Semitic dialects, among which it is distinguished for its richness,
softness, and high degree of development. By the spread of Islam it became
the sole written language and the prevailing speech in all South-Western
Asia and Eastern and Northern Africa, and for a time in Southern Spain, in
Malta, and in Sicily; and it is still used as a learned and sacred language
wherever Islam is spread. Almost a third part of the Persian vocabulary
consists of Arabic words, and there is the same proportion of Arabic in
Turkish. The Arabic language is written in an alphabet of its own, which
has also been adopted in writing Persian, Hindustani, Turkish, &c. As in
all Semitic languages (except the Ethiopic), it is read from right to left.
The vowels are usually omitted in Arabic manuscripts, only the consonants
being written.
Poetry among the Arabs had a very early development, and before the time of
Mahomet poetical contests were held and prizes awarded for the best pieces.
The collection called the _Moallakat_ contains seven pre-Mahommedan poems
by seven authors. Many other poems belonging to the time before Mahomet,
some of equal age with those of the _Moallakat_, are also preserved in
collections. Mahomet gave a new direction to Arab literature. The rules of
faith and life which he laid down were collected by Abu-Bekr, first caliph
after his death, and published by Othman, the third caliph, and constitute
the _Koran_--the Mahommedan Bible. The progress of the Arabs in literature,
the arts and sciences, may be said to have begun with the government of the
caliphs of the family of the Abbassides, A.D. 749, at Bagdad, several of
whom, as Harun al Rashid and Al Mamun, were munificent patrons of learning:
and their example was followed by the Ommiades in Spain. In Spain were
established numerous academies and schools, which were visited by students
from other European countries; and important works were written on
geography, history, philosophy, medicine, physics, mathematics, arithmetic,
geometry, and astronomy. Most of the geography in the Middle Ages is the
work of the Arabs, and their historians since the eighth century have been
very numerous. The philosophy of the Arabs was of Greek origin, and derived
principally from that of Aristotle. Numerous translations of the scientific
works of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers were made, principally by
Christian scholars who resided as physicians at the Courts of the caliphs.
These were diligently studied in Bagdad, Damascus, and Cordova, and, being
translated into Latin, became known in the west of Europe. Of their
philosophical authors the most celebrated are Alfarabi (tenth century), Ibn
Sina or Avicenna (died A.D. 1037), Alghazzali (died 1111), Ibn Roshd or
Averroes (twelfth century), called by pre-eminence The Commentator, &c. In
medicine they excelled all other nations in the Middle Ages, and they are
commonly regarded as the earliest experimenters in chemistry. Their
mathematics and astronomy were based on the works of Greek writers, but the
former they enriched, simplified, and extended. It was by them that algebra
was introduced to the Western peoples, and the Arabic numerals were
similarly introduced. Astronomy they especially cultivated, for which
famous schools and observatories were erected at Bagdad and Cordova. The
_Almagest_ of Ptolemy in an Arabic translation was early a textbook among
them. Alongside of science poetry continued to be cultivated, but after the
ninth or tenth centuries it grew more and more artificial. Among poets were
Abu Nowas, Asmai, Abu Temmam, Motenabbi, Abul-Ala, Busiri, Tograi, and
Hariri. Tales and romances in prose and verse were written. The tales of
fairies, genii, enchanters, and sorcerers in particular passed from the
Arabians to the Western nations, as in _The Thousand and One Nights._ Some
of the books most widely read in the Middle Ages, such as _The Seven Wise
Masters,_ the _Fables of Pilpay_ (or Bidpai), and the _Romance of Antar_
found their way into Europe through the instrumentality of the Arabs. At
the present day Arabic literature is almost confined to the production of
commentaries and scholia, discussions on points of dogma and jurisprudence,
and grammatical works on the classical language. There are a few newspapers
published in Arabic.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Huart, _History of Arabic
Literature;_ R. A. Nicholson, _Literary History of the Arabs._
ARABIAN ARCHITECTURE. See _Moorish Architecture_, _Saracenic Architecture_.
ARABIAN GULF. See _Red Sea_.
