E 



is the eighteenth letter in our 

 alphabet. In ancient Egyptian 

 there seems to have been no 

 clear distinction between the 

 sounds of r and /, 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 



(see L). Consequently the hiero- 

 3 of the ' lioness, from which our 



over the sides 

 glyphic picture 



letter / is derived, was used almost interchangeably 

 with the picture of the month (see ALPHABET), 

 which became the source of the letter r. But the 

 Semites, who obtained their alphabet from the 

 Egyptians, made a clear distinction between the 

 two sounds, and hence the two Egyptian symbols 

 were specialised, the tailed hieratic form of the 



resembled the oval of the head supported on the 

 neck. In the lapidary writing of the Pho3tiicians 

 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 rho. Tlie Semitic name 

 resh or rhoa would become rhosa in Greek, but as 

 in Greek an normally disappears between two 

 vowels, this would give rhoa, and finally rho, 

 owing to the coalescence of the vowels. In the 

 primitive Greek alphabet, as in the Phoenician, the 

 forms of the signs for b, d, 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 b, while for d the tail was short- 

 ened and finally disappeared, giving D. For r a 

 short tail was added, giving the form B, which 

 ultimately became K, while the form P was retained 

 to represent r 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 

 lietween the forms having been invented. For the 

 lapidary and capital forms the old K has been 

 retained, but in minuscule writing we use r and 1 , 

 the first of whicli is an uncial form derived from \t ; 

 the second, called the r 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 1 . 



The sound of r 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 

 soul h of England it is often reduced to a semi- 

 yowel 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 r is a survival of the old 



English sound, the pronunciation harum for 'harm,' 

 arum for ' arm," and boren for 'born,' reproducing, it 

 is believed, the mediaeval English sound, which is 

 now less resonant than it formerly was. The sounds 

 of r and / are often interchanged. In the Indian 

 alphabet the Semitic symbol for r represents /, and 

 the symbol for I represents r. The Japanese sign 

 for r was obtained from a Chinese sign for I, 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 r is usually 

 the last which children learn to pronounce. In 

 English I frequently replaces r and occasionally r 

 replaces I, as in ' turban ' from tolibant. Sometimes 

 r disappears, as in ' speak ' from O. E. sprcecan, 

 'pin' from O.E. preon, 'palsy 'from O. Fr. para- 

 lysie, and ' cockade ' from 0. Fr. cocart. It is 

 intrusive in 'shrill' from O.E. schill, in 'hoarse' 

 from O.E. has, in ' partridge ' from Lat. perdix, in 

 ' cartridge ' from Fr. cartouche, in ' corporal ' from 

 Fr. caporal, and in ' culprit ' from Lat. culpa. It 

 is also intrusive in iron and \>ri<\e-groom. There is 

 a modern tendency to insert a final r, 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 hross. In Latin r 

 supplants s between two vowels and sometimes at 

 the end of words, as in ' arena ' for asena, ' dari ' 

 for daft, ' plurima ' for plusima, ' honor ' for honos, 

 ' arbor ' for arbos. 



Ra. See EGYPT, Vol. IV. p. 234. 



Rnab ( Hung. Gyiir), 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. 22,981. 



Raalte, a town of the Netherlands, in the pro- 

 vince of Overyssel, 11 miles NNE. of Deventer. 

 Pop. 5795. 



Itaasay. one of the Inner Hebrides, lies between 

 i lie 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; (1891) 

 438. 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. 



Rabanns ManrilS (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 



