580 



D DACIER. 



D 



I) ; the fosirtii letter in our alphabet, of the order of 

 mutes. (Set- Consonant.) According to M. Chani- 

 pollion's recent discoveries, the d, in uie hieroglyphic 

 writing of the old Egyptians, corresponding to the 

 dart of the Copts, is a segment of a circle, similar to 

 a Q . The Greek delta was a triangle, A, from 

 which the Roman D has been borrowed. D, as an ini- 

 tial letter on medals, indicates the names of countries, 

 cities, and persons, as Decius ; also the words devotus, 

 defignatus, divus, domimis, &c. ; D. M., diis mani- 

 ous ; D. O. M., Deo optima maxima. The Greek A 

 represented the number four. Among Roman nu- 

 merals, D signifies 500, but was not used as a nu- 

 merical designation until 1500 years after Christ. 

 The Romans designated a thousand in this way, 

 CI3. The early printers, it is said, thought it best 

 to express 500 by half the character of 1000, and 

 th erelcre introduced 13, which soon grew into D. 

 It a line was marked over it, it signified 5000. In 

 inscriptions and manuscripts, D is very often found in 

 the place of B and L ; des for les, dachrumce for lach- 

 nimee. In dedications, D., thrice repeated, signifies 

 Dot, Donat, Dicat, or Dot, Dicat, Dedicat. As an 

 abbreviation of the jurists, D signifies the pandects 

 (Digesta). D stands for doctor in M. D. ; in D. T., 

 doctor of theology ; LL. D., doctor of laics, &c. D., 

 on French coins, signifies Lyons ; on Prussian, Zurich ; 

 on Austrian, Graetz. In music, D designates the 

 second note in the natural diatonic scale of C, to 

 which Guido applied the monosyllable re. 



DA CAPO (Ital. ; from the head or beginning) ; 

 an expression written at the end of a movement, to 

 acquaint the performer that he is to return to, and 

 end with, the first strain. It is also a call or accla- 

 mation to the singer or musician, in theatres or con- 

 certs, to repeat a piece which has just finished a 

 request very often made mercilessly by the public, 

 without regard to the fatigue caused by a perform- 

 ance. 



DACCA JELALPORE; an extensive and rich 

 district of Bengal, situated principally between 23 

 and 24 of N. Tat. It is intersected by the Ganges 

 and Brahmapootra, two of the largest rivers in India, 

 which, with their various branches, form a complete 

 inland navigation, extending to every part of the 

 country ; so that, every town having its river or 

 canal, the general mode of travelling, or conveying 

 goods, is by water. 



DACCA ; a large city, capital of the above named 

 district, and, for eighty years, the capital of Bengal. 

 It is situated on the northern bank of a deep and 

 broad river, called the Boor Gunga (Old Ganges), at 

 the distance of 100 miles from the sea. In this city, 

 or its vicinity, are manufactured beautiful muslins, 

 which are exported to every part of the civilized 

 world. It has also an extensive manufacture of shell . 

 bracelets, much worn by the Hindoo women. The 

 neighbourhood of the city abounds with game of all 

 sorts, from the tiger to the quail, and is, on this ac- 

 count, a great resort of Europeans, during the three 

 cold months. 180 miles from Calcutta by land ; Ion. 

 90 17' E: ; lat. 23 42* N. 



DACH, SIMON, a German poet of the seventeenth 

 century, was boni at Memel, July 29, 1605, and 

 lived in an humble condition, until ho was appointed 

 professor of poetry in the university of Kocnigsberg. 

 lie remained in this office until his death, April 15, 

 1659. His secular songs are lively and natural. 

 His sacred songs are distinguished for deep and 

 quiet feeling. 



DACIA. The country which anciently bore this 

 name, according to Ptolemy's description, comprised 

 the present Banat, a part of Lower Hungary, as far 

 as the Carpathian mountains on the west, Transyl- 

 vania, Moldavia, Walachia, and Bessarabia. Some 

 include Bulgaria and Servia, with Bosnia, or the 

 ancient Upper and Lower Moesia. The inhabitants 

 of this country, called Dad, also D&vi, made them- 

 selves, for a long time, terrible to the Romans. 

 When Trajan conquered Dacia, in the second cen- 

 tury, he divided it into, 1. Dacia Riparia or Ripensis 

 (the present Banat, and a part of Hungary), so called 

 because it was bounded on the west by the Theiss, 

 and on the east by the Danube ; 2. Dacia Mediter- 

 ranea (now Transylvania), so called, because it \YJIS 

 situated between the two others; and, 3. Dacia 

 Transalpina (now Walachia, Moldavia, and Bessara- 

 bia), or that part of Dacia lying beyond the Car- 

 pathian mountains. He governed each of these 

 three provinces by a prefect, established colonies in 

 them, and sent colonists from other parts of the Ro- 

 man empire, to people them, and supply cultivators 

 of the soil. When Constantine the Great divided 

 the Roman empire anew, Dacia became a part of 

 the Illyrian prefecture, and was divided into five 

 provinces or districts. Upon the fall of the Roman 

 empire, it was gradually overrun by the Goths, 

 Huns, Gepidaj, and Avars. Since that time, the his- 

 tory of this country, which then lost the name of 

 Dacia, is to be sought for in that of the provinces of 

 which it formerly consisted. 



DACIER, ANDREW ; a learned Frenchman, was 

 born at Castres, in Upper Languedoc, 1561, and stud- 

 ied at Saumur, under Tanneguy Lefevre, whose 

 daughter Anna was associated in his studies. After 

 the death of Lefevre, in 1 672, he went to Paris. The 

 duke of Montausier, to whom his learning was known, 

 intrusted him with the editing of Pompeius Festus (in 

 usum delphinf). The intimacy growing out of their 

 mutual love of literature led to a marriage between 

 him and Anna Lefevre, in 1683, and, two years 

 after, they both embraced the Catholic religion. 

 They received from the king considerable pensions. 

 In 1695, Dacier was elected a member of the aca- 

 demy of inscriptions, and of the French academy ; 

 of the latter he was afterwards perpetual secretary. 

 The care of the cabinet in the Louvre was intrusted 

 to him. He died in 1722. Dacier wrote several 

 indifferent translations of the Greek and Latin 

 authors. Besides the edition of Pompeius Festus, 

 and the (Euvres d' Horace, en Latin et en Francais, 

 with the Nonveaux Eclaircissemens sur les (Euvres 

 d 1 Horace, and the Nouvelle Traduction d' Horace with 

 critical annotations, he prepared an edition of Vale- 



