SERAPHIM. SERAPHIM, Oruer of the. Tlip oldest Swed- ish order, also called the Blue Ribbon. Us foundation is ascribed to Jlajnius Ladulas in 1200, and it was renewed by iMedcrick I. in 1748. The decoration, worn <m a blue ribbon, consists of an eight-pointed cross with seraphs' heads and patriarchal crosses, bearing the letters .JliS with three Swedish crowns. SERA'PIS, or SARAPIS (Lat., from Gk. Xipam, Idpawis). An Egj-ptian deity worshiped especially at Memphis and at Alexandria. The name is a compound of Osiris and .pis and in its earliest Greek form occurs as Osirapis, of which Serapis (Sarapis) is a corruption, liie god, in fact, was the sacred bull A))is (q.v.), who, after his death, became one with Osiris and, under the name of Osiris-Apis (Eg^-ptian Oan-IInpi), was worshiped as a god of the dead. The Sera- jieuni, or temple of Serapis, at Mciii])his. enjoyed the reputation of special holiness and was visited by pilgrims from all parts of Egj-pt. The Greeks identified Serapis with their Hades, the King of the Underworld, and Ptolemy I. built the fa- mous Serapeum of Alexandria upon the site of an older temple of the Egyptian god. This tem- ple seems to have contained two statues of the god; one said to have come from Sinope, the other, representing the god as Hades with Cer- berus, brought from Seleucia. The Alexandrian Serapis was therefore a fusion of the Greek and Egj'ptian divinities. Under the Romans when the worship of Serapis spread beyond its original territory, he, rather than Osiris, was regarded as the consort of Isis. Con- sult: Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Eg;/))- tidiis, translated (New York, 1897) ; JIahafl'y, The Empire of the Ptolemies (New York, ISflS) ; id., A Bistory of Egypt Under the Ptolemaic Dy- nasty (ib., 1899) ; Milne, A History of Egypt Under Roman Rule (ib., 1898). See Serapeum. SERBIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERA- TURE. See Seevi,
Language and Literature.
SERBO-CROATIAN (or Serbo-Horvatian) LANGUAGE. The speech of about 8,000,000 ])eo])le inhabiting the Kingdom of Servia, the Principality of Montenegro, the provinces of Bos- nia and Herzegovina, Old Servia (Novibazar Kos- sovo), Croatia, and Slavonia, the southern part of Hungary proper, Istria, and Dalmatia. With the Bulgarian and Slovenian it forms the so-called southern group of the fajnily of Slavic languages (q.v.). Among the phonetic peculiarities of Serbo-Croatian are the frequent occurrence of the broad o for the e or o in the other Slavic languages, as Serbo-Croatian otats, 'father,' Russian oshets: the vocalic r, as Serbo- Croatian srtse, 'heart,' Russian serdtse; the change of I into «, when in the middle of a word, as Serbo-Croatian viik, 'wolf,' Russian volk, and into when final, as Serbo-Croatian pisao, 'I wrote,' Russian pisal. In morphology', the loss of the dual is almost complete, and the locative of nouns, as well as the supine and present passive ])articiple in verbs, has also disappeared. The ac- cent is entirely free, the Croatian, or Horvatian, generally agreeing with the Russian accentuation, the Servian proper usually following almost rigid laws. The existence of long and short vowels along with a musical pitch accent makes Serbo-Croa- tian one of the most expressive among the Slavic languages. The characters used vary with the religion prevailing; in the Croatian Catholic 797 SERF. lands, the Konian alphalH't is uwd, while the bulk of the Servinns, kOonging to the Greek Orthodox Church, use the ancient Kirillilaa (q.v.), modified by Karnjitch (q.v.) in the early Jiart of the nineteenti ntury. Consult: V'y- niazal, Scrbi.schc Crammntil; (Brdnn, 1882); Builniani, (Irnmmalivn Jrlln linijun si rhocrnula (illirica) (Vienna, 18(i7); Pa'rtehitch. drum- viairc lie hi languc srrbo-croiilv, trans, by I'Vu- vrier (Paris, 1877) ; Knrajileli, Scrliisch-dnilnrh- lalcinischcs Wiirtcrbiich (.3dc<I., Belgrade, IH98) ; id., Deutsch-scrhischrs Wiirlerbuch (Vienna, 1872) ; Po])ovitch, Wiirlvrbiifh drr srrbischi-n iiud dcutschcn Sprachc (2d cd., Pansova, 188U- 9.->). SERENA, siVrfi'nyA, La. A town of Chile. Sec La Sere.na. SERENADE (OF. srrniiide, Fr. stWnadr, from It. srriiiatii, serenade, from srrrnnre, to make serene, from srrcno, from Lat. nrrmiis, calm, serene). Originally music performed on a calm night; hence a song given under the window of a lady by her lover. The modern serenade (or serenata ) is a cyclical com|iositi<in for full orchestra. It ilifl'ers from the symphony in the gi-eater number of its movements (5, 0, 7, or more) and in their freer construction. SERES, sfr'es. A town in the Vilayet of Saloniki, European Turkey. 43 miles northea.st of Saloniki (Map: Balkan Peninsula, D 4). It is , protected by high walls, and contains a citadel, many handsome villas, and several mosques and churches. It is the centre of the Turkish woolen industry, and expcuts skins, cotton, wool, and tobacco. Population, .30,000. SERETH, ser'Ct. An important affluent of the Danube. It rises as the Great Sereth in the Austrian Crownland of Bukowina, Mows south- ward through almost the whole length of Mol- davia, and joins the Danube live miles above Galatz (Map: Balkan Peninsula, F I). Its principal tributaries are the Little Sereth on the right, and the Suczava, Moldava, and Bistritz on the left. Total length, 291 miles. SERF (OF., Fr. scii. from Lat. servus. ser- vant, slave; connected with Av. hiir, to protect). In common usage, an iinfree feudal d<'pendent, who occupies a place in the social scale above the slave. The serf was usually a peasant bound to the land which he cultivated and for which he owed service and obedience to the lord in whom the ownership of the laml was vested. The serf was frequently the ])roduct of the feudal system, and under a feudal organization of society the institution of serfdom, or villeinage, is seen in it.s most developed form. This article will treat chiefly of serfdom or villeinage as it existed in ^A'pstern Euro])e. The origin and development of villeinage in Western Europe has been a sulijcct of violent dis- pute among historians. With the decay of the Roman jiower in the fourth and fifth centuries anarchy bccanu> prevalent, and there were many vlio were compelled to seek the protection of their more powerful neighbors. Id return they p<'rformed such services as a freeman may per- form. This institution was known as the pntro- viniiim. and at first the relation terminated with the death of either party. Some of those who sought i)rotection were also owners of small parcels of land, and such land was frequently