ARABIAN NIGHTS, or THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, (Ar. Alf Layla wa-Layla), a
celebrated collection of Eastern tales, based upon an old work, called
_Hazar Afsana_, long current in the East, and supposed to have been derived
by the Arabians from India, through the medium of Persia. They were first
introduced into Europe in the beginning of the eighteenth century by means
of the French translation of Antoine Galland. Of some of them no original
MS. is known to exist; they were taken down by Galland from the oral
communication of a Syrian friend. The story which connects the tales of
_The Thousand and One Nights_ is as follows: The Sultan Shahriyar,
exasperated by the faithlessness of his bride, made a law that every one of
his future wives should be put to death the morning after marriage. At
length one of them, Sheherazade, the generous daughter of the grand-vizier,
succeeded in abolishing the cruel custom. By the charm of her stories the
fair narrator induced the sultan to defer her execution every day till the
dawn of another, by breaking off in the middle of an interesting tale which
she had begun to relate. In the form we possess them these tales belong to
a comparatively late period, though the exact date of their composition is
not known. Lane, who published a translation of a number of the tales, with
valuable notes, is of opinion that they took their present form some time
between 1475 and 1525. Sir Richard Burton's complete English translation
was issued in 16 vols. (1885-8).
ARABIAN SEA, the part of the Indian Ocean between Arabia and India.
ARABIC FIGURES, the characters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0; of Indian
origin, introduced into Europe by the Moors. They did not come into general
use till after the invention of printing.
ARA'BI PASHA, Egyptian soldier and revolutionary leader, born 1839. In
Sept., 1881, he headed a military revolt, and was for a time virtually
dictator of Egypt. Britain interfered, and after a short campaign,
beginning with the bombardment of Alexandria and ending with the defeat of
Arabi at Tel-el-Kebir, he surrendered, and was banished to Ceylon, being
pardoned in 1900. He died in obscurity in Cairo in 1911.
ARABLE LAND, land which is fit for ploughing, and capable of being
cultivated, as distinguished from grass-land, wood-land, common pasture,
mountains, forests, morasses, and waste. In Government returns the term is
applied to land that is actually under regular cultivation. The land
capable of being cultivated amounts in England and Wales to about 25 per
cent, and in Ireland to about 13 per cent. In the course of the last thirty
or forty years there has, however, been a considerable diminution in the
area of land actually cultivated, as a result of large foreign imports of
grain and other agricultural products.
ARABS. The Arabs, as a race, are of middle stature, of a powerful though
slender build, and have a skin of a more or less brownish colour; in towns
and the uplands often almost white. Their features are well cut, the nose
straight, the forehead high. They are naturally active, intelligent, and
courteous; and their character is marked by temperance, bravery, and
hospitality. The first religion of the Arabs, the worship of the stars, was
supplanted by the doctrines of Mahommedanism, which succeeded rapidly in
establishing itself throughout Arabia. Besides the two principal sects of
Islam, the Sunnites and the Shiites, there also exists, in considerable
numbers, a third Mahommedan sect, the Wahabis, which arose in the latter
half of the eighteenth century, and for a time possessed great political
importance in the peninsula. The mode of life of the Arabs is either
nomadic or settled. The nomadic tribes are termed Bedouins (or Bedawins),
and among them are considered to be the Arabs of the purest blood.
ARACACHA, or ARRACACHA (ar-a-kae'cha), a genus of umbelliferous plants of
Southern and Central America. The root of _A. esculenta_ is divided into
several lobes, each of which is about the size of a large carrot. These are
boiled like potatoes and largely eaten in South America.
ARACAN (ar-a-kan'), the most northern division of Lower Burmah, on the Bay
of Bengal; chief town and seaport Akyab. It was ceded to the English in
1826, as a result of the first Burmese war.
ARACARI ([.a]-r[.a]-sae'r[=e]), native name of a genus of brilliant birds
(Pteroglossus) closely allied to the toucans, but generally smaller;
natives of the warm parts of South America.
ARACATI ([.a]-r[.a]-k[.a]-t[=e]'), a Brazilian river-port, State of Ceara,
on the River Jaguaribe, about 10 miles from its mouth. Exports hides and
cotton. Pop. about 10,000.
ARA'CEAE, a nat. ord. of monocotyledonous plants, mostly tropical, having
the genus Arum as the type. Most of the species have tuberous roots
abounding in starch, which forms a wholesome food after the acrid juice has
been washed out. See _Arum_, _Caladium_, _Dumb-cane_.
ARACHIS (ar'a-kis), a genus of leguminous plants much cultivated in warm
climates, and esteemed a valuable article of food. The most remarkable
feature of the genus is that when the flower falls the stalk supporting the
small undeveloped fruit lengthens, and bending towards the ground pushes
the fruit into the ground, when it begins to enlarge and ripen. The pod of
_A. hypogoea_ (popularly called ground, earth, or pea nut) is of a
pale-yellow colour, and contains two seeds the size of a hazel-nut, in
flavour sweet as almonds, and yielding when pressed an excellent oil.
