is the sixteenth letter in our 

 alphabet. The symbol was de- 

 rived from the hieroglyphic 

 picture of a shutter (see ALPHA- 

 UET). When taken over by the 

 Semites, the sign was called 

 pe, 'the month,' a name ex- 

 plained by the fact that in the 

 Egyptian hieratic, from which 

 the Phoenician sign was obtained, there are strokes 

 resembling teeth, which, however, disappeared 

 liefore the date of the earliest extant Phoenician 

 inscriptions. The oldest Greek form was p, which 

 differs little from the Phoenician letter. In the 

 Latin alphabet the hook gradually became a loop, 

 giving the form P, and this l>eing the old form of 

 K, the latter acquired a tail to distinguish it. In 

 the later Greek alphabet P continued to be the 

 eign for r, and the sign for p was differentiated by 

 lengthening the hook, giving ultimately the form 

 II for the letter pi. 



The sound of p is the sharp labial mute. Hence 

 it interchanges with other labials, especially with 

 b, the Hat labial mute. Most languages give a 

 preference to one of these two sounds. Thus, the 

 Etruscans preferred p, and have no b in their 

 alphabet, whereas the Teutonic languages dislike 

 p, especially as an initial. Only six primitive 

 Teutonic words, all probably loan words, begin 

 with p, and in Beowulf and Ciedmon, taken 

 together, only three such words are found. In 

 Moeso-Gothic the Greek p was used by Ulphilas, but 

 only for foreign words, such as Paul, Pontius 

 Pilate, prophet, and presbyter. Most of our Eng- 

 lish words beginning with , such as plough, parish, 

 people, or prince, are loan words from Greek, 

 Latin, or Celtic. A primitive Aryan p corresponds 

 to a Teutonic./', and it is only a primitive b, a very 

 rare letter, which can correspond to a Teutonic p. 

 A Welsh corresponds to a Gaelic c and an Eng- 

 lish/. 'I hus, the Gaelic mac, 'son,' is the Welsh 

 map or up. The Gaelic cethair is the AYelsli 

 pedwar, and the English four ; and the Gaelic coie 

 is the Welsh pump, and the English five. Owing 

 to French influence the English prejudice against 

 p begins to disappear in the 13th century, and we 

 get goasip instead of the older godsib, apricot for 

 abricot, and purse for horse, though even here the b 

 is retained in the derived verb to disburse. A p 

 also intrudes between m and t, as in empty for the 

 )ld English icmtig, and in tempt from the Old 

 French tenter. In Latin p intrudes also between 

 m and /, as in the words excmplum and templum. 

 In like case, as in humble from humilis, b is usually 

 the intrusive letter in English words. 



I'aiirl, capital of a district in Cape Colony, 40 

 mill-* by roadNE. of Capetown; pop. (1891) 7668. 



I'allllil. a town of Bengal, on an arm of the 

 Ganges, 115 miles N. of Calcutta. Pop. 15,267. 



Paoa (Ceeloyenyn, i.e. 'hollow-cheek'), a re- 

 markable genus of rodents, allied to the Agoutis 

 ( Dasvprocta), represented by a single species (C. 

 paca), which ranges in Central and South America 

 from Guatemala to Paraguay, east of the Andes. 

 Its cheek-bones are uniquely developed, the zygo- 

 356 



matic arch being enlarged to form a great cavity 

 on each side. Eacli communicates by a narrow aper- 

 ture with the mouth, is lined by mucous membrane, 

 and does not contain food as an ordinary cheek- 

 pouch naturally does. Their function, if they have 

 any, is unknown. The paca is large for a rodent, 

 being about 2 feet in length. It is stout and some- 

 what pig-like in build, with a large blunt head, 



Paca ( Caslogenyi paca ). 



cloven lip, small ears, stump-like tail, thick legs, 

 five-toed feet, and rounded back. The colour is 

 brownish yellow above, whitish below, with whitish- 

 yellow spots or longitudinal bands along the sides. 

 Though somewhat clumsy in form and gait, the 

 paca runs actively, and can swim well. It lives 

 alone or in pairs in the moist forests, especially by 

 sides of rivers, and tends to be nocturnal in its 

 habits. It makes burrows, which are said to have 

 three openings. The female bears only one or two 

 young at a birth. As a vegetable eater, the paca 

 sometimes does damage to sugar-cane plantations 

 and gardens. Its fat, pork-like llesti is much 

 esteemed. 



Pace (MILITARY). See YARD. 



Pacliacamac, a village of Peru, 18 miles SE. 

 of Lima, with the ruins of a temple from which 

 Pi/arro took immense treasure. 



Paclllliarlli, a sanitarium and convalescent 

 dep6t for European troops in India, is situated, 

 2500 feet above the plains, in the Central Provinces, 

 110 miles SW. of Jabalpur. 



Parlioiniiis. an Egyptian monk of the 4th 

 century, the first to substitute for the free asceti- 

 cism of the solitary recluse a regular cocnobitic 

 systen.1. He was born about 292, and about 340 

 founded the first monastic institution at Tabenna, 

 an island in the Nile, where ere long there were as 

 many as 1400 monks. He also established the 

 first convent for nuns, which was under the presi- 

 dency of his sister, and he laboured with so much 

 diligence and zeal that at his death, according to 

 Palladius, not fewer than 7(KK) monks and nuns 

 were under his inspection. The writings ascribed 

 to Pachomius are not only worthless in them- 

 selves, but of dubious authenticity. See the article 



MONACHISM. 



