etymologies have been found. Possibly the tion or wheel; while Mallet (Northern Antiold French word Noël for Christmas (used also quities ii. 68) traces it to hiaul and houl generally as a popular cry of rejoicing) has (Lat. sol, Gr. Aos), the word for sun in the the same original. (Archeol. vol. ii.) Some, dialects of Brittany and Cornwall. The term however, derive yule from a supposed primi- on the last supposition refers to the winter soltive word, connected with the idea of revolu-stice. (Brand's Popular Antiq. vol. i. p. 346.) Z. The last letter in the alphabets of all the modern languages, usually regarded as a double consonant, from its having the sound in some languages of ts or ds. Like the letter r, it begins no word originally English; and Dr. Johnson has remarked, that although it is found in the Saxon alphabets, set down by grammarians, it is read in no word originally Teutonic. Zachun. A fixed oil, expressed from the seeds of Balanites ægyptiaca. Zaffre. This word is applied to the residues obtained by roasting native arsenides of nickel and cobalt, mixed with a certain proportion of silicious sand. The roasted ore without such addition is known as SAFFLOR. The process of roasting is conducted in such a manner as to leave a sufficient quantity of free arsenic in the product to yield a fusible arsenide or speiss of nickel in the subsequent fusion in the smalt furnace. By the addition of carbonate of potash, and fusion, Zaffre is converted into a blue glass, which, when ground and levigated, produces the colour known as smalt blue. Zafran. The Indian name for Crocus sativus, whence our name Saffron. Zagreos (Gr.). In the Orphic Theogony, the horned child of ZEUS and PERSEPHONE. He is the favourite of his father, and is represented as seated on the throne beside him, guarded by Apollo and the CURETES. But as in the case of Io, Hera is jealous, and incites the Titans, who kill the child with a sword while he is amusing himself by looking at his own face in a mirror. They then cut up his body and boil it in a cauldron; but Athena bears his heart to Zeus, who punishes the Titans by hurling them into Tartarus. The heart is given to Semele, and Zagreos is born again from her under the form of DIONYSUS. For the probable age of the Orphic Theogony, see Grote, History of Greece, part i. ch. i. Zakkoum. An oil obtained in Palestine from Eleagnus hortensis angustifolia. Zaleucus (Gr. ZáλEUKOS). The mythical or semi-mythical legislator of the Epizephyrian Locrians. He is described by Diodorus as a disciple of Pythagoras; but nothing can be satisfactorily ascertained from the contradictory legends respecting his life, and in fact his code of laws seems to be the only evidence of his personal existence. How far such evidence can settle the question, can be deter mined only by a diligent scrutiny of the tales which have gathered round the names of Lycurgus, Numa, ROMULUS and SERVIUS TULLIUS. Zalmoxis or Zamolxis (Gr.). In the Thracian Mythology, a god who dwelt beneath the earth, like Andvari in the Volsung tale. [SIGURDR.] The rationalised Greek version of the myth states that Zalmoxis was a slave of Pythagoras at Samos, and that by abilities and artifice he gained a religious ascendency over the minds of the Thracians. This story Herodotus (iv. 94) refuses to believe. (Grote, History of Greece, part i. ch. xvi.) Zambarone. A Sicilian name for the fibre of the Agave, used for making cordage and mats. Zamia. A genus of Cycadeaccæ, consisting of moderate-sized trees, having much of the appearance of palms, and in some particulars of ferns. They have stout generally unbranched stems terminated by tufts of thick pinnated leaves, often spiny at the margins or points. The male and female flowers are borne in cones, composed of woody scales, with a truncated six-sided summit, and each scale of the female flower has two seeds. Z. The species are natives of Central America, the West Indies, the Cape of Good Hope, and South-eastern Africa, where they frequently constitute a conspicuous feature in the vege tation. The stems of these plants contain an abundance of starchy matter, which is sometimes collected and used as arrowroot. tenuis and Z. furfuracea are employed for this purpose in the Bahamas. There is abundant evidence to suggest that in former ages some of these cycads grew in this country, as fossilised stems of plants apparently belonging to this or to a closely allied genus are found in abundance in some of the oolitic strata in the Isle of Portland, where they are known to the workmen as fossil birds'-nests, or fossil pineapples. Zamite. Fossil zamia. Zasmidium. A genus of Fungi, including that known as the Cellar Fungus. This species, Z. cellare, observes Mr. Berkeley, is commonly known as hanging down from the roofs of cellars in large masses, or covering