Chapter 22

See J. Dobrovský,Geschichte der böhmischen Sprache(1818), andLehrgebäude der böhmischen Sprache(1819); J. Blahoslav,Grammatika Česká, printed from MS. (1867); Lippert,Social-Geschichte Böhmens(1896); Gebauer,Slovník Staročesky(Dictionary of the ancient Czech language, 1903); I. Herzer,Böhmisch-deutsches Wörterbuch(Prague, 1901, &c.); Coufal and Zába,Slovník Česko-latinský a Latinsko-český(Prague, 1904, &c.), andHistoricka Uluonice Jazyka českéha(Historical grammar of the Czech language, 1904); Morfill,Grammar of the Bohemian or Čech Language(1899); Bourlier,Les Tchèques(1897).

(L.)

1For the pronunciation of these see the footnote at the beginning of the articleBohemia.

CZENSTOCHOWA,orChenstokhov, a town of Russian Poland, in the government of Piotrkow, on the left bank of the Warta (Warthe), 143 m. S.W. of Warsaw, on the railway between that city and Cracow. Pop. (1900) 53,650. Here is a celebrated monastery crowning the steep eminence called Yaznagora or Klarenberg. It was founded by King Vladislaus of the house of Jagiello and was at one time fabulously wealthy. In 1430 it was attacked and plundered by the Hussites; in 1655, and again in 1705, it bravely resisted the Swedes; but in 1772 it was forced to capitulate to the Russians, and in 1793 to the Prussians. The fortifications, which had been built from 1500 onwards, were razed in 1813. This monastery, which is occupied by monks of the order of Paul the Hermit, contains over the altar in its church a painted image of the Virgin, traditionally believed to have been painted by St Luke, and visited annually by throngs (400,000) of pilgrims from all over Russia, eastern Prussia and other neighbouring regions. The inhabitants of the town manufacture cotton, cloth and paper, and do a lively business in rosaries, images, scapularies and so forth.

CZERNOWITZ(Rum.Cernautzi), the capital of the Austrian duchy of Bukovina, 420 m. E. of Vienna and 164 m. S.E. of Lemberg by rail. Pop. (1900) 69,619. It is picturesquely situated on a height above the right bank of the river Pruth, which is crossed here by two bridges, of which one is a railway bridge. Czernowitz is a clean, pleasant town of recent date, and is the seat of the Greek Orthodox archbishop or metropolitan of Bukovina. The principal buildings include the Greek Orthodox cathedral, finished in 1864 after the model of the church of St Isaac at St Petersburg; the Armenian church, in a mixed Gothic and Renaissance style, consecrated in 1875; a handsome new Jesuit church, and a new synagogue in Moorish style, built in 1877. The most conspicuous building of the town is the Episcopal palace, in Byzantine style, built in 1864-1875, which is adorned with a high tower and possesses a magnificent reception hall. In one of the public squares stands the Austrian monument, executed by Pekary and erected in 1875 to commemorate the centenary of Austria’s possession of Bukovina. It consists of a marble statue of Austria erected on a pedestal of green Carpathian sandstone. The Francis Joseph University, also opened in 1875, had 50 lecturers and over 500 students in 1901. The language of instruction is German, and it possesses three faculties: theology, law and philosophy. The industry is not very developed and consists chiefly in corn-milling and brewing. An active trade is carried on in agricultural produce, wood, wool, cattle and spirits. Czernowitz has a mixed population, which consists of Germans, Ruthenians, Rumanians, Poles, Jews, Armenians and Gypsies. The town presents, therefore, a cosmopolitan and on market days a very varied appearance, when side by side with people turned out in the latest fashions from Paris or Vienna, we meet peasants of various nationalities, attired in their national costume, intermingled with very scantily-clad Gypsies.

On the opposite bank of the Pruth, at a very little distance to the N., is situated the town of Sadagora (pop. 4512, mostly Jews), where a famous cattle fair takes place every year.

Czernowitz was at the time of the Austrian occupation (1775) an unimportant village. It was created a town in 1786, and at the beginning of the 19th century it numbered only 5000 inhabitants.

CZERNY, KARL(1791-1857), Austrian pianist and composer, was born at Vienna on the 21st of February 1791. His father, who was a teacher of the piano, trained him for that instrument from an early age with such success that he performed in public at the age of nine, and commenced his own career as a teacher at fourteen. He was brought under the notice of Beethoven, and was his pupil in the sense in which the great master had pupils. It is perhaps his greatest claim to distinction as a performer that he was selected to be the first to play Beethoven’s celebrated Emperor concerto in public. He soon became the most popular teacher of his instrument in a capital which abounded in pianists of the first rank. Among his pupils he numbered Liszt, Theodor Döhler (1814-1843) and many others who afterwards became famous. As a composer he was prolific to an astonishing degree, considering the other demands on his time. His works, which included every class of composition, numbered 849 at the time of his death. Comparatively few of them possess high merit, and none is the production of genius. He had considerable skill in devising variations for the piano of the display type, and in this and other ways helped to develop the executive power which in the modern school of pianoforte playing seems to have reached the limits of the possible. His various books of exercises, elementary and advanced, of which the best known are theÉtudes de la vélocité, have probably had a wider circulation than any other works of their class. To the theory of music he contributed a translation of Reicha’sTraité de composition, and a work entitledUmriss der ganzen Musikgeschichte. Czerny died on the 15th of July 1857 at Vienna. Having no family, he left his fortune, which was considerable, to the Vienna Conservatorium and various benevolent institutions.

