A A L 



AJtnltt arti.lc ; fo wc fay, a man may corae tliis way ; lUat 

 if, any man. 



A, iiled as an article, has no plural (ignification : before 

 a word beginning with a vowel, jr and w excepted, and 

 before a filent h preceding a vowel, it is written an, of 

 which a h the contraftion ; as an harbour, an ox, an hour, 

 &c. A feems to be a true and genuine prepolition, in the 

 three following cafes : I. When it is put before a participle 

 or participial noun, denoting fome action not yet accom- 

 plilhcJ. ; as I am a writing. 2. When it is placed before 

 local fumames ; as Thomas a Becket. 3. \\'Tien it is 

 ufed in compofition ; e. g. <jfoot, afleep, &c. Dr. Wallis 

 fuppofes it to be a contraction oi at: but Dr. Lowth thinks, 

 that it is the prepofnion on, and fometimes of. At, he fays, 

 has relation chiefly to place ; on has a more general relation, 

 and may be applied to aclijn, and many other things, as 

 well as />li:cf. 



In fome inftanccs, A has a peculiar fignification, denoting 

 the proportion of one thing to another ; as fuch income a 

 year, fo many hours a day, fo much a man, &c. 



III. A is alfo an abbreviation. A put to bills of 

 exchange, is in England an abbreviation for accepted., and in 

 France for the word accepic. It is likewife ufual among 

 merchants to mark their fets of books with the letters 

 A, B, C, inftead of the numbers i, 2, 3, &c. 



In the Roman Infcriptions, the fenfe of the A is to be 

 coUefted chiefly from the connexion of the words, and the 

 fcope of the infcription. A Imgly ftands for AuJus, Au- 

 ^nflui, a^tr, aiunt, ante, <trc, /tdes, ttdills-, adilitas, ararium, 

 aula, anima, amicut, amisa, alio, alia, atia, &c. and, by a 

 more modem abbreviation, for arl'ium. Thus, A.M. ftands 

 for Arlium Magijler, Majler of Arts, and A. B. for Artium 

 Baccalaureui, Bachelor of Arts, A A. fignifies Augufli, and 

 A A A. ftands for auro, argentn, tre. A B. ftands for alia 

 lona, and A C. for aUd caufd, &c. On the Greek and 

 Roman medals, A denotes commonly the name of the place 

 where they were ftruck, as Athens, Argos, Antioch, 

 Aquileia. On French coins A is the mark of the mint of 

 Paris, and A A fignifies their coinage at Metz. 



The Romans in their trials ufed their A to denote abfo- 

 lutlon ; whence Cicero calls it Ittera falutaris, the fi-oing letter. 

 Their manner was tliis : Three ballots were given to each 

 judge, marked one with an A. for abfolvo, I abfohe ; a 

 fecond with a C. for condemno, I condemn ; and the third 

 with N. L. which ftood for non liquet, it is not clear. One 

 or other of thefe each judge, according to his judgment, 

 put into an urn ; and the prstor acquitted or condemned 

 the criminal, according to the refpedive number of thefe 

 letters. If the fuffrages for acquitting and condemning 

 were equal, the accufed was always acquitted. 



The Romans alfo made ufe of the letter A in collefting 

 their fuffrages in cafes of legiflation. When a new law 

 was propofcd, or an amendment of an old one was in 

 agitation, each voter had two ballots put into his hand, the 

 one marked A. fignlfying antiquo, q. d. antiquum volo, I like 

 the jold -way ; and the other marked U. R. for uti rogas, 

 as you defire ; and his fuffrage was given, by putting the 

 one, or the other, into the urn. A, in the days of Roman 

 barbarifm, was one of the numeral letters, and llgniiied five 

 hundred ; when wi-itten with a dafh over it, thus a, it 

 denoted five thoufand. The letter A is alfo ufed by 

 Chronologers and Hiftorians as an abbreviation for anno ; fo 

 they put A.M. for anno Mundi, A.D. (or anno Domini, &c. 



The Romans dated from the building of Rome ; and in 

 their writings A. U. C. ftands for anno ab urhe condita. The 

 Greeks ufed A, a, prefixed to a word, as a Privative par- 

 ticle. With them it was alfo a numeral letter denoting unit. 