ARACHNIDA (a-rak'ni-da; Gr. _arachn[=e]_, a spider), a class of Arthropoda
or higher Annulose animals including the Spiders, Scorpions, Mites, Ticks,
&c. They have the body divided into a number of segments or _somites_, some
of which have always articulated appendages (limbs, &c.). There is often a
pair of nervous ganglia in each somite, although in some forms (as spiders)
the nervous system becomes modified and concentrated. They are oviparous
and somewhat resemble insects, but they have a united head and thorax, and
do not undergo a metamorphosis similar to insects. They respire by
tracheae, by pulmonary sacs, or by the skin.
AR'ACK, or AR'RACK, a spirituous liquor manufactured in the East Indies
from a great variety of substances. It is often distilled from fermented
rice, or it may be distilled from the juice of the coco-nut and other
palms. Pure arack is clear and transparent, of a yellowish or straw colour,
and with a peculiar but agreeable taste and smell; it contains at least 52
to 54 per cent of alcohol.
ARAD (o'rod), a town of the former kingdom of Hungary, on the Maros, 30
miles north of Temeswar, divided by the river into O (Old) Arad and Uj
(New) Arad, connected by a bridge; it has a fortress, and is an important
railway centre, with a large trade and manufactures. The town is now within
the confines of Roumania, Uj Arad being called Arodul Neo. Population of
Old and New Arad together, 63,166.
AR'ADUS (now RUAD), an inlet about a mile in circumference lying 2 miles
off the Syrian coast, 35 miles N. of Tripolis; the site of the Phoenician
stronghold Arvad, a city second only to Tyre and Sidon; now occupied by
about 3000 people, mainly fishermen.
ARAFAT', or JEBEL ER RAHMEH ('Mountain of Mercy'), a hill in Arabia, about
200 feet high, with stone steps reaching to the summit, 15 miles south-east
of Mecca; one of the principal objects of pilgrimage among Mahommedans, who
say that it was the place where Adam first received his wife Eve after they
had been expelled from Paradise and separated from each other 120 years. A
sermon delivered on the mount constitutes one great ceremony of the _Hajj_;
or pilgrimage to Mecca, and entitles the hearer to the name and privileges
of a _Hajji_ or pilgrim.
AR'AGO, Dominique Francois, a French physicist, born in 1786, died at Paris
in 1853. After studying in the Polytechnic School at Paris, he was
appointed a secretary of the Bureau des Longitudes. In 1806 he was
associated with Biot in completing in Spain the measurements of Delambre
and Mechain to obtain an arc of the meridian. Before he got back to France
he had been shipwrecked and narrowly escaped being enslaved at Algiers. In
1809 he was elected to the Academy of Sciences and appointed a professor at
the Polytechnic School. He distinguished himself by his researches in the
polarization of light, galvanism, magnetism, astronomy, &c. His discovery
of the magnetic properties of substances devoid of iron, made known to the
Academy of Sciences in 1824, procured him the Copley medal of the Royal
Society of London in 1825. A further consideration of the same subject led
to the equally remarkable discovery of the production of magnetism by
electricity. He took part in the revolution of 1848, and held the office of
Minister of War and Marine in the provisional Government. At the _coup
d'etat_ of Dec., 1852, he refused to take the oath to the Government of
Louis Napoleon, but the oath was not pressed. His works, which were
posthumously collected and published, consist, besides his _Astronomie
Populaire_, chiefly of contributions to learned societies, and biographical
notices (_eloges_) of deceased members of the Academy of Sciences.
ARAGO, Emmanuel, son of Dominique Francois, French advocate and politician,
was born at Paris in 1812; called to the bar 1837; took part in the
revolution of 1848; renounced politics after the _coup d'etat_ of Dec.,
1852, but continued to practise at the bar. After the fall of the Empire he
again took a prominent part in public affairs, and held several important
offices. He is author of a volume of poems and many theatrical pieces. He
died in 1896.
ARAGO, Etienne, brother of Dominique Arago, born 1802, died 1892. He
founded the journals _La Reforme_ and _Le Figaro_; was director of the
Theatre du Vaudeville, 1829; took part in the revolution of 1848; was
condemned to transportation, 1849; fled from France, but returned in 1859;
was mayor of Paris during the Franco-Prussian war, and appointed archivist
to the Ecole des Beaux Arts, 1878. He was author of upwards of 100 dramas,
_La Vie de Moliere,_ _Les Bleus et les Blancs_, and other works.
ARAGON', KINGDOM OF, a former province or kingdom of Spain, now divided
into three provinces of Teruel, Huesca, and Saragossa; bounded on the N. by
the Pyrenees, N.W. by Navarre, W. by Castile, S. by Valencia, and E. by
Catalonia; length about 190 miles, average breadth 90 miles; area, 18,298
sq. miles. It was governed by its own monarchs until the union with Castile
on the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella (1469).