DThe fourth letter in the English alphabet occupies the same position in the Latin, Greek and Phoenician alphabets, which represent the preceding stages in its history. The Phoenician nameDalethis represented by the GreekDelta. In form D has varied throughout its career comparatively little. In the earliest Phoenician it iswith slight variations; in most Greek dialectswhich has been adopted as the Greek literary form, but in others ase.g.the earliest Atticor. The form with the rounded back, which has passed from Latin into the languages of western Europe, was borrowed from the Greeks of S.W. Italy, but is widely spread also amongst the peoples of the Peloponnese and of northern Greece. It arises from a form likewhen the sides which meet to the right are written or engraved at one stroke. From a very early period one side of the triangle was often prolonged, thus producing a formwhich is characteristic of Aramaic from 800B.C.In Greek this was avoided because of the likelihood of its confusion with, the oldest form of the symbol forr, but in the alphabets of Italy—which were borrowed from Etruscan—this confusion actually takes place. Etruscan had no sound corresponding to the symbol D (in inscriptions written from right to left,), and hence used it as a by-form for, the symbol forr. The Oscans and Umbrians took it over in this value, but having the sound d they used for it the symbol forr(in Umbrian,in Oscan).

The sound which D represents is the voiced dental corresponding to the unvoicedt. The Englishd, however, is not a true dental, but is really pronounced by placing the tongue against the sockets of the teeth, not the teeth themselves. It thus differs from thedof French and German, and in phonetic terminology is called an alveolar. In the languages of India where both true dentals and alveolars are found, the Englishdis represented by the alveolar symbol (transliteratedḍ). Etymologically in genuine English wordsdrepresents in most casesdhof the original Indo-European language, but in some cases an originalt. In many languagesddevelops an aspirate after it, and thisdhbecomes then a voiced spirant (ð), the initial sound ofthereandthat. This has occurred widely in Semitic, and is found also in languages like modern Greek, where δ, except after ν, is always spirant,δέν(=not) being pronounced like Englishthen. As the mouth position forldiffers from that fordonly by the breath being allowed to escape past one or both sides of the tongue, confusion has arisen in many languages betweendandl, the best-known being cases like the Latinlacrimaas compared with the Greekδάκ-ρυ. The Englishtearand the forms of other languages show thatdand notlis the more original sound. Between vowels in the ancient Umbriandpassed into a sound which was transliterated in the Latin alphabet byrs; this was probably a sibilantr, like the Bohemianř. In many languages it is unvoiced at the end of words, thus becoming almost or altogether identical witht. As an abbreviation it is used in Latin for thepraenomenDecimus, and under the empire for the titleDivusof certain deceased emperors. As a Roman numeral (= 500) it is only the half of the old symbol(= 1000); this was itself the old form of the Greek φ, which was useless in Latin as that language had no sound identical with the Greek φ.

(P. Gi.)

DACCA,a city of British India, giving its name to a district and division of Eastern Bengal and Assam. It was made the capital of that province on its creation in October 1905. The city is 254 m. N.E. by E. of Calcutta, on an old channel of the Ganges. Railway station, 10 m. from the terminus of the river steamers at Narayanganj. The area is about 8 sq. m. The population in 1901 was 90,542. The ruins of the English factory, St Thomas’s church, and the houses of the European residents lie along the river banks. Of the old fort erected by Islam Khan, who in 1608 was appointed nawab of Bengal, and removed his capital from Rajmahal to Dacca, no vestige remains; but the jail is built on a portion of its site. The principal Mahommedan public buildings, erected by subsequent governors and now in ruins, are the Katra and the Lal-bagh palace—the former built by Sultan Mahommed Shuja in 1645, in front of thechaukor market place. Its extensive front faced the river, and had a lofty central gateway, flanked by smaller entrances, and by two octagonal towers rising to some height above the body of the building. The Lal-bagh palace was commenced by Azam Shah, the third son of the emperor Aurangzeb. It originally stood close to the Buriganga river; but the channel has shifted its course, and there is now an intervening space covered with trees between it and the river. The walls on the western side, and the terrace and battlement towards the river, are of a considerable height, and present a commanding aspect from the water. These outworks, with a few gateways, the audience hall and the baths, were the only parts of the building that survived in 1840. Since then their dilapidation has rapidly advanced; but even in ruin they show the extensive and magnificent scale on which this princely residence was originally designed. It appears never to have been completed; and when Jean Baptiste Tavernier visited Dacca (c.1666), the nawab was residing in a temporary wooden building in its court. The English factory was built about that year. The central part of the old factory continued to be used as a court-house till the 19th century, but owing to its ruinous state it was pulled down in 1829 or 1830; in 1840 the only portion that remained was the outward wall. The French and Dutch factories were taken possession of by the English in the years 1778 and 1781 respectively. In the mutiny of 1857 two companies of the 73rd Native Infantry which were stationed in the town joined in the revolt, but were overpowered by a small European force and dispersed. The city still shows some signs of its former magnificence. The famous manufacture of fine muslins is almost extinct, but the carving of shells, carried on from ancient times, is an important industry in the city. There are a Government college, a collegiate school and an unaided Hindu college. There is a large settlement of mixed Portuguese descent, known as Feringhis. Many of the public buildings, including the college, suffered severely from the earthquake of the 12th of June 1897; and great damage was done by tornadoes in April of 1888 and 1902.

The district of Dacca comprises an area of 2782 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 2,649,522, showing an increase of 11% in the decade. The district consists of a vast level plain, divided into two sections by the Dhaleswari river. The northern part, again intersected by the Lakshmia river, contains the city of Dacca, and as a rule lies well above flood-level.

