THE 



ENGLISH CYCLOPEDIA. 



ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



o. 



OAK, ECONOMICAL USES OF. 



f\, in the vowel aeries, if arranged according to the nature of the 

 ^ sound, occupies the position between a and u. In the hieroglyphical 

 characters it appears, according to Champollion, to hare been a picture 

 of an eye, and even in the old Greek alphabet it is occasionally found 

 with a dot in the centre, to represent the pupil, for instance in the 

 Klean Tablet. But for the different forms of the letter see ALPHABET. 

 The changes to which thin vowel is liable are numerous. 



1. It is convertible with the adjoining vowel u ; and indeed the two 

 characters seem to have had a common origin. Thus, the old Greek 

 alphabet would appear to have once terminated, like the Hebrew, with 

 taa, so as to exclude the uptilun ; whereas the Etruscans had a u but 

 no o. Hence the predominance of the o in Greek, of the u in Latin. 

 Within the limit* of the Latin itself the two letters are often inter- 

 changed, out of which arises the confusion between the second, or o, 

 and the fourth, or u declension, to both of which belong ,*Vi, cUtui, 

 tenaliu, tumultia, ornatui, laurut, damn*, Ac. The words eontul and 

 ccmtidere also appear as nWand cotolere, and they have both a common 

 root with iclium, a seat. 



The English language, too, has often an o written where u is heard, 

 as one, none, once, come, dune, icon, tome. 



2. With a. Grimm has pointed out thin change as existing 

 between the Latin and Teutonic tongues, as doma-re, lani/tu, odium, 

 Ac., compared with ziihin-tn, lamjjiaa, Ac. Hence, too, the double form 

 of the name Lonyobardi and Langobardi. So, in Latin, from the root 

 yao (ynotcv) were formed gnarut and iyaariu : and again, from these 

 win-are and ignurart, in the latter of which the original vowel 

 reappears. Again, with rlarut i connected gloria, as closely as gratia 

 with yratin. It is probable too that the masculine bono and the 

 feminine I'tna were mere dialectic varieties which originally had no 

 distinction of gender. Thus in the Gothic the converse prevails, the 

 forms in o being feminine, those in a masculine. Lastly, the English 

 and Scotch have many instances of the interchange, as one, tico, itone, 

 in the one, ant, tica, itane, in the other; but perhaps this change 

 belongs to the next head. 



3. With the long e, the sound of which must be considered as the 

 lame with the English a. Hence in Greek, Evrarup, ararup, Ac., 

 from TOTJJP ; and the Latin tot, cor correspond with the Greek TJAIOS, 

 and KTIP (observe too the German hen). The town Nemttum in Gallia 

 is called by Greek geographers tltfUKraot, and the German jener is in 



!i yon. 



4. With ou. This interchange is virtually the same with the first- 

 mentioned. It is not uncommon in French, as compared with Latin, 

 as norrlla, nourelle ; rota, roue ; totut, tout, Ac. 



.'<. Witli wi, especially in Italian, as Aitomo, buono, laogo, nuoro, from 

 the Latin homo, bonui, Incut, norm. 



6. With eu, in French, as lieu, feu, jeu, peu, leur, heart, douleiir, 

 queue ; from the Latin, loaa, focui, jocut, pa uci (and Italian, poco), 

 illnrum, kora, dolor, cauda, or coda. 



1. With /IK. This exists within the Latin; as cauda and coda, 



cautei and cotet, caudeje and codex, Claudiiu and Claditu, platuio and 



So from the Latin aurnm, audrre (whence the frequentative 



), Aufidui, audtre, the Italians have on, otare, 0/anto ; and the 



French or, oter, ouir. Hence too the French pronunciation of the 



diphthong au. 



8. With oa. Thus, the English words boat, oath, oak, must have 

 received their present orthography when both the vowels were pro- i 

 nounced, as they still are in gome parts of England, 4o-a', o-ath, or ! 

 boo-at, oo-alli. 



ARTS AND SCt CIV. VOL. VI. 



