c. 



CThe tliird letter, or fecond confonant of the alpha- 

 bet, has two founds, one hTce /, as in the word call ; 

 ' and the other hke s, as in Citfur. It has the former 

 found before a, o, u, and a confonant ; and t!\e latter before 

 f, i, and J'. It might be omitted, fays Dr. Johnfon, in the 

 language without lofs, iince one of its founds might be fup- 

 plied by s, and the other by k, but that it preferves to the 

 eye the etymology of words, Rsfan' hom fades, captive from 

 caplhnis. C, having no determinate found, according to 

 Englilh orthography, never ends a word. C is formed, ac- 

 cording to Scaliger, from the x. of the Greeks, by retrench- 

 ing the Hem or upright line ; though others derive it from 

 the 3 of the Hebrews, which has in effeft the fame form ; 

 allowing only for this, that the Hebrews, reading back- 

 wards, and the Latins, &c. forwards, each have turned the 

 Liter their own way. However, the C not being the fame 

 as to found with the Hebrew caph ; and it being certain the 

 Romans did not borrow their letters immediately from the 

 Hebrews, or other Orientals, but from the Greeks ; the de- 

 rivation from the Greek x is the more probable. Add, that 

 F. Montfaucon, in his Palaeographia, gives us fome forms of 

 'he Greek k, which come very near that of our C ; this, for 

 inftance, C : and Sjidas calls the C, the Roman kappa. 

 The fecond found of C refembles that of the Greek S ; and 

 many inftances occur of ancient infcriptions, in which £ has 

 the fame form with our C. Grutcr, vol. i. p- /I. vol. iii. 



p. I020. 



All grammarians agree, that the Romans pronounced their 

 Q^ like our C, and their C like our K. F. Mabillnn adds, 

 that Charles the Great was the firft who wrote his name 

 with a C ; whereas all his predeceffors of the fame name 

 wrote it with a K : and the fame difFtrenct is obferved in 

 their coins. In Latin MSS. the C is often fubllituted 

 for Q, as cofiiUe for quolhlie. Sec. and the ufe of C for K 

 was very common among the Latins. By the negligence of 

 copyifts C is o ftcnput in the room of P in ancient MSS. ; on 

 fome ancient medals of Sicily, particularly thofeof Gela, C 

 occupies the place of r, as cEAninN for TEAOIUN : and the 

 Romans for a long time retained it in the room of G. 



C was alfo a iiun-.eral letter among the JRoinans, fignify- 

 ing an hundred ; according to tlie verfe, 



, " Non plus quam centum C litera ftrtur habere." 

 Some add, tliat a dalh over it, made it fignify an hundred 

 thoufand. CC denoted 200,000, and CCC 300,000, Sic. 

 In the Falli and Calendars C denoted the day on which 

 it was allowed to affemble the Comitia. 



C is alfo an abbreviature. 



In proper names, C was ufed for Caius ; as C. Casfar, 

 &c. Their lawyers nfed it hnglc for (Jot/ice or Coiifule, and 

 double, CC. for Confulilus. On fome marbles a C revcrfcd, 

 Q, denoted Cam. 



C was alfo ufed in their courts, as a letter of condcmna- 



C A A 



tion, and (lood for cotnkmno ; in oppofition to A, whicU 

 fignified ah/olvo. On this account the letter C was called 

 " Litera triilis." Cicero pro Milone, c. 6. 



C, in Miific, is the name of the fecond fpace in the bafc, 

 the third I pace in the treble, and of every line on which the 

 tenor or C clef is placed. 



In the guido fcalc or gammut, the C in the fecond fpace in 

 thebafe is called C fa-ut ; its oflave above, on the fixtli line, 

 C fol-fa-ut, as is the C in the third fpace in the treble, its 

 oftave. 



C fometimes, in Ital. Mufc, (lands for canto, as C i, 

 canto primo. It Pands likewife, when placed at the clef» 

 for common time, and, with a line through it, thus A" , for 



cut time, or a quicker kind of movement. 



In mufic of the 15th and l6th centuries, in fpecifying the 

 time or moods, as tluy were then called, when triple time, 

 which then was ftyled perfed, and common time imperfeS, 

 the laws of prolation were very complicated and difRcult to 



comprehend. An (^, or complete circle, implied perfeft 



time, when, without apoint, a long C3 was equal to three 



breves ; a breve to three femi-breves, &c. and a C, or fcmi- 

 circle, implied imperfect or binary time, which Morley 

 calls " prolation of the lefs." See Moons, Prolatiom, 

 and Time-table. 



When at the clef a concealed canon, {canonc chiufo,) had two 

 different marks for time placed over each other, it implied, 

 that one of the parts fung the notes as they were written, 

 and the other doubled all their lengths, the upper part lead* 

 off the canon. 



C B, when placed in a fcore over the viola, or tenor part, 

 implies Col Biijfo, with the bale. 



The French regard ut as the reprefentative of C, the firll 

 note of their gammnt ; but Guido, the Italian, and the Eng- 

 lilh always look upon G on the firll line in the bafe, as the 

 firll note in the gammut, or fcale of mufic. See Hexa- 

 CHORD, Propriety, and Solmisation. 



In Gregorian notes on a HafF of three hues only, C implies 

 the tenor or C clef. 



C. Alhum, in Rntomolngy. See C. Album. 



C. Aiireum. See C. Alireum. 



CA A-APIA, in Botany, the Brazilian name for the Dor- 

 Jlema Brnjilurjls cf La Marck, lird defcribed by Marggrarc 

 and Pifo, and fince found by Commerfon, both in Brazil 

 and Magellan. 



CAAB, or Cab Ben Zohair, in Biography, an eminent 

 Arabian poet, was at firR a Jcwifli rabbin ; and when Ma- 

 homet made war on the tribes which had embraced Judaifm, 

 wrote fome fevcre fatirical verfcs againil him. But, on Ma- 

 iiomet'afubfequent fuccefs, he was profclyted, and prefentcd 

 4 K .• hio« 