Dacca is watered by a network of rivers and streams, ten of which are navigable throughout the year by native cargo boats of four tons burthen. Among them are the Meghna, the Ganges or Padma, the Lakshmia, a branch of the Brahmaputra, the Jamuna, or main stream of the Brahmaputra, the Mendi-Khali, a large branch of the Meghna, the Dhaleswari, an offshoot of the Jamuna, the Ghazi-khali and the Buriganga. The soil is composed of red ferruginouskankar, with a stratum of clay in the more elevated parts, covered by a thin layer of vegetable mould, or by recent alluvial deposits. The scenery along the Lakshmia is very beautiful, the banks being high and wooded. About 20 m. north of Dacca city, small ridges are met with in the Madhupur jungle, stretching into Mymensingh district. These hills, however, are mere mounds of from 20 to 40 ft. high, composed of red soil containing a considerable quantity of iron ore; and the whole tract is for the most part unproductive. Towards the city the red soil is intersected by creeks and morasses, whose margins yield crops of rice, mustard andtilseed; while to the east of the town, a broad, alluvial, well-cultivated plain reaches as far as the junction of the Dhaleswari and Lakshmia rivers. The country lying to the south of the Dhaleswari is the mostfertile part of the district. It consists entirely of rich alluvial soil, annually inundated to a depth varying from 2 to 14 ft. of water. The villages are built on artificial mounds of earth, so as to raise them above the flood-level.

The wild animals found in the district comprise a few tigers, leopards and wild elephants, deer, wild pig, porcupines, jackals, foxes, hares, otters, &c. The green monkey is very common; porpoises abound in the large rivers. The manufactures consist of weaving, embroidery, gold and silver work, shell-carving and pottery. The weaving industry and the manufacture of fine Dacca muslins have greatly fallen off, owing to the competition of European piece goods. Forty different kinds of cloth were formerly manufactured in this district, the bulk of which during many years was made from English twist, country thread being used only for the finest muslins. It is said that, in the time of the emperor Jahangir, a piece of muslin, 15 ft. by 3, could be manufactured, weighing only 900 grains, its value being £40. In 1840 the finest cloth that could be made of the above dimensions weighed about 1600 grains, and was worth £10. Since then the manufacture has still further decayed, and the finer kinds are not now made at all except to order. The district is traversed by a line of the Eastern Bengal railway, but most of the traffic is still conducted by water. It is a centre of the jute trade.

The division of Dacca occupies the delta of the Brahmaputra, where it joins the main stream of the Ganges. It consists of the four districts of Dacca, Mymensingh, Faridpur and Backergunge. Its area is 15,837 sq. m. Its population in 1901 was 10,793,988.

DACE,Dare, orDart(Leuciscus vulgaris, orL. dobula), a fresh-water fish belonging to the familyCyprinidae. It is an inhabitant of the rivers and streams of Europe north of the Alps, but it is most abundant in those of France and Germany. It prefers clear streams flowing over a gravelly bottom, and deep, still water, keeping close to the bottom in winter but disporting itself near the surface in the sunshine of summer. It is preyed upon by the larger predaceous fishes of fresh waters, and owing to its silvery appearance is a favourite bait in pike-fishing. The dace is a lively, active fish, of gregarious habits, and exceedingly prolific, depositing its eggs in May and June at the roots of aquatic plants or in the gravelly beds of the streams it frequents. Its flesh is wholesome, but is not held in much estimation. In appearance it closely resembles the roach, usually attaining a length of 8 or 9 in., with the head and back of a dusky blue colour and the sides of a shining silvery aspect, with numerous dark lines running along the course of the scales. The ventral and anal fins are white, tinged with pale red; and the dorsal, pectoral and caudal tipped with black. The dace feeds on worms, insects, insect-larvae, and also on vegetable matter. It is abundant in many of the streams of the south of England, but is unknown in Scotland and Ireland. In America the name of dace is also applied to members of other genera of the family; the “horned dace” (Semnotilus atromaculatus) is a well-known variety.

DACH, SIMON(1605-1659), German lyrical poet, was born at Memel in East Prussia on the 29th of July 1605. Although brought up in humble circumstances, he received a careful education in the classical schools of Königsberg, Wittenberg and Magdeburg, and entered the university of Königsberg in 1626 as a student of theology and philosophy. After taking his degree, he was appointed in 1633Kollaborator(teacher) and in 1636 co-rector of the Domschule (cathedral school) in that city. In 1639 he received the chair of poetry at the university of Königsberg, which he occupied until his death on the 15th of April 1659. In Königsberg he entered into close relations with Heinrich Albert (1604-1651), Robert Roberthin (1600-1648) and Sibylla Schwarz (1621-1638), and with them formed the so-calledKönigsberger Dictergruppe. He sang the praises of the house of the electors of Brandenburg in a collection of poems entitledKurbrandenburgische Rose, Adler, Löwe und Scepter(1661), and also produced many occasional poems, several of which became popular; the most famous of them isAnke von Tharaw öss, de my geföllt(rendered by Herder into modern German asÄnnchen von Tharau), composed in 1637 in honour of the marriage of a friend. Among his hymns, many of which are of great beauty, are the following:Ich bin ja, Herr, in deiner Macht,Ich bin bei Gott in Gnaden durch Christi Blut und Tod, andO, wie selig seid ihr boch, ihr Frommen.

