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So 
S A S A A 
® a consonant, and the eighteenth letter of the alphabet. 
^ ? Its sound is formed by driving the breath through a 
narrow passage between the palate and the tongue elevated 
near it. 
S has two different sounds, viz. a soft and flat sound, like 
z, as dismal, and a sharp hissing sound, as sister. 
It is the peculiar quality of s, that it may be sounded 
before all consonants, except x and z, in which s is com¬ 
prised. 
Some of the ancients avoided all use of the s very stu¬ 
diously ; particularly Pindar, who has whole poems without 
once mentioning it. And hence also in Plautus, and some 
others of the Latin poets, we find it cut abruptly off, as in 
digniC, omnibu' , &c. Others, on the contrary, affected the 
use of it every where, inserting it where it was not wanted; 
as Casmencc for Camence, dusmosce for dumosce, ccesna for 
ccena, &c. 
Of all letters, the s is nearest akin to the r: whence it 
was frequently changed, on account of its disagreeable 
sound, into r. Thus the Valerii, Furii, &c. were at first 
called Valesii, Fusii, &c.; and what we now call ara, 
arena, carmen, ferice, lares, &c. were anciently written 
asa, asena, casmen, fesiai, loses, &c. Add to this, that 
the Latin nouns now terminated in or, as arbor, labor, &c. 
all anciently ended in 5 ; as arbos, labos, &c. 
It is much to be regretted, that the beauty of the English 
language has been much injured by modern innovation. 
The s, already too frequent, has been used to supersede in 
verbs the euphonous t.h; and the plural of nouns, which 
our ancestors formed after the German fashion, by the en, 
is immutably formed by the same offensive letter. These 
changes are too well established to allow a return to our old 
system in prose. In poetry, however, it is to be hoped that 
such words as hath, appeareth, &c. will still maintain their 
ground against has, appears, and the like. 
S was a numerical letter among the ancients, signifying 
seven : according to the verse, 
“ S vera septenos numeratos significabit.” 
Among the Greeks, cr' signified 200, and <7 denoted 
200,000; the sigma joined to tan, i. e. o-r, denoted 6. 
In abbreviations, S. stands for societas, or socius; as, 
R. S.S. for Regia; Societatis Socius, i. e. Fellow of the 
Royal Society. In medicinal prescriptions, S.A. signifies 
secundum artem, i. e. according to the rules of art; and 
in the notes of the ancients, S. stands for sextus, servius, 
or sanctus ; S.S. sanctissimus ;-»S.F. for spurius; S.C. for 
senatus consultum; S.D. for salutem dicit; S.P.D. for 
salutem plurimam dicit; S.P.Q.R. for senatuspopulusque 
Romanus; S.S.S. for stratum super stratum, i. e. one 
layer above another, alternately; S.V.B E.E.Q.V. for si 
vales bene est ego quoque va/eo, a form used in Cicero’s 
time, in the beginning of letters. Upon the French coins, 
S. distinguished those that were struck at Rheims. 
SA DE MIRANDA (Francis), a Portuguese writer and 
chevalier of the order of Christ, was born at Coimbra, in 
1495, and died in 1558. He was author of a quarto volume, 
consisting of satires, comedies, and pastorals, which was 
printed at Lisbon, in 1614. 
SA, or Sah, a village, situated on the rums of Sais, formerly 
the metropolis of Lower Egypt. It was celebrated for a 
temple of Minerva, and for an asylum and tomb dedicated to 
Osiris. It is situated on the canal of Belkin, or of Hashabi, 
which runs parallel to the Rosetta branch of the Nile, on its 
eastern side, and falls into the lake Bourlos; 17 miles west of 
Mehallet Kibeer. 
SA, or Saa (Emanuel), a learned Portuguese Jesuit in 
the 17th century. He was the author of “ Scholia in Qua- 
tuor Evangelia,” 1596, 4to., consisting of short, but learned 
and ingenious notes on the four Gospels, partly original 
and partly selected from the labours of preceding commen¬ 
tators; “ Notationes in totam Sacram Scripturam, quibus 
turn omnes fere Loci difficiles, turn varisc ex Hebraeo, 
Chaldaeo, et Graeco, Lectiones explicantur,” published after 
his death, in 1598, 4to., and of the same character with his 
former work; and “ Aphorismi Confessariorum ex Docto- 
rum Sententiis collecti,” 1595, 12mo., which, though so 
small a work, is said to have employed much of his attention 
during the long term of forty years. It has undergone nu¬ 
merous impressions at Venice, Cologne, Antwerp, Paris, 
Lyons, &c., and is held in much estimation by the Catho¬ 
lics. Moreri. 
SAAD, a town of great Bukharia; 20 miles north-east of 
Samarcand. 
SAADE, a town of Arabia, the most important in the 
Sahan, or mountainous district of Yemen. It is the residence 
of a chief, who assumes the title of Imam; but his territories 
are so small, that he often finds it difficult to maintain his 
ground against his highland neighbours. His revenue arises 
chiefly from a custom-house here established, at which duties 
are paid by the goods passing from Yemen into the interior 
of Arabia. In the neighbourhood of this town is a fortified 
height, distinguished for the stand there made by a chief 
against the Turkish force; 368 miles north-north-east of 
Mocha. 
SAADIAS-GAON, or Saadias the Excellent, a 
learned and celebrated rabbi, who flourished in the 10th 
century, was a native of the city of Pithom, or Alfiumi 
in Egypt, where he appears to have been born about the 
year 892. Having acquired a high reputation for learning 
and abilities, in the year 927, he was sent for by David the 
son of Zachai, the prince of the captivity, to preside over 
the academical institution at Sora near Babylon, which, 
owing to the dissentions between that prince and the chiefs of 
the academies, was threatened with dissolution. In these 
circumstances he undertook its management, and laboured 
for two years with great success in raising its character. One 
of the first objects of his care after entering upon his pre¬ 
sidency, was to explode the doctrine of the transmigration 
of souls, which had obtained very generally, not only 
among the Persians and Arabs, but even among the Jews. 
He had already made considerable progress in it, when he 
was sent for by the prince of the captivity to subscribe to 
a new regulation, which appeared to him to be repugnant 
to the Jewish laws, and for that reason he firmly refused to 
give it the sanction of his signature. This refusal so ex¬ 
asperated David, that at first he sent his son to our rabbi, 
threatening to have his head broken if he persisted in not 
signing; which menace his scholars resented, by raising a 
tumult against the prince, in which he received from them 
some severe blows. Hence a breach arose between David 
and Saadias, and the academy soon became divided into two 
parties, in which that of Saadias so far prevailed, that David 
was deposed from his dignity, and his brother Joseph ap¬ 
pointed in his room. It was not long, however, before 
David got himself restored, and Saadias was obliged to flee, 
and seek out for a place of safe retreat. He remained in 
concealment seven years, during which time he composed 
the greatest part of the books which were published in his 
name. Afterwards he found means to be reconciled to 
David, and was restored to his chair at Sora, which he oc¬ 
cupied peaceably and with great success till his death in 942, 
when he was about 50 years of age. He was the author of 
a work, entitled, “ Sepher Hcamunah," or a treatise con¬ 
cerning the Jewish articles of faith, in ten chapters, which 
was translated from the original Arabic into Hebrew, by 
Rabbi 
