CVCLOPEDIA 
° OR, 
UNIVERSAL 
A NEW 
DICTIONARY 
OF 
ARTS. and 
SCIENCES. 
D 
The fourth letter in the alphabet, and the third 
9 _confonant. 
The letter D is the fourth in the Hebrew, Chaldee, Sa- 
maritan, Syriac, reek, and Latin alphabets ; in the five 
fir of which lean it has the fame name, though ome- 
what differently {poken, e. gr. in Hebrew, Samaritan, and 
Chaldee, Daleth; in Syriac, Dolath; and in Greek, 
rabians ya three D’s in their language, the ie 
their feventeenth letter, is called Da, and pronounced like 
our D, though in form it refembles the Arabic the 
difference ane a point ay at the top. ‘The form of 
our D is the fame with that of the Latins; as pansees “from 
all the acer medals and infcriptions. And the Latin D 
is no other than the Greek 4, rounded a — by makin 
it quicker, aa at two ftrokes e Greeks, 
again, is borrowed from the ancient anaes ‘of the He- 
brew Daleth ; aa le it ftill retains on the Samaritan 
aap as is thew he fefuit Souciet, in his ay saat 
n the So radias Medals All the alteration the Greeks 
ade in it, is the maki 
aaa as well as the | Daleth of the 
se or Chal dee Hebrev 
e indeed will have . that the Greek 4, Delta; is 
ecceed from the Egyptians, who made their D of three 
ftars difpofed in a triangle; which was a wench ae that 
among them denoted God, the fovereign Being, as if they 
had fome ee notion cf a Trinity: but this furmife is wait 
fuppo hie 
Gra s generally rank D among the lingual letters, 
as fanpofine ‘the tongue to have the principal fhare in the 
“Vor. XI. 
Strahan and Prefion 
New Strcer Square, Lon dou. 
D 
pronation a aia the abbot de Dangeau feems 
have reafon in ma aking it alatal letter. It has one 
caine ae sieatig approac chee to that of T, but formed 
by a ftronger appulfe of the tongue to the € upper part of 
the mouth. 
D is alfo a numeral letter fignifying five bundred, which 
arifes hence, that in the Gothic ‘chara¢ters the D is hal 
e M, or CI5, which fignifies a thoufand. Hence the 
‘ . 
“ Litera D velut A Quin gentos aaa i 
doStor of “heslogy, o€tor of divinity, or dono dedit ; 
.D.D. is ufed fr de, dicat dedicat ; and D.D.D.D. for 
a a deo donum 
Roman wre, D flands for divus, decimus, dea 
volUs, iby oe diuti 
D.M. in as tonen epitaphs fignifies diis manibus, but 
on other o hens deo magno, or dits magnis ; D.N. denoted 
dominus noffer, a title given by the Romans to their em- 
erors. 
D, 0 n the French coins, is the mark cal the city of Lyons. 
D, in the chemical alphabet, fignifics vi 
D, in Engh/h Mufic, is the initial of Defer, the sth 
above gammut, in the fcale of Gui oecupies the 
3d line in the bafe, and the 4th in the vreble. In all tenor 
cele i it is in the {pace immediately above the line on which 
theclef is placed. In French mufic, D has the fame figni- 
fication as P in the Italian ; that is to fay, dour, foft. The 
talians fometimes ufe it ce, which is not only op- 
fer t 
erman mufic, implies aileiat, 
t likewife 
an 
syrah -hand. D, in Ge 
or ae ey spiel bate In French mufic, i 
