SON 
349 
SOM 
rnon education, after which he was taken as clerk by his 
father, who was registrar of the court of Canterbury. He was 
afterwards promoted by archbishop Laud to an office in the 
ecclesiastical court of that diocese, which naturally engaged 
him in the study of national antiquities. To pursue this to 
advantage, he applied with great diligence to the Saxon 
tongue, and having made himself master of that language, 
he drew up copious notes, and a glossary, to Sir Roger 
Twisden’s publication of the laws of Henry I. The antiqui¬ 
ties of his own county engaged his particular attent.on, 
and he composed “ A Treatise of the Roman Posts and 
Forts in Kent,” left by himself in MS. but which was 
printed at Oxford in 1693 5 and “A Treatise on Gavel¬ 
kind,” completed in 1647, and published in 1660. He 
also wrote “ A Discourse of Portus Iccius,” which was 
afterwards translated into Latin by bishop Gibson, and pub¬ 
lished with some other tracts. Having studied all the kin¬ 
dred dialects to the Saxon, he wrote observations on some 
old German words, collected by Lipsius, which were pub¬ 
lished by Meric Casaubon, and he drew up the Glossary 
annexed to the ten writers of English history, published by 
Twisden. This glossary being a key to recluse and anti¬ 
quated words, improved whatever of this nature had been 
done before. It is, indeed, a work of that extent as may 
serve as a key to all other historians, and to all records: 
“nevertheless,” says the writer of the life in the Biographia 
Britannica, “ it might be greatly improved from our author's 
subsequent collections, which remain in the archives of 
Canterbury; from Junius’s “ Etymologicum Anglicanum;” 
and from Dr. Wilkin’s Glossary, at the end of his edition of 
the Saxou laws. Mr. Somner assisted Dugdale in compiling 
the “ Monasticon.” In 1659 he published a Saxon dic¬ 
tionary, in folio, which has been styled the true and lasting 
monument of his praise; a work of incredible labour to 
himself, and of singular benefit to the world. The previous 
assistance pf the like kind which came into Mr. Somner’s 
hands, were—1. iElfric’s Glossary, transcribed by Fr. Junius, 
from a very ancient copy in the library of Sir Peter Paul 
Rubens, of Brussels; 2. The two ancient glossaries in the 
Cotton library; 3. Nowell’s Saxon Vocabulary; 4. Joce- 
line’s Collections. From these and some other Saxon books 
then extant, Mr. Somner made immense collections, in two 
large volumes, for the compiling his dictionary. When it 
was finished, he sent it to Oxford, where it was printed, and 
it came out in the year already mentioned. During the 
composition of this dictionary, he was chiefly supported by 
the salary settled on the Saxon lecture, founded by Sir 
Henry Spelman. Somner being a zealous royalist, he was 
arrested and imprisoned on account of the Kentish petition 
for a free parliament, in the same year that his dictionary 
was published; but was liberated on the restoration, and 
promoted to the mastership of St. John’s Hospital, in Can¬ 
terbury. He died in 1669, and his books and manuscripts 
were purchased by the dean and chapter of Canterbury, and 
deposited in the cathedral library. Biog. Brit. 
SOMNIFEROUS, adj. \somnifire, Fr., somnifer, Lat.] 
Causing sleep; procuring sleep; soporiferous ; dormitive.— 
They ascribe all this redundant melancholy to somniferous 
potions. Burton. 
SOMNIFIC, adj. [somnus and facio, Lat.] Causing 
sleep. 
SO'MNOLENCE, or So'mnolency, s. [ somnolentia, 
Lat.] Sleepiness; inclination to sleep. Cocker am. —I no 
sompno/ence have used. Gower. 
SOMNOLENT, adj. [somnolentus , Lat.] Sleepy; 
drowsy. Bu/lokar and Cockeram. 
SOMONDOCO, a settlement of South America, in New 
Granada, and in the province of Tunja. Population 200 
housekeepers and 100 Indians; 29 miles south-east of Tunja, 
and 61 north-east of Santa Fe. 