Editions of Dach’s poems have been published by W. Müller (1823), by H. Österley (for the StuttgartLiterarischer Verein, 1876); also selections by the same editor (1876), and in Kürschner’sDeutsche Nationalliteratur(1883). See especially the introductions to Österley’s editions; also H. Stiehler,Simon Dach, sein Leben und seine ausgewählte Dichtungen(1896).

DACIA,in ancient geography, the land of the Daci, a large district of central Europe, bounded on the N. by the Carpathians, on the S. by the Danube, on the W. by the Pathissus (Theiss), on the E. by the Tyras (Dniester), thus corresponding in the main to the modern Rumania and Transylvania. Towards the west it may originally have extended as far as the Danube where it runs from north to south at Waitzen (Vacz), while on the other hand Ptolemy puts its eastern boundary as far back as the Hierasus (Sereth). The inhabitants of this district were a Thracian stock, originally calledΔᾶοι, a name which after the 4th centuryB.C.gave place toΔακοί. Of the other Thracian tribes the Getae (q.v.) were most akin to them in language and manners; by the Greeks the Dacians were usually called Getae, by the Romans Daci.ΔᾶοςandΓέτα(Davus, Geta) were common as names of slaves in Attic comedy and in the adaptations of Plautus and Terence.

The Dacians had attained a considerable degree of civilization when they first became known to the Romans. They believed in the immortality of the soul, and regarded death as merely a change of country (μετοικίζεσθαι). Their chief priest held a prominent position as the representative of the deity upon earth; he was the king’s chief adviser and his decisions were accepted as final. They were divided into two classes—an aristocracy and a proletariate. The first alone had the right to cover their heads and wore a felt hat (hencetarabostesei=πιλοφόροι,pileati); they formed a privileged class, and were the predecessors of the Rumanian boyars. The second class, who comprised the rank and file of the army, the peasants and artisans, wore their hair long (κομηταί,capillati). They dwelt in wooden huts surrounded by palisades, but in later times, aided by Roman architects, built walled strongholds and conical stone towers. Their chief occupations were agriculture and cattle breeding; horses were mainly used as draught animals. They also worked the gold and silver mines of Transylvania, and carried on a considerable outside trade, as is shown by the number of foreign coins found in the country.

A kingdom of Dacia was in existence at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd centuryB.C.under a king Oroles. Conflicts with the Bastarnae and the Romans (112-109, 74), against whom they had assisted the Scordisci and Dardani, had greatly weakened the resources of the Dacians. Under Burbista (Boerebista), a contemporary of Caesar, who thoroughly reorganized the army and raised the moral standard of the people, the limits of the kingdom were extended; the Bastarnae and Boii were conquered, and even Greek towns (Olbia, Apollonia) on the Euxine fell into his hands. Indeed the Dacians appeared so formidable that Caesar contemplated an expedition against them, which was prevented by his death. About the same time Burbista was murdered, and the kingdom was divided into four (or five) parts under separate rulers. One of these was Cotiso, whose daughter Augustus is said to have desired to marry and to whom he betrothed his own five-year-old daughter Julia. He is well known from the line in Horace (“Occidit Daci Cotisonis agmen,”Odes, iii. 8. 18), which, as the ode was written on the 1st of March 29, probably refers to the campaign of Marcus Crassus (30-28), not to that of Cornelius Lentulus, who was not consul till 18. The Dacians are often mentioned under Augustus, according to whom they were compelled to recognize the Roman supremacy. But they were by no means subdued, and in later times seized every opportunity of crossing the frozen Danube and ravaging the province of Moesia. FromA.D.85 to 89 the Dacians were engaged in two wars with the Romans, under Duras or Diurpaneus, and the great Decebalus, who ruled from 86-87to 107. After two severe reverses, the Romans, under Tettius Julianus, gained a signal advantage, but were obliged to make peace owing to the defeat of Domitian by the Marcomanni. Decebalus restored the arms he had taken and some of the prisoners and received the crown from Domitian’s hands, an apparent acknowledgment of Roman suzerainty. But the Dacians were really left independent, as is shown by the fact that Domitian agreed to purchase immunity from further Dacian inroads by the payment of an annual tribute.

To put an end to this disgraceful arrangement, Trajan resolved to crush the Dacians once and for all. The result of his first campaign (101-102) was the occupation of the Dacian capital Sarmizegethusa (Várhely) and the surrounding country; of the second (105-107), the suicide of Decebalus, the conquest of the whole kingdom and its conversion into a Roman province. The history of the war is given in Dio Cassius, but the best commentary upon it is the famous column of Trajan. According to Marquardt, the boundaries of the province were the Tibiscus (Temes) on the W., the Carpathians on the N., the Tyras on the E., and the Danube on the S., but Brandis (in Pauly-Wissowa’sRealencyclopädie) maintains that it did not extend farther eastwards than the river Olt (Aluta)—the country beyond belonging to lower Moesia—and not so far as the Theiss westwards, being thus limited to Transylvania and Little Walachia. It was under a governor of praetorian rank, and the legio xiii.geminawith numerous auxiliaries had their fixed quarters in the province. To make up for the ravages caused by the recent wars colonists were imported to cultivate the land and work the mines, and the old inhabitants gradually returned. Forts were built as a protection against the incursions of the surrounding barbarians, and three great military roads were constructed to unite the chief towns, while a fourth, named after Trajan, traversed the Carpathians and entered Transylvania by the Roteturm pass. The two chief towns were Sarmizegethusa (afterwards Ulpia Trajana) and Apulum (Karlsburg). With the religion the Dacians also adopted the language of the conquerors, and modern Rumanian is full of Latin words easily recognizable.