Among Logicians, A denotes an univerfal affirmative 

 propofition ; according to the verfe, 



Afferit A, negat E, •ueriim gencraliter ambit. See Barbara. 



In Algebra A or a, and the firft letters of the alphabet, 

 reprefent hiown quantities ; and the laft letters reprefent 

 quantities that are unknoii'n. 



In the prcfcriptions of Phyficians, A, or a, or S3, denotes 

 equal parts of the ingredients fpecified, and is a contraciion 

 of the prcpofition a»a, which is ufed in the fame fcnfe by 

 medicinal writers in the Greek tongue. 



Among Chemifts, AAA fignifies an amalgam a, or the 

 operation of amalgamating. 



In Heraldr)', the letter A is ufed as a bearing in arms. 



A A, Peter Vander, in Biography, an eminent bookfeller 

 at Leyden, who was living in 1729. He publiflicd an atlas 

 of 200 charts compiled after the long voyages from 1246 to 

 1696. They are not deemed veiy accurate. They are in- 

 cluded in the Galerie Agreable du Monde, in 66 vols, folio. 

 Aa continued Gnevius's Thefaurus, or an account of tlie 

 modern Italian writers, in fix other volumes, with the 

 Thefaunis Antiquitatum Sicilice. 



AA, in Hydrography, the name of feveral rivers : one in 

 Weflphalia, which rifcs near Munfter and falls into the river 

 Enibs ; another, that has its fource in the department of 

 Somme, in France, becomes navigable by means of fluices 

 near St. Omer, paflfes on to Gravehnes, and difcharges itfelf 

 into the Englifli Channel ; a third in Livonia, that falls into 

 the gulf of Riga ; and a fourth in Switzerland, that rifes in 

 Mount Brunig, and falls into the lake Lucerne. 



AACH, in Geography, a fmali town in Germany, in 

 the circle of Suabia and Landgravate of Nellenburg, near 

 the fource of the river Aach, which falls into the Take of 

 Zell. It belongs to the Houfe of Auftria. E. long. 9°. 

 N. lat. 47° 55'. 



AAGARD, Nicholas and Chrl/lian, in Biography, two. 

 brothers born at Wiburg in Denmark in the beginning of 

 the 17th century. The former is known for his philofophical 

 works and other trails, particularly his difputations upon 

 Tacitus ; the latter for his excellent poetr)'. 



AAGGI-DOGII, in Geography, a mountain of Amafia 

 in Turkey, on the frontiers of Perfia, which is croffed by 

 the Caravan:, in their way from Conftantinople to Ifpahan. 



AAG - HOLM, a fmall ifland on the coaft of Norway, 

 near the mouth of the river Lendevand. 



AAHUS, or Ah Ausz, i. e. the houfe on the Aa, a fmall 

 town in the circle of Weftphalia, and bithoprick of Munfter. 

 It is the capital of the prefefturate of Aahus, and has a 

 citadel. E. long. 7° 1'. N. lat. 52° 10'. 



AAKIAR, a prefefture of the diocefe of Aarhuus 

 containing 16 parifhes. 



AAKIRKE, a town in the ifland of Bornholm, 

 which has the privileges of a city, and in which are held 

 the provincial court and the fynod. E. long. 14° 56'. 

 N. lat. 55° 15'. 



AALBURG, the capital of a diocefe of the fame name 

 in North Jutland, in Denmark, and a bilhop's fee. It de- 

 rives its name from the number of eels that are taken here. 

 This city is large and populous, and next to Copenhagen, 

 the moll opulent and beft built in the kingdom. It carries 

 on a confiderable trade in herrings and grain, and has dif- 

 ferent maniifaftures of mufl<ets, piftols, faddles, and gloves. 

 It has an exchange for merchants ; as well as a fafe and deep 

 harbour. The population of this diocefe amounts to 80,872 

 perfons. E. long. 9° 46'. N. lat. 56° 50'. 



AALEN, or Ahlen, a free Imperial town belonging 

 to tlie bench of Suabia, and fo called from the number 

 of eels which are in that part of the river Kocher that 



' nins 



