TEN 



S.W. part of tlio inand. See TiNo.— Alfo, a town of 

 Greece, in TliciTsIy. 

 TENOUR. SocTenok. 



TENSA, in Geography, a river of Louiliana, which 

 forms with the Walhita and bayou Long, an ifland of an 

 oval fhape, about 50 miles in circumference. Immediately 

 above this idand, there is another, called Sicilly idand, 

 about 30 miles in circumference. At the lower end of Sicilly 

 iHand, the bayou Tenia fpreads into a lake of 15 or 20 miles 

 in length, and nearly parallel with the Miffilippi. The 

 Tenfa lake receives two confiderable ftreams, the river Aux 

 Bocufs, and the bayou Maf§on. 



TENSE, Time, in Grammar, an inflexion of verbs, by 

 which they are made to fignify, or dillinguifh, the circum- 

 ftance of time of the thing they affirm or attribute. 



The affirmations made by verbs are different as to point of 

 time ; fmce we may af&rm a thing Is, or -was, or luill be : 

 hence a necelTity of a fet of inflexions, to denote thofe fe- 

 veral times ; which inflexions our Englifli grammarians call 

 by a barbarous word, h-rifes ; from the French lemps : mofl; 

 other languages call them fimply times. 



There are but three fimple tenfes ; the prefent, as, / love, 

 amo; ihe preler, preterite, or pajl, as, I have loved, amavi ; 

 and the future, as, / ivill love, amabo. 



But, in regard that in the preter tenfe one may either ex- 

 prefs the thing as juft done or pall, or indefinitely and barely 

 that it was done : hence, in moft languages, arife two kinds 

 of preterite ; the one dejinitive, marking the thing to be pre- 

 cifely done ; as, / have luritten, I have faid: and the otlier 

 indefinite, or aorijl, denoting a thing done indeterminately ; 

 as, / -wrote, I luent. 



The future tenfe admits alfo of the faipe variety. 

 Befides the three fimple tenfes, others have been invented, 

 called compound tenfes ; exprcfGng the relation of the fimple 



ones to each other The firft exprefles the relation of the 



pafi to the prefent, and is called the preterimperfed tenfe, be- 

 caufe it does not mark the thing fimply and properly, as 

 done, but as imperfeft, and prefent with refpeft to another 

 thing paft ; as, / -was atfupper ijhen he entered ; cum intravit, 

 eitnabam. 



The fecond compound tenfe marks the time paft doubly, 

 and is therefore caOed the plufquamperfeU tenfe ; as, / had 

 fupped; cienaveram. 



The third compound tenfe denotes the future with refpeft 

 to the paft ; as, I Jhall have fupped ; ccenavero. 



The feveral tenfes, or times, it is to be obferved, are pro- 

 perly denoted in the Greek and Latin by particular inflexions ; 

 in the Englifti, French, and other modem tongues, the 

 auxiliary verbs to be, and to have, etre and avoir, are called 

 in. As to the Oriental languages, they have only two fimple 

 tenfes, the pajl ^nd future, without any diftinftions of imper- 

 feft, more than perfeft. Fee; but this renders thofe languages 

 fubjeft to abundance of ambiguities, from which others are 

 free. 



The ingenious Mr. Harris, in his Hermes, p. 119, &c. 

 propofes the following theory of tenfes. The tenfes, he 

 lays, are ufed to mark prefent, paft, and future time ; either 

 indefinitely, without reference to any beginning, middle, or 

 end ; or elfe definitely, in reference to fuch diftinftions. If 

 indefinitely, then we have three tenfes, an aorift of the pre- 

 fent, an aorift of the paft, and an aorift of the future. If 

 definitely, then we have three tenfes to mark the beginnings 

 of thefe three times ; three to denote their middle ; and three 

 to denote their ends : in all, nine. The three firft of thefe 

 tenfes he calls the inceptive prefent, the inceptive paft, and 

 ihe inceptive future. The three next, the middle prefent, the 

 middle paft, and tlve middle future. And the thjee laft, the 



TEN 



completive prefent, the completive paft, and the completive 

 future. Thus the tenfes in their natural number appear to be 

 twelve ; three to denote time abfolute, and nine to denote it un- 

 der its refpcftive diftinftions. The following examples will 

 illuftrate the application and ufe of each tenfe. Aorift of the 

 pTe{cnt,yf^fw,fcribo, I -write; aorift of the p?i{i.,'lyfoc'ltt.,fcripJi, 

 I -wrote ; aorift of the future, yfxiv, fribam, I fljall -write. 