SOMORROSTRO, a small town of Spain, in the pro¬ 
vince of Biscay. In the neighbourhood is an iron mine, 
one of the oldest and most productive in the world: 40,000 
tons of iron are annually shipped here for the surrounding 
provinces, besides what is used in the iron works in the 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1575. 
neighbourhood. Arms, great and small, are made at these 
works, and among others, cannon for export; 13 miles 
north-west of Bilboa. 
SOMOS, or Duinow, a small town in the north-east of 
Hungary, on the river Torissa; 9 miles south of Eperies. 
SOMOSIERRA, a small town of Spain, on the borders 
of New and Old Castile. An action took place here between 
the French and Spaniards, in 1808, in which the latter were 
defeated, and the road was thus laid open to the capital; 52 
miles north of Madrid. 
SOMPRE, a town of Hindostan, province of Cashmere, 
situated on the Jhylum river. Lat. 34. 17. N. long. 73. 
35. E. 
SOMPTING, a parish of England, in Sussex; 1J mile 
north-by-east of Worthing. Population 441. 
SON, s. \sunus, Gothic ; puna, Sax.; solin, German; 
sou, Swedish ; sone, Dutch; syn, Sclavonian. A male born 
of one or begotten by one; correlative to father or mother.— 
She had a son for her cradle, ere she had a husband for her 
bed. S/iakspeare. —Descendant, however distant: as the 
sons of Adam.—I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient 
kings. Isa. —Compellation of an old to a young man, or of 
a confessor to his penitent. 
Be plain good son, and homely in thy drift; 
Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift. Shakspeare. 
Native of a country. 
Britain then 
Sees arts her savage sons controul. Pope. 
The second person of the Trinity.—If thou be the Son 
of God, come down. St. Matt. —Product of any thing. 
Earth’s tall sons, the cedar, oak and pine. 
Their parents undecaying strength declare. Blackmore. 
In scripture, sons of pride and sons of light, denoting 
some quality. ’Tis a Hebraism. 
This new favourite 
Of heaven, this mass of clay, son of despite. Milton. 
SON-IN-LAW, s. One married to one’s daughter. 
A foreign son-in-law shall come from far, 
Whose race shall bear aloft the Latin name. Dry den. 
SONA'TA, s. [Ital.] A tune.—He whistled a Scotch 
tune, and an Italian sonata. Addison. 
Could Pedro, think you, make no trial 
Of a sonata on his viol, 
Unless he had the total gut, 
Whence every string at first was cut ? Prior. 
SONATA [Ital. from suonare, to sound, or play on an 
instrument.] Its use at present, in Music, is confined to 
solos for a single instrument: as Corelli’s solos for the violin, 
Martini’s solos for the German flute. 
SONCHUS [2 oyyys of Theophrastus and Dioscorides], 
in Botany, a genus of the class syngenesia, order polygamia, 
sequalis, natural order of compositae, semiflosculosse, cicho- 
racese (Juss.) —Generic Character. Calyx : common im¬ 
bricate, ventricose: scales very many, linear, unequal. 
Corolla: compound imbricate, uniform. Corollets herma¬ 
phrodite, numerous, equal. Proper one petalled, ligulate, 
linear, truncate, five-toothed. Stamina: filaments five, 
capillary, very short. Anther cylindrical, tubular. Pistil: 
germ subovate. Style filiform, length of the stamens. 
Stigmas two, reflexed. Pericarp none. Calyx converging 
into a depressed acuminate globe. Seeds solitary, oblong. 
Down capillary, sessile. Receptacle naked.— Essential 
Character. Calyx imbricate, ventricose. Down hairy. 
Receptacle naked. 
1. Sonchus maritimus, or sea sow thistle.—-Peduncle 
naked; leaves lanceolate, embracing, undivided, sharply 
toothed, backwards. Sometimes the stem has only one or 
tw'o flowers.—Native of the South of Europe, and of Bar¬ 
bary, in sandy wet places. 
2. Sonchus cseruleus, or blue sow-thistle.—Peduncles and 
calyxes hispid and racemed ; leaves sublyrate, terminating 
4 U lobe 
