RAB
(p&)
RAG
R.
RA liquid Confonant, and the fevenreenth Letter of the Alphaber. See Letter and Alphabet. ^ The Grammarians hold it a Semi-vowel ; efpecially in the Greek-, where, in common with the other Vowels, it admits an Ai'pirate, &c. tho' whether the Afpirate fliould come before or after it is fome doubt. We find Instan- ces of each.
Thus pe$ the Latins wrote Rheda ; and p*^» the Motions wrote /3fG«&». The Antient Goths, and Teutones, Littleton obferves, pre- fixed h to 7.
The Hebrews allow'ditthe Privilege of a Guttural, that is, they never double it, which yet is done by the Arabs, Greeks, and Latins, &c. See Guttural.
Perfus calls it litter a canina, becaufe the Dogs feem to pro- nounce it in fnarling: Yet it fiiould feem to have had a fofter Sound among the 'Romans, than among us, by its being frequent- ly interpos'd to prevent the Clafhing of Vowels : As in torus from, teffttesj mtrus from «**& murex from /*«*!, mus maris from pw t*">o$ J and this Softneis was fuch as frequently occasioned its being dropt as ufelefs in Writing.
Thus for Hetrufci they frequently wrote Tbufci, and even Tttf- «"; and fcstjiirjum, rurfus, prorfus; fufum rufus, projus.
In effect there was that Agreement between the Sound of the j and r, that as the Romans avoided the doubling of their Confo- nants, 'twas no wonder they here drop'd the r; the s fupplying the place of both. Hence too it came to pafs, that what they at firft pronounced, Afa, Afena, Cafmen ; was afterwards, Ara, Arena, Carmen; and thofe firft named Fufii and Valefii were after- wards call'd Furii and Valerii ; and Cicero tells us, the papirii were firft called papifi ; and even fixes the time when the Change was made, viz. in the Year of Jtaw 41 5. Fefus adds, that olera,pignora, plurima, were antiently olefa, pignofa, plufma.
From the fame foftnefs of the Sound of the r, it came to be ufed indifferendy wirh the / in many Words, e. gr. Latiaris and Latialis, palilia and partita, &cc.
Tho' the r more frequently degenerated into /,- thus Remures became changed into Lemures, inter lego, per lit ceo into Intelligo and pelluceo, frater into fratellus, &c. and the fame is fometimes done between « and r, as areas and aliens, &c.
R, was antiently a Numeral Letter, (ignifying So, according to the Verfe,
Ocloginta dabit tib't R, fquis numerabit.
When a Dafli was added a-rop as IT, it fignified 80 thoufand. The Greek, r, (, fignified an hundred.
R or Re in Medicinal Preicription, ftands for Recipe, take. See Recipe. See alfo Character.
RABATE in Faulconry. A Hawk isfaid to rabate, when by the Motion of the Hand of the Bearer, the Lure, Call, &c. me leaves purfuing her Prey, or Quarry; and recovers the Fill.
Rabate in Commerce. See Rebate.
RABBI, or Rabbin, a Doctor of the Jewifi Law. See Doctor.
The Words Rabbi, and Rabbin, have the fame fignification j yet is there fbme Difference in their Ufe. When we fpeak ab- folutely, and without applying the Term to any proper Name, we fay Rabbin, not Rabbi. Thus, it would be unjuft to attribute to the ancient Rabbins all the Notions of the Modern ones.
On the other Hand, when we prefix the Term to the proper Name of fbme Jewifb Doctor, we fay Rabbi, not Rabbin; as Rabbi Salomon Jarrhi is of this Opinion.
Yet Rabbi having no Plural, we fay the Rabbins. Jehttda Chijug, and Jehuda ben Chabin, are the Authors of two antient Hebrew Grammars.
The Word in its Original 0*1, fignifies Majler.
The modern Rabbins are entitled to a good deal of refpect a- mong the Jews: They have the firft Places in the Synagogues ; they determine all Matters and Controverfics of Religion, and v ery frequently pronounce upon Civil Affairs. They have even a Power to excommunicate the Difobcdient.
They retain a vaft number of fuperftitious Traditions, from the Writings of their PredecefTors ; which they obferve as fcru- puloully as the Law of Mofes. See Tradition. See alfo
- ALMUD.
\\t ■ * ant ' ent R*bbi# s were infinite dealers in Allegories: Their Writings are almoft wholly Allegorical, particularly their Com- ments and Interpretations of die Scripture; See Cabbala.