In 129, under Hadrian, Dacia was divided into DaciaSuperiorandInferior, the former comprising Transylvania, the latter Little Walachia, with procurators, probably both under the same praetorian legate (according to Brandis, the procurator of Daciainferiorwas independent, but see A. Domaszewski inRheinisches Museum, xlviii., 1893). Marcus Aurelius redivided it into three (tres Daciae): Porolissensis, from the chief town Porolissum (near Mojrad), Apulensis from Apulum and Maluensis (site unknown). Thetres Daciaeformed a commune in so far that they had a common capital, Sarmizegethusa, and a common diet, which discussed provincial affairs, formulated complaints and adjusted the incidence of taxation; but in other respects they were practically independent provinces, each under an ordinary procurator, subordinate to a governor of consular rank.

The Roman hold on the country was, however, still precarious. Indeed it is said that Hadrian, conscious of the difficulty of retaining it, had contemplated its abandonment and was only deterred by consideration for the safety of the numerous Roman settlers. Under Gallienus (256), the Goths crossed the Carpathians and drove the Romans from Dacia, with the exception of a few fortified places between the Temes and the Danube. No details of the event are recorded, and the chief argument in support of the statement in Ruf(i)us Festus that “under the Emperor Gallienus Dacia was lost” is the sudden cessation of Roman inscriptions and coins in the country after 256. Aurelian (270-275) withdrew the troops altogether and settled the Roman colonists on the south of the Danube, in Moesia, where he created the province Dacia Aureliani. This was subsequently divided into Dacia Ripensis on the Danube, with capital Ratiaria (Arcar in Bosnia), and Dacia Mediterranea, with capital Sardica (Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria), the latter again being subdivided into Dardania and Dacia Mediterranea.

See J. D. F. Neigebaur,Dacien aus den Überresten des klassischen Alterthums. (Kronstadt, 1851); C. Gooss,Studien zur Geographie und Geschichte des trajanischen Daciens(Hermannstadt, 1874); E. R. Rösler,Dacier und Romanen(Vienna, 1866), andRomänische Studien(Leipzig, 1871); J. Jung,Römer und Romanen in den Donauländern(Innsbruck, 1877),Die römanischen Landschaften des römischen Reiches(1881), andFasten der Provinz Dacien(1894); W. Tomaschek, “Die alten Thraker,” inSitzungsberichte der k. Akad. der Wissenschaften, cxxviii. (Vienna, 1893); J. Marquardt,Römische Staatsverwaltung, i. (1881), p. 308; T. Mommsen inCorpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, iii. 160, andProvinces of Roman Empire(Eng. trans., 1886); C. G. Brandis in Pauly-Wissowa’sRealencyclopädie, iv. pt. 2 (1901); W. Miller,The Balkansin “The Story of the Nations,” vol. 44; on the boundaries of the Roman province of Dacia, see T. Hodgkin and F. Haverfield inEnglish Historical Review, ii. 100, 734. (See alsoVlachs.)

DACIER, ANDRÉ(1651-1722), French classical scholar, was born at Castres in upper Languedoc, on the 6th of April 1651. His father, a Protestant advocate, sent him first to the academy of Puy Laurens, and afterwards to Saumur to study under Tanneguy Lefèvre. On the death of Lefèvre in 1672, Dacier removed to Paris, and was appointed one of the editors of the Delphin series of the classics. In 1683 he married Anne Lefèvre, the daughter of his old tutor (see below). In 1695 he was elected member of the Academy of Inscriptions, and also of the French Academy; not long after, as payment for his share in the “medallic” history of the king’s reign, he was appointed keeper of the library of the Louvre. He died two years after his wife, on the 18th of September 1722. The most important of his works were his editions of Pompeius Festus and Verrius Flaccus, and his translations of Horace (with notes), Aristotle’sPoetics, theElectraandOedipus Coloneusof Sophocles, Epictetus, Hippocrates and Plutarch’sLives.

His wife,Anne Lefèvre(1654-1720), French scholar and translator from the classics, was born at Saumur, probably in March 1654. On her father’s death in 1672 she removed to Paris, carrying with her part of an edition of Callimachus, which she afterwards published. This was so well received that she was engaged as one of the editors of the Delphin series of classical authors, in which she edited Florus, Dictys Cretensis, Aurelius Victor and Eutropius. In 1681 appeared her prose version of Anacreon and Sappho, and in the next few years she published prose versions of Terence and some of the plays of Plautus and Aristophanes. In 1684 she and her husband retired to Castres, with the object of devoting themselves to theological studies. In 1685 the result was announced in the conversion to Roman Catholicism of both M. and Mme Dacier, who were rewarded with a pension by the king. In 1699 appeared the prose translation of theIliad(followed nine years later by a similar translation of theOdyssey), which gained for her the position she occupies in French literature. The appearance of this version, which made Homer known for the first time to many French men of letters, and among others to A. Houdart de la Motte, gave rise to a famous literary controversy. In 1714 la Motte published a poetical version of theIliad, abridged and altered to suit his own taste, together with aDiscours sur Homère, stating the reasons why Homer failed to satisfy his critical taste. Mme Dacier replied in the same year in her work,Des causes de la corruption du goût. La Motte carried on the discussion with light gaiety and badinage, and had the happiness of seeing his views supported by the abbé Jean Terrasson, who in 1715 produced two volumes entitledDissertation critique sur l’Iliade, in which he maintained that science and philosophy, and especially the science and philosophy of Descartes, had so developed the human mind that the poets of the 18th century were immeasurably superior to those of ancient Greece. In the same year Père C. Buffier publishedHomère en arbitrage, in which he concluded that both parties were really agreed on the essential point—that Homer was one of the greatest geniuses the world had seen, and that, as a whole, no other poem could be preferred to his; and, soon after (on the 5th of April 1716), in the house of M. de Valincourt, Mme Dacier and la Motte met at supper, and drank together to the health of Homer. Nothing of importance marks the rest of Mme Dacier’s life. She died at the Louvre, on the 17th of August 1720.

