H
[ 191 ]
HAB
Is the &th Letter of the Alphabet, and the 6th Confonant. See Letter, and Al- phabet. k 5 Varro, lie Re Ruftica, L. III. C. i. calls the H afflaStus. And Martianus Capella lays it is pronounced by a gentle Contraction of the Trachea. ■— Hence it has been difputed, whether or no the h be a real Letter.
_ Some will only have it an Afpiration, or Spirit, in Regard us Sound is fo weak. And accordingly the Greeks, now a-days at leaft, do not place it in the Line of the other Letters but put it over the Head of the following Let- ter : Tho' it mould feem they antiently wrote it in the lame Line with the reft.
The Latin Grammarians, as they were religious Imita- tors of the Greeks, have on their Authority generally rejeSed the h; and the Moderns have herein followed the Latins.
But we have already (hewn that the h, like all the other Afpirates, from the Time it is afpirated, and for this very Reafon that it is afpirated, is not only a Letter, but a real Confonant; it being a Motion, or' Effort, of the Larynx, to modify the Sound of the Vowel that lollows; as is evident in the Words Hallebari, Hero, Holland, &c. where the Vowel e, is apparently differently modified from what it is in the Words Endive, Bating, J-letl, &c and fuch Modification is all that is eSenrial to a Confonant. See Consonant.
Upon the whole, the H is either a Letter, or S and Z are none; thofe being no more than hifTlng Afpirations : And they who exclude the h from among the Letters, as conceiving it only a Mark of Afpiration, might as well exclude the Labial Confonant! b and/, and fay they are only Marks of certain Motions of the Lips, iSc. See Aspiration.
The H, then, is a Letter and a Cohfonanr, of the Guttural Kind,;'. e. a Confonant, to the Pronunciation whereof, the Throat concurs in a particular Manner, more than any other of the Organs of Voice. See Guttural.
'Tis true, in many Words beginning with h, the Afpira- tion is very weak, and almoft infenfible; the h in thofe Cafes not doing its Office : But it does not ceafe to be a Confonant on that Score, more than various other Con- fonants, which we write, but do not pronounce; as the k in Phyfick, (gc. and feveral other Letters, particularly in the Hebrew, French, &c.
Nor does it ceafe to be a Confonant, becaufe it does not hinder the Elifion of the foregoing Vowel, when ano- ther Vowel follows in the fubferjuent 'Word; for then m would undergo the fame Difqualification.
Monti Menage diftinguifhes two Kinds of h; the one an Afpirate, which he allows a Confonant; the other a Mute, which he confiders as a Vowel. — Now, 'tis certain, the afpirated h is a Confonant; but the Mute h is no Vowel, as having no peculiar or proper Sound diflinfl from that of the Vowel, or Diphthong, immediately follow- ing it. See Vowel.
When the h is preceeded by a c, the two Letters to- gether have the Sound of the Hebrew V}, with a Point over the right Horn; as in Charity, Chyle, iSc.
In moft Words derived from the Greek, and beginning
- n that Language with the. Letter x> the ct which be-
gins them in Englifh, has generally the Sound of a k, as in Echo, Chorus, &d. tho' it is fometimes foften'd a little, as in Cherfonefus, Sec.
After a p, the h is always pronounced together with the/, like an/; as in Phrafes, 'Philittim, Phlegm, Phlebotomy, Philofophy, 'Phoczcans, &c. — Moft Words of this Clafs, are either proper Names, or Terms of Art, borrow'd from the Greek, or the Oriental Languages; and wrote in Greek with a p, and with a Q in the others. — In an- tient Authors we frequently meet with h put inftead of f; as haba, for faba; but this is principally obfervable in the Spaniffj Tongue, where, moft of the Words bor- row'd from the Latin, beginning* with an /, take the h in lieu of it: As hablar tor fabulari 5 habo for favus; liado for fatum.
The Afpera, or /harp Accent of the Greeks, which is the fame with our h, is alfo frequently changed for an s; as, 9 AAf? Sal '-, 6-7T7W, Septem *, s|, Sex •, t^Tm, Serpo; %tuttv a Semis; i?t, SlIS, &c. ■ — 1 The h is alfo ufed for fome other Letters enumerated at large by Pafferat, ie Litterarim inter fe cognations (S ptrmutatione.