corks, bottles, and other matters. It sometimes even penetrates the tissue of the corks, but does not seem to injure the wine like some of the white mycelia. Indeed, the wine merchant en ZEND AVESTA ZAVALITE courages its growth, as he thinks it an ornament is the Long Zedoary, and C. Zedoaria the to his vaults, and an indication to customers Round Zedoary of the shops. They are who visit them that his wine is old.' The cellar aromatic plants related to gingers. fungi are, however, sometimes very injurious. Zavalite. The name given to a hydrocarbonate of nickel found in Spain; it is probably identical with Emerald-nickel. Zea (Gr. Seid, Sansc. and Zend yeva, Lith. jawas). A genus of grasses of which Z. Mays, or Maize, is the well-known and important cereal so largely grown in the United States of America, where it is generally known under the name of Indian-corn. Though not now found in a wild state, there is little doubt that America is the native region of this plant. Maize is largely cultivated throughout most of the warm-temperate zones of the globe, and probably ranks next to rice as the grain which affords nutriment to the largest number of human beings. It has many qualities to recommend it for culture where the climate is sufficiently warm to ripen the grain properly, growing as it does freely in very different kinds of soil, as well as under dissimilar states of moisture and dryness. The crop is easily saved, and with ordinary care the grain is as easily preserved. Some of the finest samples which have reached Britain in the cob or ear have been grown in Australia, where the climate is very favourable for producing Indian-corn. It is also extensively consumed in many parts of Africa. More than 7,000,000 cwt. of Indian-corn were imported into this country in 1865, the computed value of which was 2,234,396/. Zeagonite. A Vesuvian mineral found in rhombic crystals on Somma. It is identical with GISMONDINE. Zebra. A name applied, in a general way, to striped species of the section Asinus, of the horse kind (Equide), characterised by a longer tail, tufted at the end, by callosities on the inner side of the fore legs only, and by braying instead of neighing. Of these striped wild asses, three species are defined: the Zebra proper (Equus Zebra, Linn.), the Quagga (Equus Quaccha, Gmel.), and Burchell's Zebra (Equus montanus, Burch.). Zebra Wood. A beautiful fancy wood used by cabinet makers, and obtained in Demerara from a tree called Omphalobium Lamberti. Another kind is obtained from the wood of the West Indian Eugenia fragrans. Zechstein (Ger.). The upper or calcareous member of the Permian system is thus named in Germany. It consists of: (1) a marly series, Letten, often containing rolled fragments of dolomite and crystals of gypsum. It is generally a greyish, bluish, or greenish clay. (2) A fetid limestone, Stinkstein, a compact or granulated rock of blackish brown or green colour. (3) A hard cellular magnesian limestone, Rauwacke. The whole thickness reaches nearly 100 feet. The zechstein occasionally contains copper ores of galena. Zedoary. The name by which certain species of Curcuma are known. Thus C. Zerumbet Zeilanite or Zeylanite. A species of Pleonaste (Spinel) found in black octahedrons, near Candy in Ceylon, from which circumstance it has also been called Candite. Zemindar (from the Persian zemin, land). A title introduced into India by its Mohammedan conquerors, conferred in Bengal, and generally throughout the Mogul empire, on the agent employed to collect that share of the produce of the soil which belongs to it. The zemindars were the great landowners of the Mogul empire; but the nature of their tenure has given rise to much dispute. Whether they were hereditary absolute owners of the soil, or only tenants of the sovereign at a fixed rent by way of landtax for which they were personally responsible, was a question much agitated by writers on Indian subjects at the period of the 'Permanent Settlement' in 1793. By that settlement the rent was to be fixed in the first instance by custom, and the zemindar was then to give the ryot a lease restricted to himself and his assignees on performance of its conditions; his own share being fixed as before at 10 per cent. of the assessment, and his hereditary right secured. A zemindary, i. e. the district of a zemindar, is liable to be sold by government for arrears of revenue, and existing leases with the ryots to be set aside. The zemindary system was a failure. The men who were appointed to this position were frequently persons of low caste, and were despised by the natives. They abused their privileges, to oppress the peasantry, and squandered their resources in extravagance and profligacy. (Seo Dr. Whewell's edition of the works of Professor Jones; Mill's History of British India, vol. v.; M'Culloch's edit. Smith's