1. The eighth letter and 
sixth consonant in the Eng- 
lish alphabet. The written 
character comes, like A, B, etc. (see 
A\ from the Phenician, through 
the Greek and Latin ; and it had 
the same place in the Phenician 
and Latin alphabets as in the 
English, though made seventh in 
order in the Greek by the later 
omission of the F-sign. The com- 
parative scheme of the letter-forms is as follows : 
Q 
H 
Early 
Greek and Latin. 
Egyptian. Phen 
Hieroglyphic. Hieratic. cla 
The sound belonging to the character in Phenician was 
that of a rough guttural spirant, nearly like the eh in 
German, or in Scotch loch (marked in this dictionary ch), 
In the Greek alphabet it had at first the kindred but 
weaker value of our h; and with this value it passed 
over to Italy, and so continued there ; but in Greece it 
came later to be used as a long e (down to that time long 
and short e had been written alike EX the A-sound being 
indicated by a half H, namely K afterward reduced to u 
and ', which last then retained the A-value, or that of the 
"rough breathing," so called, now usually printed '. Our 
A-sound is called the "aspiration," as being a near ap- 
proach to pure unmodified breathing, an audible emission 
of breath before a vowel or semivowel, made, in every 
case, in the same position of the mouth-organs as that re- 
quired by the following sound. That is, the h of ha is 
made in the mouth-position of a, the utterance in the 
combination changing only from unintonated to intonat- 
ed breath ; that of he is made in the mouth-position of 
ee; and so with ho, and so on. Thus, the h before each 
different vowel represents a different product, and h sig- 
nifies a sort of common surd to all the vowels as sonants ; 
and, being dependent always for its special character upon 
the following sound, it is very suitably written by the 
Greeks with a subordinate sign prefixed to the vowel. In 
English the aspiration occurs before all the vowels, and 
also before the semivowels w and y, as in whit (that is, hurit) 
and hue (that is, hyu\ though in these cases some authori- 
ties hold that the w- and //-sounds themselves are not ut- 
tered, but only the A-sound, this being what it would be if 
the semivowel were really pronounced. This view may in 
part depend upon an actual difference of pronunciation, but 
is more probably an error of apprehension and analysis ; 
certainly, in our ordinary utterance, -whit is to hoo-it pre- 
cisely as mt is to oo-it. In older English our A-sound was 
pronounced also before r and I, as in AS. hring, E. ring, 
AS. hnm, E. rimeV, AS. hrof, E. roof, AS. hlaf, E. loo/, AS. 
Mid, E. lid, AS. hliehhan, E. laugh, etc. ; in other languages 
It is found also before m and n. The English A in the Teu- 
tonic part of the language comes from an original surd gut- 
tural, a k, which first became a guttural spirant (= eft in 
German, or in Scotch loch\ and was then further weakened 
to a mere aspiration. The spirant becomes mere aspiration 
when its production ceases to be accompanied with a con- 
striction at the top of the throat, causing a rough frica- 
tive sound, and so giving a specific character to the utter- 
ance. A guttural mute was changed to a spirant also in 
the interior of many of our words, and was formerly writ- 
ten with A: thus, AS. niht, E. night; but it has long been 
lost in pronunciation, after being written with gh instead 
of A (the g never pronounced). The aspiration, indeed, be- 
ing the weakest and least positive of alphabetic sounds, is 
especially liable to become silent. The Latin initial A was 
totally silent in the vernacular forms which emerged as 
Old French and Italian, and in the earliest Old French, as 
still in Italian, it does not appear in writing. The earliest 
Old French words, therefore, having original Latin A, were 
transferred into Middle English without A, as obit, able, 
eir, onest, onor, onur, oure, ure, etc., through similar Old 
French forms from Latin habitus, habilis, heres, konestus, 
honor, hora, etc. In later Old French and Middle English 
the pedantic habit of imitating the spelling of the origi- 
nal Latin, if known, led to the general restoration of A in 
these words, a restoration completed in modern French, 
though the A has remained always unpronounced in 
French, and, in the oldest and most familiar words, in 
English. The A now appears in the modern forms of all 
the above words, and others (except able and arbors, the 
restored forms liable, harbor^, having died out), namely, 
unpronounced in heir, honest, honor, hour, etc., and pro- 
nounced (by conformity to later words) in habit, heretic, 
etc., while in some, as herb, humble, etc., the pronuncia- 
tion wavers between the earlier unaspirated form and the 
later aspirated form. The confusion existing in such cases 
led to some variation in the spelling of words originally 
and properly beginning with a vowel, the A, though not 
pronounced, being often erroneously inserted in writing, 
as in habandon, habound, habundance, etc., for abandon, 
abound, abundance, etc. A similar confusion extended to 
words of Anglo-Saxon or other Teutonic origin, the A being 
dropped sometimes where it should appear, and, more 
often, inserted where it should not appear, as hape for 
ape, his for is, etc. This confusion characterizes the pres- 
ent pronunciation of the London cockney. The habitual 
omission of A is, however, quite common even in educated 
speech in certain positions, and even where usually uttered 
it ie apt to be lost after a final consonant in rapid and easy 
speaking. In the pronouns he, him, her, when unaccent- 
ed, as they usually are after another word, the A is al- 
most universally omitted In colloquial speech, an omis- 
sion long recognized in the common spelling of the related 
neater pronoun hit, now always written and pronounced 
it, and in the colloquial plural hem, now written 'em, 
The A forms a number of digraphs, or compound charac- 
ters, some of them of great importance and frequency. 