Antiently, the H was put for Ch; thus, of Chlodovieus was form'd Hludovicus, as 'tis read in all the Coins of the IX th and Xth Centuries; and it was on this Ac- count, that they wrote Hludovicns with an //. — In Courfe «f Time, the Sound of the b being much wcaken'd, or
entirely fupprefs d, the ff was dropt, and the Word was wrote Ludovicus. In like Manner we read Hlotaire Hlouis?<£
Fa. Lobmeau, will have this Difference to have aro r e from the Differences in the Pronunciation. — Such fays he, as could not pronounce the Guttural, wherewith' thofe two Words begin, fubftituted a c for if; and they who pronounced it fo, wrote it after the fame Manner : But fuch as were accuftom'd to pronounce it, wrote it likewife • — He might have added, that fuch as could not pronounce the Guttural, at length abfolutely rejected it, and both wrote and fpoke Louis, Lothaire, &c.
Some learned Men have conjectured that the H fhould have been detach'd from the Name; and that it fignified Lord, from the Latin Hertts, or the German Hcrr. Much as the D, which the Spaniards prefix to their proper Names, ^ as X). Thelipe for TSon 'Philip. — But as it is likewife found before the Names of feveral Cities, 'tis more probable the Letter was there ufed to denote the rough harlh Pronunciation of the antient Franks.
The H is fometimes alfo found prefix'd to the C; as Hcarolus, Hcalend<s, &c. for Carolus, Calende, &c.
Among the Antients, the H was alfo a Numeral Letter, fignifying 200, according to the Verfe.
H quoque ducentos per fe defigna
nat habendos.
When a Dafli was added a Top, H, it fignified two hundred Thoufand. — See -what has been observed on this SubjeS, under the Letter E.
HABAKKUK, or HHABAKKux.one of the twelve leffer Prophets whofe Prophecies are taken into the Canon of the Old Teilament. See Prophet and Prophecy.
The precife Time is not known when Habakkuk pro- phefied; but from his predicting the Ruin of the Je-ws, by the Chaldeans, it may be concluded he prophefied be- fore Zedekiah, or about the Time of Manages. — His Prophecy only confiils of three Chapters.
The Name is wrote in the Hebrew with ft, hheth; and Signifies a Wreftfer, or Grappler. The Greek Tran- slators call him Ambakoum,
HABDALA, or Habhdalah, a Jewijh Ceremony, practifed among the People, every Sabbath-Day Evening.
Towards the Clofc of the Sabbath, when the Stars be- gin to appear, each Mailer of a Family lights a Torch,
or Flambeau, or, at leaft, a Lamp with two Wicks A
little Box of Spices is prepared, or a Glafs of Wine taken - then finging, or rehearfing a Prayer, and bleiTing the Wine and the Spices, they all fmell them, and after a few Ce- remonies perform 'd about. the Torch, or Lamp, they call a little of the con'ecrated Wine into the Flame; every Body tails; and thus they break up, wiihing each other not good Night, but good Week.
The Word is Hebrew, and literally fignifies Separation : It is fotm'd of b"Q, badal, to feparate, divide; the Ce- remony being look'd upon, as the Divifion or parting of the Sabbath from the reft of the Week. It was cfta- blifh'd to prevent their being too hafty in ending the Sabbath.
HABEAS Corpus, in Law, a Writ, which a Man in- dicted for a Trefpafs before the Juftices of Peace, or in a Court of Franciiife, and imprifoned for it, may have out of the King's Bench, thereby to remove himfelf thither, at his own Cofts, to anfwer the Caufe at the Bar- thereof.
The Order in this Cafe, is, firft to procure a Certiorari, out of the Chancery, dire-fled to the laid Juftices, for re- moving the Indictment into the King's Bench; and upon that to procure this Writ to the Sheriff, for caufing his Body to be brought at a certain Day.
Habeas Corpora, is alfo a Writ, that lays for bringing in a Jury, or fo many of them, as refute to come upon the venire facias, for the Trial of a Caufe brought to Iffue. See Jury, &c.
HABENDUM, a Word of Courfe in a Conveyance. — In every Conveyance are two principal Parts, the Premiffes and the Habendum : The Office of the firft is to ex- prefs the Name of the Grantor, the Grantee, and the Thing granted.
The Habendum is to limit the Eftate, fo that the ge- neral Implication, which, by Conftruction of Law, paffcth in the Premiffes, is by the Habendum controlled and
qualified As in a Leafe to two Perfons; the Habe •idum
to one for Life, alters the general Implication of the Jointenancy in Free-hold, which {hould pafs by the Pre- mises, if the Habendum were nor. See Conveyance.
HABERE facias Sefinam, a Writ Judicial, which lies where a Man hath recovered Lands in the King's-Court - directed to the Sheriff commanding him to give him the Seifin thereof. See Seisin.
- D d d . Thij
