NUN 
030 
intended ; lie was remarkable for the happy ufe of pro-' 
verbs ; and.this book would doubtlefs be found of consi¬ 
derable ufe to the annotators of Don Quixote. Gen. Biog. 
NU'NEZ (Duarte de Liam), a Portuguele hiftorian, 
topographer, and grammarian, born in the city of Evora 
in the latter end of the 16th century. He wrote upon the 
origin and orthography of his mother-tongue, a defcrip- 
tion of Portugal, and a diflertation upon the genealogy 
of the kings of Portugal. But his principal works were 
the “ Primeira Parte das Chronicas dos Reis de Portugal, 
reformadas;" that is, correfted and put in order, from 
the Chronicles of Fernam Lopez, Ruy de Pina, and Duarte 
Galvam. The original chronicles have iince been printed, 
except that of Fernando, the molt important of all, and 
the work of Fernam Lopez, the belt chronicler of that or 
any other country. 
After the Braganzan revolution, Duarte Nunez pro¬ 
ceeded with his labours, under the patronage of D. Ro¬ 
drigo da Cunha, archbifliop of Lilbon, and in like man¬ 
ner abftradted the Chronicles of Joam I. Duarte, and 
Affonfo V. from the originals by Fernam Lopez, Gomes 
Eannes de Zurara, and Ruy de Pina. This work ap¬ 
peared in folio, 1643, three years after the Portuguele had 
■thrown off the yoke of the Spaniards ; and no publication 
could have been better timed than this hiftory of the glo¬ 
rious and fuccefsful refiftance which their forefathers had 
made again ft the fame enemies. In theenfuing year the 
fame bookfeller, Antonio Alvarez, printed the original 
Chronicle of Joam I. and thus the moft valuable part of 
the late compilation loft moft of its value. The two other 
originals remained in inanufcript till the year 1790, when 
the Royal Academy of Lifbon publifhed them, the abbe 
Correa being editor. Gen. Biog. 
NU'NEZ (Alonfo de Caftro), chronicler to Philip IV. 
of Spain, a writer who lived in the worft age of Spanifh 
literature, and cannot be faid to have rifen above it. He 
continued the “ Corona Gotica y Auftrica,” which Diego 
de Saavedra Faxardo began; and wrote f’everal other works 
of too little importance or value to delerve mention. 
Gen. Biog. 
NU'NEZ (Pero). See Nonius. 
NUN'NEZ. See Nonnius. 
NU'NIA, a village of the Arabian Irak, fuppofed to be 
on the fite of the ancient Nineveh, and to contain the tomb 
of the prophet Jonah ; on the fide of the Tigris, oppolite 
Moful. 
NU'NIC MOU'NTAINS, mountains of South Carolina. 
Lat. 35. N. Ion. 83. W. 
NUNNA'TION, f. A contrivance, in the Arabic lan¬ 
guage, to exprefs the indefinite article j an advantage pof- 
fefled, in its full extent, by no language but the Englifh. 
This contrivance, fuppofing it to be rightly reprefeuted, 
poflefles an advantage, in one refpefl, over our indefinite 
article; viz. that the nunnation is annexed alike both to 
plural and to fingular nouns, and ferves to mark the inde¬ 
finitenefs of the former as well as of the latter, whereas 
our indefinite article is confined to nouns in the fingular 
number. This reftri&ion probably originated in our in¬ 
definite article having been derived from the Saxon nu¬ 
meral for one; independently of w'hich circumftance, and 
of cuftom, which has given its far.ftion to the reftridlion, 
there feems to be no more reafon for confining the indefi¬ 
nite than for confining the definite article to nouns in the 
fingular number. The word J'ome, which we ufe to denote 
th^ indefinitenefs of plural nouns, is not fo well adapted 
to the purpofe as the article would be; liecaufe, being 
more fpecific, and marking not only the indefinitenefs of 
the nouns, but alfo pointing out the particular mode and 
manner of that indefinitenefs, it is not fo completely inde¬ 
finite as a mere article, and its application therefore is lefs 
general and lefs extenfive. 