ARAGO'NA, a town in Sicily, 8 miles N.N.E. of Girgenti. Pop. 16,000. In the
neighbourhood is the mud volcano of Macculuba.
ARAGONITE, a mineral formed of calcium carbonate crystallized in the
rhombic system; specific gravity 2.94 (compare _Calcite_). Aragonite passes
into calcite in the course of geological time, but is important as the
mineral precipitated to form the oolitic limestones of warm seas, and from
being the material of most molluscan shells. It was first found in Aragon.
ARAGUAYA ([.a]-r[.a]-gw[=i]'[.a]), a Brazilian river, principal affluent of
the Tocantins; rises about the 18th degree of S. lat.; in its course
northwards forms the boundary between the two States of Matto Grosso and
Goyaz, and falls into the Tocantins near lat. 6deg S.; length, about 1300
miles, of which over 1000 are navigable.
A'RAL, a salt-water lake in Asia, in Russian territory, about 150 miles W.
of the Caspian Sea, between 43deg 42' and 46deg 44' N. lat., and 58deg 18'
and 61deg 46' E. long.; length 270 miles, breadth 165; area, 26,650 sq.
miles (or not much smaller than Scotland). It stands 240 feet above the
level of the Caspian, and 160 feet above the Mediterranean. It receives the
Amu Darya or Oxus and the Syr Darya or Jaxartes, and contains a multitude
of sturgeon and other fish. It is encircled by desert sandy tracts, and its
shores are without harbours. It has no outlet. The Aral contains a large
number of small islands; steamers have been placed on it by the Russians.
ARA'LIA, a genus of plants with small flowers arranged in umbels and
succulent berries, the type of the nat. ord. Araliaceae, which is nearly
related to the Umbelliferae, but the species are of a more shrubby habit.
They are natives chiefly of tropical or sub-tropical countries, and in
Britain are represented by the ivy; ginseng belongs to the order. From the
pith of _A. papyrif[)e]ra_ is obtained the Chinese rice-paper.
A'RAM, Eugene, a self-taught scholar whose unhappy fate has been made the
subject of a ballad by Hood and a romance by Lord Lytton, was born in
Yorkshire, 1704, executed for murder, 1759. In 1734 he set up a school at
Knaresborough. About 1745 a shoemaker of that place, named Daniel Clarke,
was suddenly missing under suspicious circumstances; and no light was
thrown on the matter till full thirteen years afterwards, when an
expression dropped by one Richard Houseman, respecting the discovery of a
skeleton supposed to be Clarke's, caused him to be taken into custody. From
his confession an order was issued for the apprehension of Aram, who had
long quitted Yorkshire, and was at the time acting as usher at the
grammar-school at Lynn. He was brought to trial on 3rd Aug., 1759, at York,
where, notwithstanding an able and eloquent defence which he made before
the court, he was convicted of the murder of Clarke, and sentenced to
death. He was among the first to recognize the affinity of the Celtic to
the other European languages, and under favourable circumstances might have
done some valuable work in philological science.--Cf. W. Bristow, _The
Genuine Account of the Life and Trial of Eugene Aram_.
ARAMAE'AN, or ARAMAIC. See _Semitic Languages_, _Syriac_.
AR'AN, an island lying off the W. coast of Donegal, Ireland, has an area of
4335 acres, a lighthouse, and a pop. of 1308, chiefly engaged in
fishing.--Also called _North Island of Aran_, or _Arranmore_.
ARANE'IDAE, the spider family.
ARAN ISLANDS, or SOUTH ISLANDS OF ARAN, three islands at the mouth of
Galway Bay, off the W. coast of Ireland. The largest, Aranmore or
Inishmore, comprises 7635 acres, and has a pop. of 2592; the next,
Inishmaan, 2252 acres, pop. 473; and the least, Inishere, 1400 acres, pop.
456. They are remarkable for a number of architectural remains of a very
early date. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in agriculture and fishing.
ARANJUEZ ([.a]-r[.a]n-_h_[u:]-eth'), a small town and palace in Spain, 30
miles from Madrid, with splendid gardens laid out by Philip II. The Court
used to reside here from Easter till the close of June, when the number of
people increased from 4000 to 20,000. It has a wireless station. Pop.
12,000.
ARANY (o-ron'y), Janos, Hungarian poet, born 1817, died 1882. He was for
some time a strolling player, but became professor of Latin at the Normal
School of Szalonta, professor of Hungarian literature at Nagy Koeroes, and
secretary of the Hungarian Academy. Author of _The Lost Constitution_,
_Katalin_, and a series of three connected narrative poems on the fortunes
of Toldi.
