ACC 
ACCENDONES, in Roman antiquity, a kind of gla¬ 
diators, whofe office was to excite and animate the com¬ 
batants during the engagement. The orthography of the 
word is contested: the fir ft edition of Tertullian, byRhe- 
nanus, has it accedones\ an ancient manufcript, accendones. 
Aquinas adheres to the former, Pitifcus to the latter. The 
origin of the word, fuppofing it accendones , is from acccn- 
do, I kindle ; fuppofing it accedones, from accedo, I accede, 
am added to. The former places their diftinguifhing cha¬ 
racter in enlivening the combat by their exhortations and 
fuggeftions; the latter thinks them to be much the fame with 
what among us are called feconds, among the Italians pa- 
ironi: excepting that thele latter only Hand by to fee the 
laws of the fword duly obferved, without intermeddling 
to give advice or instruction. 
ACCENSI, in die Roman armies, certain fupernume- 
rary foldiers, deligned to fupply the places of thofe who 
fliould be killed or difabled. The accenfl, Livy obferves, 
were placed at the rear of the army, becaufe no great ex¬ 
ertions were expected from them: they were taken out of 
the fifth clafs of citizens. 
Accensi, inantiquity, dt otes an inferior order of of¬ 
ficers, appointed to attend the Roman magistrates, forne- 
what in the manner of uffiers, ferjeants, or tipftaves, among 
us. They were thus called from accire, to fend for; one 
part of their office being to call affemblies of the people, 
fummon parties toappear and anfwer before the judges, tkc. 
Accensi was alfo an appellation given to a kind of ad¬ 
jutants, appointed by the tribune to affift each centurion 
and decurion. In which fenfe, accenfus is fynonyntous 
with optio. In an ancient inscription, given by a Torre, 
we meet Accensus Equitum Romanorum ; an office 
■no where elfe heard of. That author fufpedts it to be a 
corruption ; and inftead thereof reads, A cenfibus. 
ACCENSION',/! [accenflo, Lat. ] The aft of kindling, 
or the ftate of being kindled.—The fulminating damp 
will take fire at a candle, or other flame, and, upon its 
accenflon, gives a report like the difcharge of a gun, and 
makes an explofion fo forcible as fometimes to kill the mi¬ 
ners, fliake the earth, and force bodies of great weight 
and bulk from the bottom of the pit or mine. Woodward. 
ACCENT, f. [acccntus, I.at.] The manner of fpeaking 
or pronouncing, with regard either to force or elegance. 
The found given to the Syllable pronounced. In gram¬ 
mar, the marks made upon Syllables, to regulate their 
pronunciation. Poetically, language or words. A modi¬ 
fication of the voice, expreflive of the paffions or fenti- 
jnents : ; 
The tender accent of a woman’s cry 
Will pafs unheard, will unregarded die; 
When the rough feantan’s louder fliouts prevail, 
When fair occafion fliews the Springing gale. Prior. 
To ACCENT, v. a. [ accentus , Lat.] formerly elevated 
at the Second Syllable, now at the firft. To pronounce, 
to Speak words with particular regard to the grammatical 
marks or rules. In poetry ; to pronounce or utter in ge¬ 
neral. To write or note the accents. We generally reck¬ 
on three grammatical accents in ordinary ufe, all borrow¬ 
ed from the Greeks, viz. the acute accent ('), which Shews 
when the tone of the voice is to be raifed. The grave 
accent (-'), when the note or tone of the voice is to be de- 
preffed. The circumflex accent (~ or "), is compofed of 
both the acute and the grave, and points out a kind of un¬ 
dulation of the voice. The Latins have made the fame 
ufe of thefe three accents. 
The Hebrews have a grammatical, a rhetorical, and 
muSical, accent; though the firft and laft Seem, in eff'eCt, 
to be the fame; both being comprised under the general 
name of tonic accents, becaufe they give the proper tone to 
Syllables; as the rhetorical accents are faid to be eupho¬ 
nic, becaufe they tend to make the pronunciation more 
Sweet and agreeable. There are four euphonic accents, 
and twenty-five tonic: of which Some are placed above, 
Vol. I. No. 4. 