They had a great number of Rules, and Forms of Interpreting and Quoting, which fome modern Writers fuppofe to have been follow'd by the Apoftles, in their Interpretation, and Quotation of the Prophefies of the Old Teftament, in the New. See Prophecy.
The lofs of thefe Rules Dr. Stanhope, Dr. Jenkins, &c. la- ment, as what in all probability would reconcile the jarrinc Pat- iages in the Old and New Teftament. Surenhufius, Hebrew Pro- fefTor at Amflerdam, imagines he has retrieved thofe Rules from the antient Jcwifli Writers.
The Rabbins, he obferves, interpreted Scripture in fuch a man- ner as to change the litteral Senfe into a more noble and fpiritual Senfe. To this End, he fays they ufed ten ways of quoting and explaining the Old Teflamenc ; inftances of each whereof he gi- ves in the Writings of the Apoftles.
They confift in changing the Points j the Letters; both Let- ters and Points; adding and taking away Letters; tranfpofing Words and Letters; dividing one Word into two; adding Words; changing the Order, <&c. b'ee Quotation.
Rabbeting, iD Carpentry, the planing or cutting of Chan- nels, or Grooves, in Boards. See Plane.
In Ship- Carpentry it fignifies the letting in of the Planks of the Ship into the Keel.
RABBINIST, a Follower of the Doctrine of the Rabbins ; in contradistinction to Caraite. See Caraite.
Pere Simon contends for Rabbanijl or Rabbanite, inftead of Rab- b'mifi; in effect, the former are apparently preferable to the lat- ter; the Word being derived from the Hebrew Rabbamm, which is the Name of the Sect, and which the Jews ufe to diltinguifh their Doctors from thofe of the Caraite Jews.
Rabbmifi, then, fignifies a Jewijb Doctor, who adheres to the Traditions of his Fathers ; not fimply a Rabbin or Doctor ■ for the Caraites who oppofe thofe Traditions, have their Rabbins as well as the other Jews. See Tradition.
RABDOIDES, ■ RABDOLOGY, ' RABDOMANCY,
rRHABDOIDES.
See < Rhabdologtt. £Rhabdomancy.
RABTNET, a fmall piece of Ordnance, between a Falconet and a Bale. Its Dimenftons, &c. See under Cannon.
RACA, or Racha, a Syriac Term, found in the Gofpel of St. Matthew, Ch. v. 22. and prefer v'd in raoit Transitions.
F. Simo?i obferves that the Greek Tranflator of St. Matthews Gofpel retain'd the Syriac Raca which he found in the Original, by reafon it was very common among the Jews. And St. Je- rom, Luther, the Englijh Tranfhtors, thofe of Geneva, Lowvain, Tort Royal, &cc. ftill preferve it in their refpective Languages,
F. Bouhours chufes rather to exprefs the Senfe thereof in a fort of Paraphrafe, thus: He that fays to his Brother, Homme de pea de fens, Man of little undrrfianatng, fliall deferve to be condemn- ed by the Tribunal of the Council, &c.
Moll: Tranflators, except the Englijh, and F. Simon, for Raca write Racha: But the latter feems the belt founded,- all theZ-«- tin Copies having Raca; and all the Greek ones ?#%#* or, with Hef chins, ftt".xM, which is the fame : All, we mean, but St. Ire- nans, and Beta's Copy, now at Cambridge. In effect, the Origin of the Word fliews it mould be Raca; as coming from the Syriac Bp"T, Raca, of the Hebrew pH. rek, empty, fhallow.
RACCOEJRCY, in Heraldry, fignifies the fame as Coupee, that is, cut off, or fhortned; and denotes a Crofs or other ordinary, when it does not extend to the Edges of the Efcutcheon, as they do when abiolutely named, without fuch Distinction. See Coupee.
RACE, in Genealogy, a Lineage, or Extraction continued from Father to Son. See Line .
The Word is formed from the Latin, radix, root ; as intima- ting the root of the Genealogical Tree.
In feveral Orders of Knighthood, as in that of Malta, &c. the Candidates mult prove a Nobility of four Races or Defcents. See Descent.
In fome Republicks the Magistrates are to prove thcmfelves of Plebeian Race, to be qualified.
The French reckon their Kings by Races; as the firft Rate, the fecond Race, the third Race. We alfo fay the Race of the Ottomans, the Arfacides, the Ptolomys, &cc. See Dynastt.
Herviettx obferves that 'tis ufual to put the Female Canary- Bird to the Male Goldfinch, Linnet, or the like, to breed; but, 11 I for