See C. A. Sainte-Beuve,Causeries du lundi, vol ix.; J. F. Bodin,Recherches historiques sur la ville de Saumur(1812-1814); P. J. Burette,Éloge de Mme Dacier(1721);Mémoires de Mme de Staël(1755); E. Egger,L’Hellénisme en France, ii. (1869);Mémoires de Saint-Simon, iii.; R. Rigault,Histoire de la querelle des anciens et des modernes(1856).

DACITE(from Dacia, mod. Transylvania), in petrology, volcanic rocks which may be considered a quartz-bearing variety of andesite. Like the latter they consist for the most part of plagioclase felspar with biotite, hornblende, augite or enstatite, and have generally a porphyritic structure, but they contain also quartz as rounded, corroded phenocrysts, or as an element of the ground-mass. Their felspar ranges from oligoclase to andesite and labradorite, and is often very zonal; sanidine occurs also in some dacites, and when abundant gives rise to rocks which form transitions to the rhyolites. The biotite is brown; the hornblende brown or greenish brown; the augite usually green. The ground-mass of these rocks is often micro-crystalline, with a web of minute felspars mixed with interstitial grains of quartz; but in many dacites it is largely vitreous, while in others it is felsitic or cryptocrystalline. In the hand specimen many of the hornblende and biotite dacites are grey or pale brown and yellow rocks with white felspars, and black crystals of biotite and hornblende. Other dacites, especially augite- and enstatite-dacites, are darker coloured. The rocks of this group occur in Hungary, Almería (Spain), Argyllshire and other parts of Scotland, New Zealand, the Andes, Martinique, Nevada and other districts of western North America, Greece, &c. They are mostly associated with andesites and trachytes, and form lava flows, dikes, and in some cases massive intrusions in the centres of old volcanoes. Among continental petrographers the older dacites (Carboniferous, &c.) are often known as “porphyrites.”

(J. S. F.)

DACOIT,a term used in India for a robber belonging to an armed gang. The word is derived from the Hindustanidakait, and being current in Bengal got into the Indian penal code. By law, to constitutedacoity, there must be five or more in the gang committing the crime. In the time of the Thugs (q.v.) a special police department was created in India to deal with thuggy and dacoity (thagianddakaiti), which exists down to the present day. In Burma also the word dacoit came to be applied in a special sense to the armed gangs, which maintained a state of guerilla warfare for several years after the defeat of the king and his army. (SeeBurmese Wars.)

DA COSTA, ISAAK(1798-1860), Dutch poet and theologian, was born at Amsterdam on the 14th of January 1798. His father was a Jew of Portuguese descent, and claimed kindred with the celebrated Uriel D’Acosta. An early acquaintance with Bilderdijk had a strong influence over the boy both in poetry and in theology. He studied at Amsterdam, and afterwards at Leiden, where he took his doctor’s degree in law in 1818, and in literature in 1821. In 1814 he wroteDe Verlossing van Nederland, a patriotic poem, which placed him in line with the contemporary national romantic poets in Germany and in France. HisPoëzy(2 vols., 1821-1822) revealed his emancipation from the Bilderdijk tradition, and the oriental colouring of his poems, his hymn to Lamartine, and his translation of part of Byron’sCain, establish his claim to be considered as the earliest of the Dutch romantic poets. In 1822 he became a convert to Christianity, and immediately afterwards asserted himself as a champion of orthodoxy and an assailant of latitudinarianism in hisBezwaren tegen den Geest der Eeuw(1823). He took a lively interest in missions to the Jews, and towards the close of his life was a director of the seminary established in Amsterdam in connexion with the mission of the Free Church of Scotland. He died at Amsterdam on the 28th of April 1860. Da Costa ranked first among the poets of Holland after the death of Bilderdijk. His principal poetical works were:Alphonsus I.(1818), a tragedy;Poëzy(Leiden, 1821);God metons(1826);Festliedern(1828);Vijf-en-twintig jaren(1840);Hagar(1852);De Slag bij Nieupoort(1857). He also translatedThe Persians(1816) and thePrometheus(1818) of Aeschylus, and edited the poetical works of Bilderdijk in sixteen volumes, the last volume being an account of the poet. He was the author of a number of theological works, chiefly in connexion with the criticism of the gospels.

His complete poetical works were edited by J. P. Hasebroek (3 vols., Haarlem, 1861-1862). See G. Groen van Prinsterer,Brieven van, Mr I. da Costa, 1830-1849(1872), and J. ten Brink,Geschiedenis der Noord-Nederlandsche Letteren in de XIXeEeuw(vol. i., 1888), which contains a complete bibliography of his works.

DACTYL(from Gr.δάκτυλος, a finger), in prosody, a long syllable followed by two short (seeVerse).

