ENCYCLOPAEDIA LONDINENSIS; 
OR, AN 
UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY 
0 F 
ARTS, SCIENCES, and LITERATURE. 
A. 
T HE letter A is the firft of the alphabet in all the 
known languages of the world, that of Ethiopia 
excepted, in which it is the thirteenth. It is 
placed firft, on account of its fimplicity, very little 
more beingjieceffary to its pronunciation than barely open¬ 
ing the mouth. In the Englifh it hath three different founds, 
which may be termed the broad, open, and flender. 
The broad found, refembling that of the German is 
found in many of our monofyllables, as all, wall, malt, fait, 
in which a is pronounced as au in caufe, or aw in law. 
Many of thefe words were anciently written with au, as 
fault, waulk ; which happens to be ftill retained in fault. 
This was probably the ancient found of the Saxons, fince it 
is almoft uniformly preferved in the ruftic pronunciation, 
and the northern dialeCts, as maun for man, kaund for hand. 
A, open, not unlike the a of the Italians, is found in 
father, rather, and more obfcurely in fancy, faf, &c. 
A, flender or clofe, is the peculiar a of the Englifh lan¬ 
guage, refembling the found of the French e mafculine, 
or dipthong ai in fat's, or perhaps a middle found between 
them, or between the a and e; to this the Arabic a is faid 
nearly to approach. Of this found we have examples in 
the words, place, face, wafe, and all thofe which termi¬ 
nate in ation ; as relation, nation, generation. 
A is fhort, as glafs, grafs; or long, as glaze, graze: 
it is marked long, generally, by an e final, plane-, or by 
an i added, as plain. The fhort a is open, the long a clofe. 
A, an article fet before nouns of the Angular num¬ 
ber; a man; a tree; denoting the number one, as, a man 
is coming, that is, no more than one. This article has no 
plural lignification. Before a word beginning with a 
vowel, it is written an, as, an ox, an egg, of which a is 
the contraction. 
A, taken materially, or for itfelf, is a noun; as, a 
great A, a little a. 
A is placed before a participle, or participle noun ; 
and is confidered by Wallis as a contraction of at, when it 
is put before a word denoting fome aCtion not yet finiflied; 
as, I am a walking. It alfo feems to be anciently con¬ 
tracted from at, when placed before local furnames, as, 
Thomas a Becket. In other cafes, it feems to fignify to, 
like the French a ; 
A hunting Chloe went. Prior. 
They go a begging to a bankrupt’s door. Drydcn. 
A has a peculiar fignification, denoting the propor¬ 
tion of one thing to another. Thus we fay, The landlord 
Vol. I. No. i. 
hath a hundred a year; The (hip’s crew gained a thou', 
fand pounds a man. 
A is ufed in burlefque poetry, the fame as o, to length¬ 
en out a fyllable, without adding to the fenfe ; 
For cloves and nutmegs to the line-a. 
And even for oranges to China. Dryden. 
A, in compofition, feems to have fometimes the power 
of the French a in thefe phrafes, a droit, a gauche, &c. and 
fometimes to be contracted from at; as, afide , afope, afoot, 
ajlecp, athirf, aware, atrip; 
And now a breeze from fliore began to blow, 
The failors fhip their oars, and ceafe to row; 
Then hoiff their yards atrip, and all their fails 
Let fall, to court the wind, and catch the gales. Dryden „ 
A is fometimes redundant; as arife, aroufe, awake 5 
the fame with rife, roufe, wake. 
A, in abbreviations, (lands for artium, or arts; as, 
A. B. batchelorof arts, artium baccalaureus; A. M. maf- 
ter of arts, artium magifer; or, anno, as, A. D. anno 
domini. 
A, in the Julian calendar, is the firft of the feven do¬ 
minical letters. It had been in ufe among the Romans 
long before the eftablilhment of Chriftianity, as the firft of 
the eight nundinales litterce; in imitation whereof it was 
that the dominical letters were firft introduced. 
Among the ancients, A was a numerical letter, and fig- 
nified 500; and, with a ftroke over it, it ftands for 
5000. With logicians, it denotes an univerfal affirmative 
propofition. Among merchants, if fet alone after - a bill of 
exchange, it fignifies accepted ; and is ufed by them to dif- 
tinguifli their lets of accounts inftead of a figure: thus, 
A, B, C, are inftead of 1, 2, 3. A, or aa, is ufed by 
phyficians inftead of ana, and fignifies that the propor¬ 
tions of the ingredients to which it refers are to be equal. 
A, in mufic, is that note which lies between the fecond and 
third line in the treble; or upon the top, or fifth, in the bafs. 
A, in the ancient infcriptions of marbles, &c. occa- 
fionally ftands for Augufus, ager, aiunt, &c. When dou¬ 
ble, it denotes Augufi; when triple aurum argentum, as ; 
and fometimes its meaning can only be known by the reft of 
the infcription. Ilidore adds, that when it occurs after 
the word miles (foldier), it denotes him young. On the 
reverfe of ancient medals, it denotes them (truck by the 
city of Argos, fometimes by that of Athens j but on coins 
of modern date it is the mark of Paris. 
B 
AAA. 