The origin of this practice goes back to the earliest Greek 
period, when the so-called aspirates were real aspirates 
that is, mutes with an audible bit of flatus expelled after 
them : kh nearly as in backhouse, th as in boat-hook, ph as 
in haphazard. The sounds were at first so written in 
Greek, with an A after each mute ; later, simple charac- 
ters were devised to take the place of these combinations. 
But in Greek words carried into Italy the spelling with 
A was kept up: thus,cAorw, theatrum, philosophus; then, 
in the change of these aspirates to spirants, unitary values 
were won by the digraphs ; and the use of th, especially 
with spirant value (thin, that), was widely extended to the 
Teutonic part of our language. The digraph A comes 
by alteration of the k of sk to a spirant, and its fusion with 
the sibilant, making a more palatal sibilant. The origin 
of our gh (always either silent or pronounced as /), by 
graphic change from earlier A, has been stated above. 
(See also under G.) Finally, rh is found in Greek words, as 
rhetoric, and represents an r with preceding aspiration, as 
in AS. hring (whence it should properly be written hr, as 
hw for wh) ; but the aspiration is always lost in our utter- 
ance. For the name of the letter, see aitch. 
2. As a medieval numeral, 200, and with a dash 
over it, thus, H, 200,000. 3. As a symbol: 
(a) In German musical nomenclature, the key, tone, or 
note elsewhere called B that is, B natural. (6) In ana- 
lytic mech., the total energy, (c) In chem., the symbol of 
hydrogen. 
4. As an abbreviation: (a) Hour. (b) Horizontal 
force that is, the horizontal component of the earth's 
magnetic attraction, (c) Hit or Her, as in H. M. S., His 
(Her) Majesty's ship or service ; H. K. H., His (Her) Royal 
Highness, (d) In a ship's log-book A. indicates hail, (e) 
In orchestral scores and arrangements H. indicates horns. 
ha 1 (ha), interj. [Also hah ; D. G. Sw. Dan. 
F. Sp. Pg. It., etc., ha, L. ha, a natural utter- 
ance, the same as ah (q. v.) with aspiration; 
its significance depends on the mode of utter- 
ance. Repeated, ha ha, ha-ha, AS. _D. Sw. 
OFries., etc., ha ha, L. ha ha, Or. d a, Hind. 
ha ha, etc., it usually indicates laughter. Cf. 
haw&.~\ 1. An exclamation denoting surprise, 
wonder, joy, or other sudden emotion, as sus- 
picion, and also interrogation. Repeated, ha! 
ha ! it expresses either intensified surprise, etc., 
or laughter. 
Interjections? Why, then, some be of laughing, as 
ha ! ha ! he ! Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 
Have you eyes ? 
Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed, 
And batten on this moor 1 Ha ! have you eyes? 
Shak., Hamlet, 111. 4. 
Who's that? hat 
Some gentle hand, I hope, to bring me comfort. 
Fletcher (and another), Sea Voyage, iv. 2. 
Hah ! how the Laurel, great Apollo's Tree, 
And all the Cavern shakes ! 
Prior, Second Hymn of Callimaehus. 
2. An involuntary sound marking hesitation 
in speech, uttered slowly and obscurely, and 
otherwise represented by er or w. 
ha 1 (ha), n. [< ha 1 , interj.'} 1. An expression 
of wonder, surprise, or admiration. 2. An ex- 
pression of hesitancy in speech. 
The shrug, the hum, or ha. Shak., W. T., ii. 1. 
ha 1 (ha), v. i. [< Aai, interj.: cf. hawS,v.} To 
make the sound ha, expressing hesitation. 
The right hon. gentleman ... is somewhat prone to 
be prosy. He hums and has, and harks back to matters 
be has already discussed. 
T. W. Hifginson, Eng. Statesmen, p. 262. 
ha 2 (ha), n. Same as ha-ha^, haw-haw 2 . 
ha 3 (ha, ha), pron. A dialectal variant of Tte 1 . 
ha 4 , na' 1 (M), n. A Scotch form of hall. 
He followed me for seven year 
Frae hour out and f rae ha'. 
Old song. (Jamieson.) 
ha 5 , ha' 2 . A contraction of have. [Colloq. or 
dial.] 