DAEDALUS,a mythical Greek architect and sculptor, who figures largely in the early legends of Crete and of Athens. He was said to have built the labyrinth for Minos, to have made a wooden cow for Pasiphaë and to have fashioned a bronze man who repelled the Argonauts. Falling under the displeasure of Minos, he fashioned wings for himself and his son Icarus, and escaped to Sicily. These legends seem primarily to belong to Crete; and the Athenian element in them which connected Daedalus with the royal house of Erechtheus is a later fabrication. To Daedalus the Greeks of the historic age were in the habit of attributing buildings, and statues the origin of which was lost in the past, and which had no inscription belonging to them. In a later verse in theIliad(date, 7th or 6th century), Daedalus is mentioned as the maker of a dancing-place for Ariadne in Crete; and such a dancing-place has been discovered by A. J. Evans, in the Minoan palace of Cnossus. Diodorus Siculus says that he executed various works in Sicily for King Cocalus. In many cities of Greece there were rude wooden statues, said to be by him. Later critics, judging from their own notions of the natural course of development in art, ascribed to Daedalus such improvements as separating the legs of statues and opening their eyes. In fact the name Daedalus is a mere symbol, standing for a particular phase of early Greek art, when wood was the chief material, and other substances were let into it for variety.

This Daedalus must not be confused with Daedalus of Sicyon, a great sculptor of the early part of the 4th centuryB.C., none of whose works is extant.

(P. G.)

DAFFODIL,the common name of a group of plants of the genusNarcissus, and natural order Amaryllidaceae. (See generally underNarcissus.) The common daffodil,N. Pseudo-narcissus, is common in woods and thickets in most parts of the N. of Europe, but is rare in Scotland. Its leaves are five or six in number, are about a foot in length and an inch in breadth, and have a blunt keel and flat edges. The stem is about 18 in. long, and the spathe single-flowered. The flowers are large, yellow, scented and a little drooping, with a corolla deeply cleft into six lobes, and a central bell-shaped nectary, which is crisped at the margin. They appear early in the year, or, as Shakespeare says, “come before the swallow dares, and take the winds of March with beauty.” The stamens are shorter than the cup, the anthers oblong and converging; the ovary is globose, and has three furrows; the seeds are roundish and black. Many new varieties of the flower have recently been cultivated in gardens. The bulbs are large and orbicular, and have a blackish coat; they, as well as the flowers, are reputed to be emetic in properties. The Peruvian daffodil and the sea daffodil are species of the genusIsmene. (For derivation seeAsphodel.)

DAFYDD AB GWILYM(c.1340-c.1400), son of Gwilym Gam and Ardudful Fychan, greatest of the medieval Welsh poets, was born at Bro Gynin, Cardiganshire, about the year 1340. Educated by a scholarly uncle, Llewelyn ab Gwilym Fychan of Emlyn, he became steward to his kinsman, Ivor Hael of Maesaleg, Monmouthshire, who also appointed him instructor to his daughter. The latter arrangement leading to an attachment between tutor and pupil, the girl was banished to a convent in Anglesey, whither the poet followed her, taking service in an adjacent monastery, but on returning to Maesaleg he was permitted to retain his stewardship. He was elected chief bard of Glamorgan and became household bard to Ivor Hael. At Rhosyr in North Wales he met Morfudd Lawgam, to whom he addressed 147 amatory odes. In consequence of attempting to elope with this lady, Dafydd ab Gwilym, being unable to pay the fine demanded by her husband, was imprisoned. Liberated by the goodwill of his friends, he went back to Maesaleg, and after the death of his patron, retired to his birthplace, Bro Gynin.Tradition states that he was a man of noble appearance, and his poems bear evidence of high mental culture. He was acquainted with the works of Homer, Virgil, Ovid and Horace, and was also a student of Italian literature. Especially remarkable as a poet of nature in an age when more warlike themes were chosen by his contemporaries, his poems entitled “The Lark,” “The Wind” and “The Mist” are amongst his finest efforts. He has been called the Petrarch, the Ovid, and (by George Borrow) the Horace of Wales. His poems were almost all written in thecywyddform: a short ode not divided into stanzas, each line having the same number of syllables. The poet died about the year 1400, and according to tradition was buried in the graveyard of the monastery of Strata Florida, in Cardiganshire.

See also underCelt;Celtic Literature, iv. Welsh.