ACC 53 
and others below, the Syllables; the Hebrew accents Serv¬ 
ing not only to regulate the rifings and fallings of the 
voice, but alfo to diftinguifh the feCtions, periods, and 
numbers of periods, in a difcourfe; and to anfwer the 
fame purpofes with the points in other languages. Their 
accents are divided into emperors, kings, dukes, &c. each 
bearing a title anfwerable to the importance of the distinc¬ 
tion its makes. Their emperor rules over a whole phrafe, 
and terminates the fenfe completely; anfwering to our full- 
point. Their king anfwers to our colon; and their duke 
to our comma. The king, however, occasionally becomes 
a duke, and the duke a king, as the phrafes are more or 
lefs Short. 
As to the Greek accents, now Seen both in manuferipts 
and printed books, there has been no lefs difpute about 
their antiquity and ufe than about thofe of the Hebrews. 
Ifaac Voffius endeavours to prove them of modern inven¬ 
tion; affecting, that anciently they had nothing of this kind, 
but only a tew notes in their poetry, which were invented 
by Aristophanes the grammarian, about the time of Pto¬ 
lemy Philopater; and that thefe were of mufical, rather 
than grammatical, ufe, Serving as aids in the Singing of 
their poems, and very different from thole introduced af¬ 
terwards. Ke alfo Shows from feveral ancient gramma¬ 
rians, that the manner of writing the Greek accents in 
thefe days was quite different from that which appears in 
our books. 
The ufe of accents, to prevent ambiguities, is moft re¬ 
markably perceived in fomeeaftern languages, particularly 
the Siamefe and Chinefe. Among the people of China, 
every word, or (which is the fame thing) Syllable, admits 
of five accents, as Spoken more acutely or remifsly; and 
thus Stands for many different things. The fame foundjwz, 
according to the accent affixed to it, Signifies God, a wall, 
excellent, flupidity, and a goofle. The Chinefe have but 330 
Spoken words in their language; but thefe being multi¬ 
plied by the different accents or tones, which affect the 
vowels, furnifh a language tolerably copious. By means 
hereof, their 330 Ample Sounds come to denote 1650 
tlnngs; but, this being hardly Sufficient, they are increased 
further by afpirates added to each word to double the 
number. The Chinefe only reckon four accents; for 
which the miflionaries ufe the following marks, ad, a , a, a; 
to which they have added a fifth, thus, oi. They make a 
kind of modulation; wherein, prolonging the duration of 
the found of the vowel, they vary the tone, raffing and 
finking it by a certain pitch of voice : fo that their talking 
is a fort of mulic or finging. Attempts have been made 
to determine the quantity of the rife or fall in each accent 
by means of mufical notes; but this is hard to effeCt, as 
being different in different perfons. Hence the great dif¬ 
ficulty of the language to foreigners; they are forced to 
Sing moft fcrupuloufly : if they deviate ever fo little from 
the accent, they Say quite a different thing from what was 
intended. Thus, meaning to compliment the perfon you 
are fpeaking to with the title Sir, you call him a beaft with 
the fame word, only a little varied in the tone. 
Accent, in mufic, is a certain enforcement of parti¬ 
cular founds, whether by the voice or instruments, gene¬ 
rally ufed at the beginning of bars. 
To ACCENTUATE, v. a. \_accentuet, Fr.] To place 
the proper accents over the vowels, 
ACCENTUATION,yi The aft of placing the accent 
in pronunciation. Marking the accent in writing. 
To ACCEPT, v. a. [ accipio, Lat. accepter, Fr.] To take 
with pleafure; to receive kindly; to admit with approba¬ 
tion. It is distinguished from receive, as fpecific from gene¬ 
ral-, noting a particular manner of receiving.—God is no 
refpedter of perS'ons: but, in every nation, he that feareth 
him, and worketh righteoufnefs, is’ accepted with him. 
Adis, x. 34.—It is ufed in a kind of juridical fenfe; as, to 
accept terms, accept a treaty. In the language of the Bi¬ 
ble, to accept perfons, is to adt with pedbnal and partial 
regard. It is fometimes uied with the particle of — 1 will 