In moft of the languages of modern Europe, the fame 
word is employed to denote the numeral one and the in¬ 
definite article a; in confequence of which, thofe lan- 
N U N 
guages are, in this inftance, expofed to all the ambiguity 
which arifes from ufing one word in a variety of fenfes, 
and to other inconveniences. In Englilh, no ambiguity 
occurs whether we fay, “ There is a God,” or “ There is 
one God every reader underltands the firft as a declara¬ 
tion of theexiftence, and the iecond as a declaration of the 
unity, of the Deity ; but, in French, if we fay “ IIy a un 
Dim," the double meaningof un renders it doubtful which 
of the two declarations is intended ; and if we lav “ JL n't/ 
a qu'im Dim," a doubt fttll remains, from the lame caufe, 
whether we mean to aflert the unity of the Deity, or the 
propofition that “ there is but a God or, in other words, 
the tenet of “ feeing God in all things which Ibme en- 
thufiafts have carried to fuch a pitch of extravagance, as 
to deify every object around them. Cuftom, it may be laid, 
has appropriated the firft of thefe French expreffions fo 
fignify the exiftence, and the fecond to fignify the unity, 
of God. True : but this (hows that the ambiguity of the 
word un fubjefts us to the neceftity of learning a particular, 
fingular, and arbitrary, cuftom, in addition to the general 
import and meaning of the words of the language, before 
we can underftand the phrafes in queftion. The Latins 
have ufed their word units in the fenfe of the French un, 
when it correfponds to our indefinite article ; but, in all 
of thefe, fomething more is intended by units than is ex- 
prefted by the article a, or the French mi. The Latin 
word is defigned to convey an idea either of unity, Angu¬ 
larity, certainty, or uniformity, or of fomething remark¬ 
able, extraordinary, or unique, in its kind ; to which, if 
the reader does not attend, he lofes a part of the writer's 
meaning. It denotes fomething much more definite than 
the article a does, and comes nearer to the Englilh ex- 
prelfion, ‘ the one.’ 
The writer of the article Grammar, in the Encyclo¬ 
paedia Britannica, fays, “there are fewinftances in which 
the place of the definite article might not be fupplied by 
this or that;" and that he “ believes there is not a Angle 
inftance in which the place of the indefinite article might 
not be fupplied by the numeral one." This alfertion he 
attempts to prove, by producing a few examples, in which 
the demonftratives, or the numeral, may be fubftituted 
for the article, without making much difference in the 
meaning; but, for one example of this fort, ten maybe 
produced which will not admit of the fubftitution. When 
Paul calls himfelf “ the lealt of the apoftles,” (1 Cor. xv. 9.) 
we cannot fubftitute this or that; nor when he adds that 
he was not “ meet to be called an apoftle,” can we fubfti¬ 
tute one; and Inch phrafes as thefe occur conftantly by 
thoufands. Indeed, fuch a mode of arguing is no more 
conclufive againft the utility of articles to a language, than 
it would be againft the utility of what are called fy- 
nonymous words to a language. Of fuch words, one 
may often be fubftituted for another, becaule that which 
the writer willies to exprefs is fomething common to both ; 
but other cafes occur in which, of all thefe fynonymous 
words, how'ever numerous they may be, only one will 
fuit his purpofe. The fame thing is true with refpeft to 
demonftratives, numerals, and articles.. They have each 
their feparate ufes, which neither of the others can fup- 
ply; and the language which is poflefled of them all three, 
has a great advantage over that which is poftefled only of 
the two firft mentioned. Monthly Iicv. Feb..and Mar. 1812. 
NUN'NERY,/ [from nun.] A houfe of nuns; of wo¬ 
men under a vow of chaftity, dedicated to the leverer 
duties of religion.—I v put your After into a nunnery, with 
a ftrift command, not to fee you, for fear you Humid have 
wrought upon her to have taken the habit. Dr.yden's Span. 
Friar. 
NUN'NEY, a village in Somerfetlhire, two miles fouth- 
weft from Frome, which has a fair for cattle on the nth 
of November. Here is a ruinous caftle, belonging to which 
was formerly a monaftery, built by Henry II. imprecating 
the wrath of Almighty God, and his own curie, on the 
violator of this his pious donation. The remains of the 
monaftery, 