DAGGER,a hand weapon with a short blade. The derivation is obscure (cf. Fr.dagueand Ger.Degen), but the word is related todag, a long pointed jag such as would be made in deeply nicking the edge of a garment. The war knife in various forms and under many names has of course been in use in all ages and amongst all races. But the dagger as generally understood was not a short sword, but a special stabbing weapon which could be used along with the sword. The distinction is often difficult to establish in a given case owing to the variations in the length of the weapon. The principal medieval dagger was themiséricorde, which from the end of the 12th century was used, in all countries in which chivalry flourished, to penetrate the joints of the armour of an unhorsed adversary (hence Ger.Panzerbrecher, armour-breaker). It was so called either because the threat of it caused the vanquished to surrender “at mercy,” or from its use in giving what was called thecoup de grâce. From about 1330 till the end of the succeeding century, in many knightly effigies it is often represented as attached on the right side by a cord or a chain to the sword-belt. This weapon and its sheath were often elaborately adorned. It was customary to secure it from accidental loss by a guard-chain fastened to the breast-armour. Occasionally the miséricorde was fixed to the body-armour by a staple; or, more rarely, it was connected with agypcièreor pouch. The miséricorde may be called a poniard. The distinction between the dagger and the poniard is arbitrary, and in ordinary language the latter is taken as being the shorter and as having less resemblance to a short sword or cutlass. A weapon, with a longer blade than the miséricorde, was habitually worn by civilians, including judges, during the middle ages; such weapons bore the name ofanlace(fromannulus, as it was fastened by a ring),basilardeorlangue de bœuf, the last from the broad ox-tongue shape of the blade. This had often a small knife fixed on the scabbard, like a Highland officer’s dirk of the present day. By nobles and knights the dagger or poniard was worn when they had exchanged their armour for the costume of peace. It is recorded besides that when they appeared at a tournament and on some other occasions, ladies at that time wore daggers depending, with their gypcieres, from their girdles. Thus, writing of the year 1348, Knighton speaks of certain ladies who were present at jousts as “habentes cultellos, quosdaggeriosvulgariter dicunt, in powchiis desuper impositis.” A longer and heavier dagger with a broad blade (Italian) is calledcinquedea. The Scottish “dirk” was a long dagger, and survives in name in the dirk worn by midshipmen of the royal navy, and in fact in that worn by officers of Highland regiments. In the 15th and 16th centuries the infantry soldiers (Swiss orlandsknecht) carried a heavy poniard or dagger. This and the earlier Spanish dagger with a thumb-ring were distinctively the weapons of professional soldiers. The rise of duelling produced another type, called themain gauche, which was a parrying weapon and often had a toothed edge on which the adversary’s sword was caught and broken. One form of this dagger had a blade which expanded into a triple fork on pressing a spring; this served the same purpose. The satellites of theVehmgerichthad a similar weapon, in order, it is suggested, that their acts should be done in the name of the Trinity. The smaller poniards are generally called “stilettos.” Much ingenuity and skill have been lavished on the adornment of daggers, and in rendering the blades more capable of inflicting severe wounds. Daggers also were sometimes made to poison as well as to wound. Of oriental daggers may be mentioned the Malay “crease” or “kris,” which has a long waxed blade; the Gurkha “kukri,” a short curved knife, broadest and heaviest towards the point; and the Hindu “khuttar,” which has a flat triangular-shaped blade, and a hilt of H-shape, the cross-bar forming the grip and the sides the guard.

DAGHESTAN,a province of Russia, Transcaucasia, occupying the triangular space between the Andi ridge, the south-east division of the main Caucasus range, and the Caspian Sea. It has the province of Terek on the N.W., the government of Tiflis on the S.W., and that of Baku on the S.E. With the exception of a narrow strip along the sea-coast and a small district in the N., it is entirely mountainous. Area, 11,332 sq. m. The snow-clad Andi ridge, belonging to the system of transverse upheavals which cross the Caucasus, branches off the latter at Borbalo Peak (10,175 ft.), and reaches its highest altitudes in Tebulos-mta (14,775 ft.) and Diklos-mta (13,740 ft.). It is encircled on the N. by a lower outer ridge, the Karadagh, through which the rivers cut their way. This ridge is thickly clothed with forests, chiefly beech. The Boz-dagh and another ridge run between the four Koisu rivers, the head-streams of the Sulak, which flows into the Caspian. The next most important stream, out of the great number which course down the flanks of the Caucasus and terminate in the Caspian, is the Samur. The most notable feature of the province is, however, according to O. W. H. Abich (Sur la structure et la géologie du Daghestan, 1862), the successive folds of Jurassic limestones and slates, all nearly parallel to the Caucasus, which form lofty, narrow plateaus. Many of the peaks upon them rise higher than 12,000 ft., and the passes lie at altitudes of 11,000 ft. in the interior and 9000 ft. towards the Caspian. Towards the Caspian, especially between Petrovsk and the river Sulak, the Cretaceous system is well represented, and upon its rocks rest marls, shales, and sandstones of the Eocene period. The country is altogether difficult of access, and only one military route leads up from the river Terek, while every one of the eleven passes known across the Caucasus is a mere bridle-path. The climate is severe on the plateaus, hot towards the Caspian, and dry everywhere. The average temperatures are—year 51°, January 26°, July 73° at Temir-khan-shura (42° 49′ N.; alt. 1510 ft.). The annual rainfall varies from 17 to 21 in. The population, estimated at 605,100 in 1906, numbered 587,326 in 1897, of whom only 5000 were Russians. They consist chiefly of mountaineers known as Lesghians (i.e.158,550 Avars, 121,375 Darghis, 94,506 Kurins), a race closely akin to the Circassians, intermingled towards the Caspian Sea with Tatars and Georgians. There are also sprinklings of Jews and Persians. The highlands of Daghestan were for many years the stronghold of the Circassians in their struggle against Russia, especially under the leadership of Shamyl, whose last stand was made on the steep mountain fastness of Gunib, 74 m. S. of Temir-khan-shura, in 1859. The difficulty of communication between the valleys has resulted in the growth of a great number of dialects. Avarian is a sort of inter-tribal tongue, while Lakh or Kazi-kumukh, Kurin, Darghi-kaitakh, Andi, and Tabasaran are some of the more important dialects, each subdivided into sub-dialects. The mountaineers breed some cattle and sheep, and cultivate small fields on the mountain-sides. In the littoral districts excellent crops of cereals, cotton, fruit, wine and tobacco are obtained with the aid of irrigation. Silkworms are bred. The mountaineers excel also in a variety of petty trades. Sulphur, salt and copper are the most important of the minerals. A railway line to connect the North Caucasian line (Rostov to Petrovsk) with the Transcaucasian line (Batum to Baku) has been built along the Caspian shore from Petrovsk, through the “gate” or pass of Derbent, to Baku. The province is divided into nine districts—Temir-khan-shura, Avar, Andi, Gunib, Dargo, Kazi-kumukh, Kaitago-Tabasaran, Kurin, and Samur. The only towns are Temir-khan-shura (pop. 9208 in 1897), the capital of the government, Derbent (14,821) and Petrovsk (9806), the last two both on the Caspian.

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