Y.

The letterYis called the letter of Pythagoras because that philosopher made it the symbol of life. The foot of the letter, he said, represented infancy, and as man gradually rises to the age of reason, he finds two paths set before him, the one leading to good, the other to evil, portrayed by two forks of the letter. The illustration is the device of Jean de Morvilliers (+ 1577), Chancellor of France; the harrow tied to the PythagoreanΥ, arebuson his nameMort-vie-liers—“Death and life united.” The harrow is the symbol of Death, which makes all things equal. (Fig.701.)

Fig. 701. Device of Morvilliers. (The Pythagorean Y.)

Yacca.An ornamental Jamaica wood used for cabinet-making.

Yard(from the Saxongeardorgyrd, fromgyrdan, to enclose). Originally estimated to measure thegirthof a man’s body; until Henry I. decreed that it should be the length of his arm.

Yataghan.A Turkish dagger or scimitar.

Yawl.A man-of-war’s boat, rowed with six oars.

Ychma, Peruv. The name for wild cinnabar among the ancient Peruvians; it was employed by them for painting the body and drawing figures on the face and arms.

Yellow.One of the three primary colours; producing withgreen, blue; and withred, orange. The principal yellow pigments aregamboge(bluish),gold ochre(reddish),yellow ochre,Naples yellow,chrome yellow,lemon yellow,Indian yellow,gall-stone,Roman ochre,Mars yellow,terra di Siena,Italian pink,cadmium yellow, &c.

Yellow, in Christian art, or gold, was the symbol of the sun; of the goodness of God, initiation or marriage, faith or fruitfulness. In a bad sense yellow signifies inconstancy, jealousy, deceit; in this sense it is given to the traitor Judas, who is generally habited in dirty yellow.

Yellow Arsenic.(SeeYellow Orpiment.)

Yellow Flag.Denoting sickness on board of a ship or quarantine.

Yellow Lake.A bright pigment, very susceptible to the action of light or metal. (SeePinks.)

Yellow Metal.A composition, two-thirds copper and one-third zinc.

Yellow Ochre.An argillaceous earth, coloured by admixture of iron. (SeeOchre.)

Yellow Orpiment(auripigmentum). A bright and pure yellow pigment, but not durable, and dries very slowly; called alsoYellow Arsenic.

Yeomanof the Guard. A beef-eater; one of the British sovereign’s state body-guard; below thegentleman-at-arms. Instituted at the coronation of Henry VII. in 1485.

Yew.Taxus baccata.The word is largely used in cabinet-making. The excellence of the wood for making bows led to the trees being planted in churchyards, to preserve them.

Ymaigier.(SeeImagier.)

Ymaigerie,Imagery, Med. (1) Illuminated borders on missals and manuscripts executed by the miniaturists of the Middle Ages. (2) Bas-reliefs and sculptures on wood and stone.

Fig. 702. Yoke. Device of Pope Leo X.

Yoke.A symbolical device assumed by Pope Leo X. in allusion to the text “My yoke is easy,” expressed in the one word of the motto “Suave.” (SeeJugum.) Fig.702.

York Collar.Her. Was formed of alternateSunsandRoses.

York Herald.One of the six Heralds of the College of Arms. (SeeHeralds.)

York Rose.Her. Thewhiterose of the family of York. (See Fig.589.)

Yorkshire Grit.A stone used for polishing marble and engravers’ copper plates.

Ypres Laceis the finest and most costly kind ofValenciennes.

Yu, Chinese. (1) A hard and heavy stone, supposed to be a kind of agate which was used for the ancient musical instrumentKING, which was a kind of harmonicon made of slabs of sonorous stone of different sizes. (2) An ancient name for a curious wind instrument of high antiquity, which is still in use and is now calledcheng. It consists of a number of tubes placed in acalabash, or bowl, and blown into through a long curved tube.

Yucatan.A province of Mexico remarkable for its architectural monuments of a forgotten civilization, described byStephens, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. (SeeMexican Architecture.)

Yufts.A kind of Russia leather, red and soft, with a pleasant smell.

Yule, O. E. Christmas time.

Back to Index Next