M. 



M A A 



MA liquid confonant, and the twelfth letter in the al- 

 9 phabet. 



It has one unvaried found, and is pronounced by ftriking 

 the upper lip againft the lower ; in which the pronunciation 

 of this letter agrees with that of b ; the only difference 

 between the two confiftingin a httle motion made in the nofe 

 in pronouncing M, and not in b : whence it happens, that 

 tliofe who have taken cold, for M ordinarily pronounce b ; 

 the nofe, in that cafe, being difabled from making the nccef- 

 fary motion. 



All confonants are formed with the aid of vowels ; ,in em 

 the vowel precedes, in be it follows : and M is never mute. 



Quintihan obferves, that the M fometimes ends Latin 

 words, but never Greek ones; the Greeks always changing 

 it in that cafe into n, for the fake of the better found. 



M is alfo a numeral letter, and among the ancients was 

 ufed for a thoufand ; according to the verfe, 



" M caput eft Humeri, quern fcimus mille teneri." 



When a da(h is added at the top of it, as m ; it Cgnifies 

 a thpufand times a thoufand. 



M, as an abbreviature, ftands for Manlius, Marcus, Mar- 

 tius, and Mucius : M. A. iigm?m magi/ler artium, or mailer 

 of arts; MS. manufcript, andMSS. manufcripts. 



M, in AJlronomical Tables, and other things of that kind, 

 is ufed for Meridional, or fouthern ; and fometimes for Meri- 

 dian, or mid-day. 



M, in Medicinal Prefcription, is frequently ufed to fignify 

 a maniple, or handful : and it is fometimes alfo put at the end 

 of a recipe, for mifce, mingle ; or for mixtura, a mixture. 

 Thus, m. f. julapium, fignilies m/'.r, 2.Tii make a julep. 



M, in Law, the brand or ftigmaof a perfon convifted of 

 man-flaughter, and admittW to the benefit of his clergy. 



It is to be burnt on the brawn of his left thumb. 



M, in Mujic. This letter in old pialm-tunes, harmonized, 

 ftands for mean, or middle part, the fecond treble, and fome- 

 times the counter-tenor. In Scarlatti's leflbns compofed in 

 Spain, it implie'; mano manca, or left hand. 



MA, in Hindoo Mythology, is a name of Parvati, the con- 

 fort of Siva, as noticed under thofe articles. 



MA A, in Geography, a town of HindooftaR, in Dowla- 

 tabad ; five miles N.E. of Beder. 



MAAB, a fettlemenl of Weft Greenland. N. lat. 62 6'. 

 W. long. 4S 30'. 



MAACAH, Macaati, or Beth-Maacha, in Ancient 

 Geography, a little province of Syria, E. and N. of the 

 foiirces of Jordan, toward Damafcus. We learn from 

 Jolhua (xiii. 15.) that the Ifraelites would not dcftroy the 

 Maachathites, but permitted them to dwell in the land ; and 

 from Deut. iii. i^.. and Jo(h. xii. j, that the lot of the half 

 tribe of Manafleh beyond Jordan extended to tb couatry. 



M A A 



Hence the fmall canton, near the head of Jordan, on the 

 E. fide of it, in the way to Damafcus, was called Maa- 

 chonitis, or Machonitis. 



MA.ADEN AL NocRA, in Geography, a town of 

 Arabia Felix, in the province of Hedjas ; 140 miles E. 

 of Hagiaz. 



Maaden UzKumurud, the Mine of Emeralds, a mountain 

 of Egypt, on the coaft of the Red fea ; 90 miles S. of 

 Cofleir. 



MAADIE', denoting Parage, is the name of a village 

 confifting of two or three houfes, upon the E. bank of the 

 Nile, fo called becaufe they ftand at the place facing the 

 ufual pajfage to the Delta. Dr. Shaw conceived this to be 

 the fcite of the ancient Heraclea, but Sonnini made diligent 

 examination on this fpot, and could perceive no veftiges of 

 buildings of a remote time, but half a league further, he 

 remarked upon the coaft old walls and ruins, which may be 

 traced a long way into the fea, and which are probably the 

 remains of Heraclea or Heracleum. Maadie is diftant about 

 fix leagues from Alexandria, on a lake of the fame name, 

 which is the extremity of the Canopic branch of the Nile. 

 The lake communicates with the Mediterranean by a nar- 

 row opening, at which the French raifed a block-houfe, from 

 which they were driven by the Britidi, under lieut. Brown. 

 Maadie is five miles E. of Aboukir, 



MAAGRUNNI, two idands on the E. fide of the gulf 

 of Bothnia. N. lat. 65 25'. E. long. 24" 56'. 



MAALMORIE, a cape of Scotland, on the S.E. part 

 of the ifland of lla. 



MAALUM, a town of Bengal ; eight miles E. of 

 Toree. 



MA AN, JoHN', in Biography, a French ecclefiaftical 

 hitlorian, v.-as born at Tours, where he probably received the 

 elements of a learned educatipn, being defigned for the ec- 

 clefiaftical profeflion : in due time he was admitted doftor 

 by the faculty of the Sorbonne, and became canon and pre- 

 centor of the church of Tours. He zealoufiy devoted his 

 talents and learning to the fervice of that religion in which 

 he had been brought up. In 1667 he printed at his own 

 houfe a work entitled " Sanfta ct Metropolitana Ecclefia 

 Turonenfis, Sacrorum Pontificum fuorum ornata virtutibus, 

 et fanftiffimis Concihorum Inftitutis decorata." This work 

 is highly efteemed by the Fi-cnch, who rcprcfent it as replete 

 with erudition and curious refcarches, and as refleAiiig high 

 honour on the church of Tours and its author. Moreri. 



MA.\N.A, in Geography, a town of Africa, in the king- 

 dom of Kajaaga, the refidence of the king, bordering on a 

 branch of the river Senegal, and within a Ihort diftance of 

 the ruins of Fort St. Jofeph. 



MAANINGA, a town of Sweden, in the government 

 of Kuopio ; 20 miles N.N.W. of Kuopio 



4Y 2 MAAR, 



