^' 



• '■^ 



^/-\;^ 



CYCLOPEDIA: 



1^13 



N/. 



<i.^-5 



OR. A NEW 



UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY 



OF 



ARTS and SCIENCES. 



XA double confonant, and the tiventy-fecond letter 

 5 in the Englifh alphabet ; which, however, begins no 

 Englifh word. 



The X of the Latins, and | of the Greeks, are com- 

 pounded of c s, and < o- ; whence, to this day, the letter x 

 in the Englifh and French has the fame found with c s, or 

 i s. Thus we pronounce Alexander exaftly as if written 

 Ahcjander or Alekfander. 



The Italians have no * at all in their language, but both 

 fpeak and write Alejandro. The Spaniards pronounce the 

 X like our c before a ; viz. Alexandra, as if it were Alecan- 

 dro. The Portuguefe pronounce it like_^. 



In foreign words, ufed in Englifh, we fometimes foften 

 the X into a double s ; as Bruffels, for Bruxelhi, &c. 



The letter is not known in the Hebrew, or other orien- 

 tal languages ; but in lieu of it, they write the two fimple 

 letters of which it is compounded. And the hke do the 

 modern Germans. 



Peter Diaconus relates, that the letter X was introduced 

 into the Roman alphabet in the time of Auguftua ; and 

 that, before his reign, the Romans fupplied the want of it 

 by the letters C and S. But Mr. Aftle obferves, that this 

 is a miftake ; the letter X being found in the Duilean pillar, 

 infcribed in the year of Rome 494, and 259 before Chrift. 

 Origin and Progrefs of Writing, p. 78. 



X is alfo a numeral letter, and fignifies ten ; as reprefent- 

 ing two V's placed one at top of the other. See V. 



X Supra denos numero iibi dot retlncndos. 



When laid flat, thus X , it fignifies a thoufand ; and when 

 a dafh is added over it, X, it fignifie^ ten thoufand. I 

 before X denotes the fubtraftion, and after X the addition 

 of unit : thus, IX = 9, and XI = 1 1. X before L or C 



Vol. XXXIX. 



denotes the fubtraAion of 10 from 50, or 100 : thus, XL 

 = 40, and XC = 90. 



X on the French coins denotes thofe flruck at Amiens. 



We often meet with the Greek letters X and P joined in 

 this manner ^ on ancient medals. The firfl we find are 

 on fome large brafs coins of the Ptolemies, kings of Egypt, 

 where it was placed on a civil account. 



Some writers have taken it for a date, and others for the 

 initial letters of a proper name; but as no reafons are 

 afTigned for either of thofe conjeftures, Mr. Ward rather 

 fuppofes it an abbreviation of the word xphma, money, 

 impreffed on thofe pieces, to denote their currency as mo- 

 ney ; which might be thought proper, as they have not the 

 heads of kings ftamped upon them, hke their filver and 

 gold coins ; but always that of a Jupiter on the front, and 

 an eagle perched on a thunderbolt on the reverfe. 



This charafter was afterwards applied to a very different 

 purpofe by Conftantine the Great, who made ufe of it to 

 denote xpictoc, both in his coins and miliury enfigns ; 

 in which he was followed not only by fome fucceeding em- 

 perors, but alfo by private perfons, who out of devotion 

 put it on their lamps and other utenfils. 



It afterwards came to be ufed merely as a critical note, 

 to point out remarkable paffages in manufcripts ; and then 

 it flood for the initials of xphcimox, ufeful; as we learn 

 from Ifidore, Orig. lib. i. cap. 20. See Phil. Tranf. N°474. 

 feft. I. 



X, with a P, or Greek R, in the middle of it, is alfo the 

 monogram of the name of CHRIST, which conflantly 

 occurs in the catacombs or burial-places of the aDcie:it 

 Chriflians, and which was the chief ornament of the Laba- 

 rum o* military flandard of Conflantine, and the fucceed- 

 ing emperors. See Labarum. 



B XABEA, 



444080 