ARAP'AHOES, a tribe of American Indians located near the head-waters of the
Arkansas and Platte Rivers. They number in all about 2000.
ARAPAIMA (a-ra-p[=i]'ma), a genus of South American fresh-water fishes,
ord. Physostomi, family Osteoglossidae, one species of which (_A. gigas_)
grows to the length of 15 or 16 feet, and forms a valuable article of food
in Brazil and Guiana. It is covered with large bony scales, and has a bare
and bony head.
AR'ARAT, a celebrated mountain in Armenia, an isolated volcanic mass
showing two separate cones known as the Great and Little Ararat, resting on
a common base and separated by a deep intervening depression. The
elevations are: Great Ararat, 16,916 feet; Little Ararat, 12,840 feet; the
connecting ridge, 8780 feet. Vegetation extends to 14,200 feet, which marks
the snow-line. According to the Bible Mount Ararat was the resting-place of
the Ark when the waters of the Flood abated.
ARARO'BA, or ARRAROBA, the powdered bark of _And[=i]ra arar[=o]ba_. See
_Andira_.
A'RAS (the ancient ARAXES), a river of Asia Minor, rising S. of Erzerum at
the foot of the Bingol-dagh; it flows for some miles through South
Caucasia, turning eastwards to the Erivan plain N. of Ararat. It then
sweeps in a semi-circle mostly between Caucasia and Persia round to its
confluence with the Kur, 60 miles from its mouth in the Caspian; length,
500 miles.
ARA'TUS, a Greek poet, born at Soli in Cilicia; lived about 270 B.C.; was a
favourite of Ptolemy Philadelphus. His poem _Phaenomena_ is a version of a
prose work on astronomy by Eudoxus; one verse of it is quoted by St. Paul
in his address to the Athenians (_Acts_, xvii, 28).
ARA'TUS OF SICYON, a statesman of ancient Greece, born 272 B.C. In 251 B.C.
he overthrew the tyrant of Sicyon and joined that city to the Achaean
League, which he greatly extended. He accepted the aid of Antigonus Doson,
King of Macedon, against the Spartans, and became in time little more than
the adviser of the Macedonian king, who had now made the League dependent
on himself. He is said to have been poisoned by Philip V of Macedon, 213
B.C.
ARAUCA'NIANS, a South American native race in the southern part of Chile,
occupying a territory stretching from about 37deg to 40deg of S. lat. They
are warlike and more civilized than many of the native races of S. America,
and maintained almost unceasing war with the Spaniards from 1537 to 1773,
when their independence was recognized by Spain, though their territory was
much curtailed. Their early contests with the Spaniards were celebrated in
Ercilla's Spanish poem _Araucana_. With the Republic of Chile they were
long at feud, and in 1861 had at their head a French adventurer named
Antoine de Tounens, who claimed the title of king. In 1882 they submitted
to Chile. The Chilian province of Arauco receives its name from them.
[Illustration: Chile pine (_Araucaria imbric[=a]ta_)]
ARAUCA'RIA, a genus of trees of the coniferous or pine order, indigenous to
Australasia and South America. The species are large evergreen trees with
pretty large, stiff, flattened, and generally imbricated leaves,
verticillate spreading branches, and bearing large cones, each scale having
a single large seed. The species _A. imbric[=a]ta_ (the Chile pine or
monkey-puzzle), with hard, sharp, pointed leaves, was introduced into
Britain in 1796. It is a native of the mountains of Southern Chile, where
it forms vast forests and yields a hard durable wood. Its seeds are eaten
when roasted. The Moreton Bay pine of New South Wales (_A. Cunninghamii_)
supplies a valuable timber used in house and boat building, in making
furniture, and in other carpenter work. A species, _A. excelsa_, or Norfolk
Island pine, abounds in several of the South Sea Islands, where it attains
a height of 220 feet with a circumference of 30 feet, and is described as
one of the most beautiful of trees. Its foliage is light and graceful, and
quite unlike that of _A. imbricata_, having nothing of its stiff formality.
Its timber is of some value, being white, tough, and close-grained.
ARAU'CO, a province of Chile, named from the Araucanian Indians; area, 2189
sq. miles; pop. 73,260; capital, Lebu.
ARAVAL'LI HILLS, a range of Indian mountains running N.E. and S.W. across
the Rajputana country, which they separate into two natural
divisions--desert plains on the N.W. and fertile lands on the S.E.; highest
point, Mount Abu (5653 feet).
ARAXES. See _Aras_.