!>. With ue, as in the Spanish biteno, luego, fueyo, hueiped ; from the 

 Latin BOH its, locus, facia, ko*pei. 



10. An initial o with hue or hui. Hence from the Latin ostiitm, 

 ottiariiu, are derived the French /mi's, kuiuier, and the English usher. 

 From the Latin <>, a bone, orum an egg, the Spaniards have hufso, 

 huevo. From the Latin octo, otrea, come the French huict or hint, 

 huitlre or huttre. From the Latin hodie, which appears to have been 

 pronounced as the Italian ogyi, was formed the French hui, in au-jour- 

 d'-hui. 



11. In the paragraphs numbered 5, 9, and 10, the o really takes the 

 sound of the English ir, or the Greek digamma ; and the same is the 

 case in the Greek language itself, as in OIKOS, oivos, oi5a, Oaos (which 

 U the true reading in Herodotus, iv. 154), for FIKOI, fivos, FiSa, 

 Fo|oj ; the first three of which may be compared with the Latin ricus, 

 riniuii video. Closely allied hereto is the frequent interchange in 

 Latin of oe or oi with u. [c.] 



12. With ea, as between German and English. Thus the former 

 language has ttrom, brot, ijrou, tod, drohca : the latter stream, bread, 

 great, death, thriat. This same change exists in the English by itself, 

 as cltare, clore ; teeare, tcvre ; heal, whole ; heat, hot, Ac. 



13. With ti, pronounced as the English long '. This is exceedingly 

 common in the same languages. Compare the German bride, bein, tin, 

 nein,geitt, heim, heist, tletden, mannheit, meist,theil, heiliy,reihe,tfieiche, 

 leichen; with both, bone, one, none, ghott, home, hoi, clothe, manhood, 

 mott, dole, holy, rote, ipoke of a wheel, token. This change also exists 

 within the English language, as thine and sftone ; strike and stroke; 

 drirf and drove. 



14. A short u with a short i. This is particularly common in 

 Greek, and above all in the penult of disyllabic*. Thus with vtuw, 

 <TTf\\u, Atyw, there co-exist the substantive forms vopoi, 0-roAoj, 

 Ao-yoi. The Latin commonly prefers the S in such words. Hence to 

 the Greek rtvru, ci, ei/a (fFFa), ytos (v(Fos), t/mu (Tt^cu), correspond 

 the Latin cw/itut and pupina, 86, ?i8i-r;/i, tiavui. i-omo. The change of 

 these vowels is exceedingly common when preceded by a to sound, 

 especially if an r or I follow. Hence in Latin, rerto and rorfo, telle and 

 rulu, tetter and rotter, veto and roto. Hence likewise to the Latin 

 termu, rellui, verruca, correspond the English worm, wool, wart. 

 Again the German tchtcerdt is in English nrord ; and rice rend the 

 German ant-tcort is in English anstccr ; and lastly, many words of this 

 form are written with an o and pronounced with au e, as u-orf, worm, 

 worth, irone. 



15. For the tendency of the final letter n to disappear after o, 

 see N. 



OAK, ECONOMICAL USES OF. The oak subserves a greater num- 

 ber of useful purposes than almost any other kind of forest tree. All 

 things considered, British oak is more durable than any other timber 

 largely grown in Europe ; and hence it enormous employment in the 

 arts. The wood is hard, tough, tolerably flexible, strong without being 

 too heavy, not easy to splinter, and not readily penetrated by water. 

 An experiment once showed that a weight of 10,000 Ibs. was required 

 to break an oaken beam 1 1 feet long by 5 inches square. With twisted 

 grain the wood is admirably suited for posts for houses, mills, engines, 

 and large machines. It bears alternations of wet and dry better than 

 most other woods ; oak piles have been known to endure for many 

 centuries. It is excellent for shingles, pales, laths, and casks. The 

 email slow-growing variety is much employed for the spokes of wheels. 

 The young tree yields slender rods, well suited for hoops, walking 

 sticks, and the handles of carters' whips. The great durability of 



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