Chambers's encyclopædia: [A to Belgiojo'so]

Chambers, William; Chambers, Robert; Chambers, Ephraim

Bibliographic data

Multivolume work

Persistent identifier:: 1868636399

Author:: Chambers, William; Chambers, Robert

Title:: Chambers's encyclopædia

Sub title:: a dictionary of universal knowledge for the people : illustrated with maps and numerous wood engravings

Type of content:: Enzyklopädie

Year of publication:: 1860

Place of publication:: London; Edinburgh; Hannover

Publisher of the original:: W. and R. Chambers

Identifier (digital):: 1868636399

Language:: English

Additional Notes:: Begründet von Ephraim Chambers

Other Title:: Encyclopaedia of universal knowledge for the people

Founder of work:: Chambers, Ephraim

Publisher of the digital copy:: Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)

Document type:: Multivolume work

Volume

Persistent identifier:: 1869131134

Author:: Chambers, William; Chambers, Robert

Title:: [A to Belgiojo'so]

Scope:: 4 ungezählte Blätter, 824 Seiten, 7 ungezählte gefaltete Blätter

DOI:: 10.14463/KXP:1869131134

Year of publication:: 1860

Place of publication:: Edinburgh; London

Publisher of the original:: W. and R. Chambers

Identifier (digital):: 1869131134

Illustration:: Illustrationen, Karten

Signature of the source:: a 3272(1)

Language:: English

Usage licence:: Public Domain Mark 1.0

Founder of work:: Chambers, Ephraim

Publisher of the digital copy:: Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)

Place of publication of the digital copy:: Hannover

Year of publication of the original:: 2023

Document type:: Volume

Collection:: Literature and language; General

Section

Title:: B

Write comment:: Zur weiteren Unterteilung wurde von etwa jeder 50. Seite der erste Eintrag herangezogen.

Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Section

S e = e e ERE s g THE second letter in the Hebrew or Pheenician alphabet, and in all alphabets derived from it, belongs to the order of labials, and is of the kind called medial or flat. See LETTERS, ALPHABET. Its name in Hebrew is beth, signifying ¢ house,’ * probably because its original hiero- glyphic or picture form was an outline of a house or tent. In the corresponding words of sister-languages, we find b very generally replaced by some one of the other labial letters [p, f (ph), v]; these substitutions, however, take place not by chance or caprice, but according to ascertained laws. 'See PrILOLOGY, COMPARATIVE, and Grivr’s Law. The following are some examples of the interchange of & with other letters: Corre- sponding to Eng. bear are Sansc. bkri, Lat. ferre, Gr. pherein : Eng. be, Sansc. bhu, Lat. fio and fus, Gr. phuo: Eng. bore, Lat. forare: Eng. of and of, Gr. apo, Lat. ab : Eng. wife, plural wives, Ger. weib, Old H. Ger. wip: Eng. web, weave, weft: Gr. epis- copos, Eng. bishop, Fr. evéque. In several Latin words, b arose out of u (pronounced like » or w). Thus, the original form of bellum, war, was duellum or dvellum ; of bonus, dvonus; and the d being dropped (as we drop the sound of % in knee), the v became hardened into . Similarly, bis, twice, is for duis. A remarkable interchange sometimes takes place between b and m, as in Sansc. mri, to die; Lat. mort-, death; and Gr. brotos, mortal. The Greeks pronounced their b (8) like a », for they spelled Virgilius, e.g., Birgilios ; and this con- tinues to be the case in modern Greek. In Latin, during the classical ages at least, the letter was pro- nounced as it is in English, French, &c. But in the time of the later emperors (beginning with the 3d c. of our era), b was softened down, in the popular language at least, to a slovenly sound like »; for in inscriptions of this period, such spellings as verva for verba, miravils for mirabili, are quite common. The distinction between the two sounds being once lost sight of, the letter b was frequently substituted for v—as berba for verba, bivus for vivus. This softening of b into v in the middle-age Latin, has left traces in the modern Italian and French ; as Lat. habere, Ital. avere, Fr. avoir ; Lat. tabula, Ital. tavola. A Spaniard, on the contrary, has a tendency to use b instead of v; thus he pronounces wvivere like bibere, and Jowis as if written Jobis. B, in Music, is the seventh degree of the diatonic scale of C, and the twelfth degree of the diatonic- chromatic scale. In harmony, it is called the major seventh. According to the tempered system of tuning, the ratio of B, to the fundamental note C, is 383- In the ancient diatonic scale, B was never used as a key-note, as its fifth, F, was imperfect. In the German notation, B is called H, while B flat is called simply B. B flat is half a tone lower than B, and in harmony is called the flat seventh. As a harmonic . arising from C, B flat, as produced by nature, is considerably flatter than in the tempered system of tuning. BA’AL, a Hebrew word signifying lord, owner, 594 B or master, and applied as a general title of honour to many different gods. In Hosea ii. 16, it is men- tioned as a name which had been given to Jehovah himself ; but when used with the definite article, it specially designated the principal male deity of the Pheenicians and Carthaginians, as Baaltis or Astarte was the principal female deity. In connec- tion with Babylon and Assyria, the same deity is spoken of under the name of Bel or Belus. riginally, B. was the god of the sun, the ruler and vivifier of nature, and Astarte the goddess of the moon. In the later star-worship of the western Asiatic nations, B. was the name of Jupiter, the planet of fate, or, as some suppose, of Saturn. The proper Phoenician name of B., however, was Melkart, Melkrat, or Melchrat, which is usually supposed to mean ‘king of the city’—i.e., Tyre; but others consider it a contraction of two words signifying ‘king of the earth;’ while the learned Fig. 1.—Baal, or Melkart. From a copper coin of Cossyra in the British Museum, (Twice the size of the original.) Selden is of opinion that it is equivalent to ¢strong king” B. was perhaps the same god as the Pheenician Moloch. The Greeks confounded B. or Melkart with their own Hercules; and, for the pur- pose of distinction, termed him the Tyrian Hercules. From the earliest foundation of Tyre, he seems to have been the tutelar god of that city, and his worship apparently extended thence until it was prevalent in all the towns of the Phoenician confederation, and was established in their remotest colonies, such as Malta, Carthage, and Cadiz It also overspread the neigh- bouring countries of Assyria and Egypt. Each country or locality had its B. or chief god. According to Scrip- ture, the temples of this idol (at least in Phcenicia Fig. 2.—Baal and Assyria) were builb on 1y 5 warlike aspect, with the tops of hills, or still four legs, representing more frequently in solemn the pervading energy groves, and sometimes altarg ~ 2ndrapidity ofthe sun. -t pd N fds el fd e e A A D N DLIO B |

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