. For the
lapidary and capital forms the old R has been
retained, but in minuscule writing we use r and 2,
the first of which is an uncial form derived from B ;
the second, called the » rotunda, coming from the
old Roman cursive, in which the vertical stroke
of R has nearly disappeared, being represented
only by the small tag at the top of ~.
The sound of » is a true consonant in the north
of England, where it is exaggerated in the North-
umberland burr. In Sanskrit it is vocalic ; in the
south of England it is often reduced to a semi-
vowel or even to a vowel ; while in the Midlands,
in Scotland, and in France it preserves the proper
sound of a trilled liquid which it had in Latin and
Anglo-Saxon. After a guttural vowel it is hardly
heard, farther being now almost indistinguishable
from father. The Irish » is a survival of the old
English sound, the pronunciation Zarum for ‘harm,’
arwm for ¢ arm,’ and boren for ‘born,’ reproducing, it
is believed, the medieval English sound, which is
now less resonant than it formerly was. The sounds
of » and / are often interchanged. In the Indian
alphabet the Semitic symbol for » represents /, and
the symbol for / represents . The Japanese sign
for » was obtained from a Chinese sign for /, and
some Polynesian and South African peoples replace
r by the easier:sound of /, as is also done by
English children, who, however, often prefer w,
saying vewy for ‘very.” The sound of » is usually
the last which children learn to pronounce. In
English 7 frequently replaces » and occasionally r
replaces 7, as in ¢ turban ’ from ¢olibant. Sometimes
r disappears, as in ‘speak’ from O.E. sprecan,
‘pin’ from O.E. preon, ‘palsy’ from O. Fr. para-
lysie, and ‘cockade’ from O. Fr. cocart. It is
intrusive in ‘shrill’ from O.E. scA#ll, in ‘hoarse’
from O.E. 4ds, in ‘partridge’ from Lat. perdiz, in
‘cartridge’ from Fr. cartouche, in ‘corporal’ from
Fr. caporal, and in ‘culprit’ from Lat. culpa. It
is also intrusive in ¢ron and bride-groom. There is
a modern tendency to insert a final », as in ¢ taters’
for ¢potatoes’ and ¢ Victoriar’ for ‘Victoria.” In
the words our, your, their, her, the r is a survival
of an old genitive suffix. Sometimes r is trans-
posed, as in ‘horse’ from Aross. In Latin r
supplants s between two vowels and sometimes at
the end of words, as in ‘arena’ for asena, ‘dari’
for dasi, ¢ plurima’ for plusima, honor’ for honos,
“arbor’ for arbos.
Ra. See EcypT, Vol. IV. p. 234.
Raab (Hung. Gydir), a town of Hungary, stands
on an extensive plain at the confluence of the Raab
and the Little Danube, a branch of the great river
of that name, 67 miles WNW. of Buda-Pesth. It
contains numerous religious edifices, among which
is a beautiful cathedral. The manufactures are
chiefly tobacco and cutlery. Pop. 27,981.
Raalte, a town of the Netherlands, in the pro-
vince of Overyssel, 11 miles NNE. of Deventer.
Pop. 5795.
Raasay, one of the Inner Hebrides, lies between
the Isle of Skye and the mainland of Scotland, and
belongs to Inverness-shire. It is 13 miles in length
from north to south, 34 miles in greatest breadth,
and 24 sq. m. in area. Pop. (1841) 647; (1901)
419. The western side of the island is bare and
uninteresting. On the eastern and more sheltered
side there is some striking scenery. Dun Caan
(1456 feet) is the highest point, and Brochel Castle,
on the east shore—now a mere ruin—the chief
object of interest.
Rabanus Maurus (or more correctly Hra-
banus), a great Carolingian churchman and divine,
was born of noble parents at Mainz about 776,
and had his education at Fulda and at Tours
under Alcuin, who surnamed him Maurus after
the favourite disciple of St Benedict. He was
next placed at the head of his school at Fulda,
where he trained scholars like Walafrid Strabo
and Otfrid of Weissenburg. In 822 he became
abbot, but resigned in 842 to retire to the neigh-
bouring cloister of Petersberg, whence in 847 he
