s 



the nineteenth letter in our 

 own and most western alpha- 

 bets, ia descended through the 

 Greek sigma from shin, the 

 twenty-first Semitic letter. The 

 Phoenician symbol, w. arose 

 out of the hieratic form of the 

 hieroglyphic picture of plants 

 growing in an inundated garden 

 (see ALPHABET). The Semites called the letter 

 shin, the ' teeth,' a name explained by the hieratic 

 form, which resembles a row of teeth in the lower 

 jaw. Though the form of the Greek letter sigma 

 was derived from that of thin, the name was ob- 

 tained from that of the Semitic sibilant samech. 

 This must be attributed to the fact that, while the 

 Semitic languages require four sibilants, Greek 

 needs only three. One of the four was conse- 

 quently disused, but, the usage differing in different 

 dialects, a confusion arose, so that in the final or 

 classical Greek alphabet it came to pass that the 

 name used in one dialect was applied to thesynil>ol 

 adopted in another. The form of the Phrenician 

 letter resembled our W. This, in the early Greek 

 alphabets, became S or *. In the Latin alpha- 

 bet this was rounded, giving S. Our long s was 

 derived from the old Roman cursive, the tick on 

 the left of f being a surviving vestige of the lower 

 curve of *. The sound of s is that of the hard open 

 sibilant a hiss formed by bringing the blade of 

 the tongue near the front of the palate the sound 

 of z being the corresponding soft open sibilant. In 

 Latin the sound of 2 did not exist, consequently 

 the letter disappeared, and its place in the alpha- 

 bet was taken by the new letter a. In the time of 

 Cicero it was reintroduced for the transliteration 

 of Greek words. Anglo-Saxon, also, had no z, the 

 letter licing introduced for the representation of 

 Greek or t rench words, such as zone, zest, or zeal. 

 But, although we now possess the letter, we are 

 chary of its use, and its sound is constantly repre- 

 sented by *, as in reason, rose, rise. We use s 

 both in /'. and his, in hearse and hers, in curse 

 and curs, in loose and lose, though in one case the 

 sound is that of and in the other of z. Few 

 genuine English words have z, though in some cases, 

 mich an freeze and ilizzi/, owing to Norman influence, 

 a z has replaced an OJd English s. Sometimes, 

 as in sugar and sure, s has the sound of sh or zh, 

 a sound which usually arises from the softening of 

 the Anglo-Saxon sc, as in 'shall ' from sceal, 'shame ' 

 from scumu, 'fish 1 from ./be, 'shade' from sfiiilu, or 

 'sheep' from scenji. This change is characteristic 

 of the southern dialects, the northern X/.-ijittm 

 (sheep-tun) answering to the southern S/n/i/mi. 

 So s/.i/i/u-r and nhimter are doublets, obtained from 

 northern and southern foi-nm of the same word. 

 Occasionally the Anglo-Saxon form is preserved, as 

 in scar and score, or is replaced by sk, as in st./n. 

 Owing to French influence c acquired a sibilant 

 sound liefore e and f, and hence in a few words an 

 Anglo-Saxon .. has been replaced by c, as in ' mice,' 

 from A.S. in if >,, or 'once' from ones. A final s 

 sometimes disappears owing to its having been 

 iiiHtaken for the sign of the plural, as in 'pea,' 

 from the O.F. jtcis f l.ui. pisum), 'peas ' or 'pease' 



being regarded at a plural, of which 'pea' was 

 erroneously supposed to be the singular. In the 

 same way the French cerise and relais have given 

 us 'cherry' and 'relay,' the final s in 'cherries* 

 and 'relays' being regarded as the plural sign. 



Occasionally * is intrusive, as in 'island,' from 

 A.S. eu-land, an error due to the false analogy 

 of 'isle' which comes from insula ; or in 'aisle,* 

 from the French aile, or in 'splash' for plash, 

 where the s seems to be an intensitive. In Greek 

 and Welsh s weakens to It, as is seen by comparing 

 the Greek hepta with the Latin srfifeui, or the 

 Welsh hen with the Irish sen. A German * may 

 represent an English t, as in wasser for 'water,' or 

 heiss for ' hot.' In Latin an s changed a preceding 

 b to p and m to n, as in scripsi from scribo, and 

 i-niixiil from eomtnl ; and it assimilated a preceding 

 t or (/, as in cessnm for cedsum, and mons for inontx. 

 Before in, n, il, I, r a medial s disappears, as in 

 judex, for jusdex, or idem for isi/eni. A final * 

 sometimes disappears, as in ipse for </i.i//\ : and be- 

 tween two vowels it becomes r, as in avrvm for 

 avsum, or aurora for ausosa. 



SS, COLLAR OF, a collar composed of a series of 

 the letter S in gold, either linked together or set 

 in close order. Such collars have been much worn 

 in England by persons holding great offices in the 

 state. 



Saadi. See SUM. 



Saalr. a river of Germany, distinguished from 

 smaller rivers of the same name as the Saxon or 

 Thuringian Saale, rises on the western slope of the 

 Ficlitelgebirge (Bavaria), and, flowing northward 

 through several minor states, finally across Prus- 

 sian Saxony, past the towns of Hof, Kudolstadt, 

 Jena, Naumburg, \Veisscnfcls, Mfi-si-lmrg. and 

 Halle, falls into the Ellie, alxmt IS miles above 

 Magdeburg, after a course of '2'2(> miles. It is navi- 

 gable from Nanmburg to its confluence with the 

 Elbe, a distance of 99 miles, for vessels up to 200 

 tons. 



SaaUVIil. a town of Saxe-Meiiiingen, on the 

 Saale, 31 miles by rail SSW. of Jena, has ruins 

 of a castle built by Charlemagne against the Sorbs, 

 and possesses graphite, machinery, and other works. 

 Pop. (1890) 9801. 



Saarhrttck, a town of Khenish Prussia, on the 

 Saar, 40 miles SK. of Tie\es. is the centre of a 

 large coalfield, and of iron and gloss works, with 

 manufactures of tobacco, chemicals, metal utensils, 

 &c. Pop. (1890) 13,812. Here, on 2d August 1x7(1, 

 the first engagement took place Ix-twwii tin- French 

 and Germans, the latter retreating. 



Saardam. See ZAANDAM. 



SaarKCinund (Fr. Sarregnemines), a town in 

 the German province of Alsace-Lorraine, 41 miles 

 K. of Metz. It is famous for its pottery ; silk 

 plush and velvet are also made. Pop. (1890) 13,076. 



Sasirloiiis. a fortified town of Rhenish Prussia, 

 .'il mile's S. of TrevcR, on the left bank of the Saar. 

 Fortified (1681-85) by Vauban, it, was in the pos- 

 session of France until 1816, when the ( 'undress of 

 Vienna gave it to Prussia. Here Marshal Ney 

 was bom. Pop. 6788. 