For me, sister ! Ao' you found out a wife for me ? ha' 
you? pray speak, Ao' you? Brome, Northern Lass. 
And I may have my will, lie neither ha' poore scholler 
nor souldier about the court. Day, He of Gulls (1633). 
haaf, haff, haf 2 (haf, haf), n. [< Icel. haf= Sw. 
haf= Norw. Dan. hav, the sea, esp. the high sea, 
2671 
the ocean, = AS. "heafor *haif, in an early Kent- 
ish gloss ha;b, in pi. heafo (once), the sea, = 
OFries. hef= MLG. haf, the sea, > G. haff, sea, 
bay, gulf, = MHG. hap, neut., habe, f., the sea, 
a bay ; allied to AS. hcefene, E. haven : see ha- 
ven.} A deep-sea fishing-ground. [Shetland.] 
haaf boat (haf'bot), n. A boat used for deep- 
sea fishing. [Shetland.] 
haaf-fishing (haf 'fish"ing), n. Deep-sea fishing 
for ling, cod, tusk, etc. [Shetland.] 
haak, n. Same as hake%. 
haar (har), n. [Also liar, harr, hair; cf. Sc. 
liar, hore, hare, cold, chill, moist.] A fog; a 
chill easterly wind accompanied by light fog. 
[Scotch.] 
On looking towards St. Andrews from Leithwalk I per- 
ceived a dense cloudiness all along the horizon : this I 
have no doubt was your easterly haar at the very time that 
we were in brilliant sunshine and were oppressed with 
heat. Hanna, Chalmers, III. 85. 
haardim, . See hardim. 
haarkies (hiir'kes), , [G., < haar, = E. hair 1 , 
+ kies, gravel, pyrites, dim. kiesel, flint, flint- 
stone, pebble, = AS. cedsel, gravel, E. chesil, 
q. v.] Same as hair-pyrites. 
Haarlem blue. See Hue. 
haave-net, n. See halre-net. 
haht (hab), n. [A noun assumed from hab-or- 
nab, q. v.] A venture ; a chance. 
Take heed, for I speak not by hobs and by nabs. 
Middleton, Spanish Gypsy, lii. 2. 
hab (hab), . t. [ME. habbe: see have.} A vari- 
ant of have. It exists in the phrase-words hob-nab, 
hab-or-nab, and also independently as a negro corruption 
of have. 
hab. In zool., the regular abbreviation of habi- 
tat, 1. 
Habassint (ha-bas'in), a. [A var. of Abassine, 
Abi/ssine, obs. forms equiv. to Abyssinian.] 
Same as Abyssinian. 
Among these [the peoples of the Eastern and South-East 
Churches] the Kusse and the Habasiin Emperors are the 
greatest. Howell, Letters, ii. 9. 
habbet, f . t. A Middle English form of hare. 
habber (hab'er), v. i. [Sc., also happle; < D. 
haperen, falter, hesitate, = G. hapern, dial, hap- 
peln = Sw. happla, stutter, hesitate, f req. , the 
simple form being seen in Dan. happe, stutter.] 
To stutter ; stammer. 
habber (hab'er), n. [< habber, o.] A stutter; 
a stammer. [Scotch.] 
habberjont, n. An obsolete form of haubergeon. 
hab. Corp. An abbreviation of habeas corpus. 
habeas corpus (ha'be-as kdr'pus). [So called 
from the mandatory "words in the writ (in 
Latin), habeas corpus . . , 'have the body' 
(of such a one: sc. brought into court) : habeas, 
2d pers. sing. subj. (with impv. force) of habere, 
have ; corpus, body : see habit, have, and corpus, 
corpse.'] In law, a writ issued by a judge or 
court, requiring the body of a person to be 
brought before the judge or into the court; 
specifically, such a writ (entitled in full habeas 
corpus suojiciendum) requiring the body of a 
person restrained of liberty to be brought be- 
fore the judge or into court, that the lawfulness 
of the restraint may be investigated and deter- 
mined. The right to freedom from restraint without 
regular legal process, which had always existed at common 
law, was affirmed by Magna Charta ; but arbitrary impris- 
onment was practised by despotic kings and compliant 
courts till the latter part of the reign of Charles I., and 
still occasionally till the passage of the Habeas Corpus 
Act (which see, below) in that of Charles II. The right to 
the writ in special cases can still be suspended by legisla- 
tive authority, both in Great Britain and in the United 
States, in a time of war or great public danger. 
The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be 
suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, 
the public safety may require it. 
Constitution of U. S., Art. i., 9. 
It was considered a duty to authorize the Commanding- 
General, in proper cases, according to his discretion, to 
suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, or, in 
other words, to arrest and detain, without resort to the 
ordinary processes and forms of law, such individuals as 
he might deem dangerous to the public safety. 
Lincoln, in Raymond, p. 143. 