 Inceptive prefent, fj-lxXu ypT^siv, fcripturusfum, 1 am going to 

 -write ; middle or extended prefent, Tvyx^'''') 7paf a", fcribo, 

 or fcribens fum, I am -writing ; completive prefent, ■yeypaffia, 

 fcripfi, I have -luritten. Inceptive paft, ifi^^^ol■ yfciy^iv, _/fr;^- 

 turus eram, I -was beginning to -write; middle or extended 

 paft, s'yox^ov, or \~v^-xy.io-i ypa^piv, fcribebam, I -was -writing ; 

 completive paft, lyiy^oiyH-j, fc'ripfcram, I had done -writing. 

 Inceptive future, /j.i'KXria-ui y^c'^av, fcripturus ero, /Jhall be be- 

 ginning to -write ; middle or extended future, lai^'u.iyfdTui, fcri- 

 bens era, I Jliall be -writing ; completive inture, fcripfero, I Jhall 

 have done -writing. The author has particularly ftiewn what 

 traces are difcoverable in favour of this fyftem, either in 

 languages themfelves, or in thofe authors who have written 

 upon this part of grammar, or in the nature and reafon 

 of things. Dr. Ward enumerates feven tenfes ; viz. the 

 prefent, paft, and future imperfeft ; the paft indefinite ; the 

 prefent, paft, and future imperfeft. See his Four Eftays 

 upon the Englifli Language, p. 84. 



TENSIFT, in Geography. See Tansift. 



TENSION, Tensio, the ftate of a thing bent, or the 

 effort made to bend it. 



Animals only fuftain and move themfelves by the tenfion 

 of their mufcles and nerves. A chord or ftring gives an 

 acutcr or deeper found, as it is in a greater or lefs degree of 

 tenfion. 



Tension, Tenfto, Tcxo-ij, in the Ancient Mufic, was ufed to 

 fignify any pitch of found, whether produced by intenfion 

 or remiflion. Vide Ariftoxen. p. 10. 13. edit. Meibom. 



Ariftoxenus obferves, there are five things to be confidered 

 about founds, vi%. laa-i:, tenfion ; lTrC[a.<m, intenfion ; avto-tf, 

 remiflion ; almnc, acumen ; and (Sapu-rric, gravitas. 



TENSITES, in Geography, a mountain of Africa, in 

 'the empire of Morocco, on the borders of SugulmeflTa ; 60 

 miles E. of Morocco. 



TENSOR, in Anatomy, a name given to different 

 mufcles. 



Tensor Palati, a mufcle of the foft palate. See De- 

 glutition. 



Tensor Tympani, a mufcle of the internal ear. See 

 Ear. 



Tensor Vagina femoris ; muf cuius fafcix lata ; is an elon- 

 gated and flattened mufcle, narrow above, and becoming con- 

 fiderably broader below, fituated at the upper and outer 

 part of the thigh, and extending from the anterior fu- 

 perior fpine of the ilium, to a fliort diftance below the great 

 trochanter. It is covered by a tliin layer of the fafcia ; and 

 it lies upon the reftus cruris, the vaftus externus, and a fmall 

 part of the gluteus medius and minimus, feparated from them 

 by a thin produftion of fafcia, and by copious cellular tiffue. 

 Its front edge is parallel, above, with the outer margin of the 

 fartorius : below, they are parted by an interval, occupied by 

 the reftus anterior. The pofterior edge is connefted above 

 to the gluteus medius ; being feparated from it below by cel- 

 lular tiflue. The upper extremity is attached to the ante- 

 rior fuperior fpine of the os innominatum, between the far. 

 torius and the gluteus medius. The mufcle, which is here 

 narrow, pafles obliquely downwards and outwards, growing 

 confiderably broader and thinner, and terminates below the 

 great trochanter, at the angle of ieparation of the two layers 

 of the fafcia, between which it is fituated ; this angle is its 



poinc 



