TERMAGAUNT TERNI. 



567 



TERMAGAUNT, OR TURMAGAUNT. The 



origin of this name is altogether uncertain. Various 

 etymologies have been proposed, but none of them 

 is at all satisfactory. The old English writers fre- 

 quently speak of Termagaunt and Mahoun (Moham- 

 med), and the Norman- French writers couple Ter- 

 vagan (of which the English form is a corruption) 

 with Mahum and Apollin ( Apollyon.) Ariosto and 

 Tasso also speak fef Macone e Trivigante (Moham- 

 med and Termagaunt). Both of these personages 

 were dramatic characters in the old mysteries, at a 

 time when legends of the Saracens were the most 

 popular subjects of poetry and the drama in Eu- 

 rope. See Ritson's Metrical Romances, notes, vol. 

 iii, p. 251 seq., or Todd's Spencer, note to C. vii, 

 st. 47.) The modern signification of the word, 

 shrew, virago, is evidently derived from the tur- 

 bulent and violent character of the old dramatic 

 personage. 



TERMINALIA. See Terminus. 



TERMINISM, in German philosophy, or DE- 

 TERMINISM; the doctrine that all things happen 

 through a necessary connexion of causes and effects 

 extending through all nature. In theology, ter- 

 minism is the doctrine that God has assigned to 

 every one a term of repentance, during which his 

 salvation must be worked out. 



TERMINOLOGY of a science or art; that 

 branch which teaches the meaning of its technical 

 terms ; also the aggregate of these technical terms. 

 In some sciences, it is of particular importance, as 

 in botany, in which not even a leaf can be described 

 without an agreement on certain technical terms. 

 The terminology is generally derived in a great 

 measure from the nation which has done most for 

 a particular art or science, as the military termino- 

 logy from France, the naval from Holland and 

 England. 



TERMINUS; a divinity at Rome, who was 

 supposed to preside over bounds and limits, and 

 to punish all unlawful usurpation of land. His 

 worship was first introduced at Rome by Numa, [ 

 who persuaded his subjects that the limits of their 

 lands and estates were under the immediate inspec- 

 tion of heaven. His altar was on the Tarpeian 

 rock. He was represented with a human head, 

 without feet or arms, to intimate that he never 

 moved, wherever he was placed. (See Hermes.') 

 The people of the country assembled once a year 

 with their families, and crowned with garlands and 

 flowers the stones which separated their different 

 possessions, and offered, at first, cakes and fruits, ' 

 at a later period, lambs and pigs, to the god who 

 presided over their boundaries. It is said that, ' 

 when Tarquin the Proud wished to build a temple ' 

 on the Tarpeian rock to Jupiter, the god Terminus j 

 refused to give way, though the other gods resigned 

 their seats with cheerfulness ; and his altar there- 

 fore remained in the temple of Jupiter. But, as 

 Terminus could be worshipped only in the open 

 sky, a hole was left in the roof of the temple directly 

 over the altar. The resistance of the god was con- 

 sidered an omen that the boundaries of Rome should 

 never be encroached upon. The Terminalia were 

 annual festivals at Rome, observed in honour of 

 the god Terminus, in the month of February. It 

 was then usual for peasants to assemble near the 

 principal land-marks which separated their fields, 

 and, after they had crowned them with garlands 

 and flowers, to make libations of milk and wine, to 

 sacrifice a lamb or a young pig upon altars of turf, 

 and to sing songs in honour of the god. Besides 



these private festivals, there were public Terminalia 

 celebrated on the Roman frontiers in the earlier 

 periods of the republic. These public festivities, 

 however, went into disuse after the territories ot 

 Rome were extended by conquest. The Terminalia 

 had also an allusion to the close of the year, as the 

 Roman year was considered to end on the 23d 

 February, when they were solemnized, the remain- 

 ing days being considered as intercalary. 



TERMITES ; sometimes called white ants, from 

 their mode of life. They belong, however, to a dif- 

 ferent order of insects the neuroptera of Linnaeus. 

 They live in societies, often prodigiously numer- 

 ous, and composed of three sorts of individuals, as 

 with the bee and ant. The most numerous are the 

 workers, which have a rounded head, and the ab- 

 domen sessile and club-shaped. Among these may 

 be discovered, occasionally, individuals of the se- 

 cond sort, called soldiers, which are easily distin- 

 guished by the larger size of the head and jaws. 

 Each colony contains but a single perfect male and 

 female. At a certain season, the termites acquire 

 four large equal wings : the form of the body is 

 then somewhat changed, and the colour becomes 

 darker. They now fill the air in countless num- 

 bers, and serve as food for various animals, and 

 even for man in some parts of the globe. The few 

 pairs which escape, if discovered by some wander- 

 ing workers of their own species, are protected by 

 them, and found new colonies. The termites are 

 the greatest pest of tropical climates : they destroy 

 all articles of furniture made of wood, cloths, &c. ; 

 they enter the foundations of houses, and eat out 

 the whole interior of the timbers, so that they may 

 appear perfectly sound externally, while they will 

 crumble under the slightest blow. An African 

 species is celebrated for the edifices it rears, in the 

 form of a sugar-loaf, ten or twelve feet in height, 

 and so solid that the wild cattle mount upon them 

 without breaking through. Internally they are 

 divided into numerous apartments, and have sul>- 

 terranean galleries connected with them, from the 

 extremities of which the insects issue to commit 

 depredations : when these structures are broken 

 open, the soldiers fight with great fury, and bite 

 every thing they meet with. Another species of 

 the same country builds its nest among the branches 

 of trees, sometimes at the height of sixty or eighty 

 feet from the ground. 



TERMS are those spaces of time wherein the 

 courts of justice are open for all that complain of 

 wrongs or injuries, and seek their rights by course 

 of law or action, in order to their redress. During 

 the English terms, the courts in Westminster hall 

 sit and give judgments, &c. ; but the high court of 

 parliament, the chancery, and inferior courts, do not 

 observe the terms; only the court of king's bench, 

 common pleas, and exchequer, the highest courts 

 at common law. Of these terms there are four in 

 every year : viz. Hilary term, which begins the 23d 

 of January, and ends the 12th of February, unless 

 on Sundays, and the day after ; Easter term, which 

 begins the Wednesday fortnight after Easter-day, 

 and ends the Monday next after Ascension-day ; 

 Trinity term, which begins on the Friday after 

 Trinity Sunday, and ends the Wednesday fortnight 

 after ; and Michaelmas term, which begins the 6th 

 and ends the 28th of November. 



TERNATE. See Moluccas. 



TERNI, a town in the States of the Church, de- 

 legation of Spoleto, in the fertile valley of the 

 Nera, the birth-place of Tacitus, and of the em- 