Wealth of Nations, note 19; Ed. Rev. vols. xxxi. lxxi.) [RYOT.] Zenana. This Persian word, more properly written Zanana, is used to denote the apartments in Eastern houses set apart for the use of the women in a family. Zend. The language in which the books of the ZEND AVESTA are composed. Zend Avesta. The sacred books which embody the religious system of ZOROASTER. The text of these books was brought to Europe by Anquetil du Perron, in the form of a modern Persian translation of the original; but the first European scholar who acquired a knowledge of the Zend language was Eugène Burnouf. This language is closely allied to the Sanscrit of the Veda, and it was chiefly by aid of the latter that the Zend MSS., preserved by the Parsee priests of Bombay [PARSEEN], were deciphered. The word Zend is connected by Professor Max Müller with the Sanscrit chhandas, a name given to the Vedic hymns [VEDA], Avesta meaning a settled text, from the Sanscrit Avasthita, settled or laid down. The Zend Avesta now consists of four books, the fourth and most celebrated being the Venaidad, which contains an account of the temptation of ZENDIK ZENITH SECTOR Zoroaster, and also furnishes evidence for the straight line. LD is a screw passing through existence of Airya (Aryans) as a national ap- a block strongly connected with the floor, and pellation, the whole space of Asia, vispem acting with its point against the end D of the airyô-s'ayanem, being contrasted with the non-piece CD; and MNO Aryan countries, anairyâo dain-hâvô. (Max are a string and Müller, Lect. on Language, first series, v.-vii.; weight pressing the Gibbon, Roman Empire, ch. vii.; Milman, Hist. sector of Christianity, bk. i. ch. ii. and bk. iii. ch. i.) Zendik. În Arabic, a name given to those who are charged with atheism, or, rather, disbelief of any revealed religion, or with magical heresies. The sect of Zendiks opposed the progress of Mohammedanism in Arabia with great obstinacy. It appears to have had many features in common with Sadduceeism among the Jews. Zenith (from the Arabic). In Astronomy, the top of the heaven, or vertical point; the point directly overhead. The zenith is that point of the celestial sphere which would be intersected by the plumb line, supposed to be indefinitely extended. It may also be defined as the pole of the horizon, from which it is 90° distant. All vertical circles or azimuths necessarily pass through the zenith. Zenith Distance. The angular distance of any celestial object from the zenith; or the complement of the altitude of the object above the horizon. G M against the point of the screw.' The method of observing with the zenith sector is this: A clock being regulated by transits of stars, the direction of the meridian is found, and guides fixed to compel the sector to move in the meridian. When a star is to be ob served, the screw LD is turned till the plumb line falls exactly on some point K of the graduated are, such that the telescope is very nearly directed to the point through which the star will pass when it comes Zenith Sector. An astronomical instru- to the meridian. When ment, contrived for the purpose of measuring the star enters the with great accuracy the zenith distances of stars field of view, the screw which pass near the zenith. It was by means is again turned till it of a zenith sector that Bradley discovered the appears to glide exexistence and magnitude of two most important actly along the horizontal wire fixed in the astronomical elements the aberration of light focus of the eye-glass; and the motion of the and the nutation of the earth's axis. The in- screw being ascertained, and the value of the strument has also been generally used (in this divisions known, the apparent zenith distance country at least) in trigonometrical surveys for of the star is found. But it is evident that determining the difference of latitude of two this is not the true zenith distance, unless the stations, a purpose for which it is very con- zero point of the divisions on the scale be quite venient; for the difference of the zenith dis- accurate, i. e. so placed that when the plumb tances of the same star, observed at its meri-line falls on it the optical axis of the telescope dional passages at two places, gives the difference of the astronomical latitudes of the places without any regard to the star's declination. The general description of the zenith sector has been given by the present Astronomer Royal as follows (Ency. Metr. art. Figure of the Earth'): 'In the annexed figure AB is a bar of iron with a cross piece CD, the whole in one piece. The top A is formed in such a way that the instrument can be turned half round in azimuth when suspended at the top, and that the bottom can be moved freely in the directions DC or CD. The bracket or other support E, on which it rests, is attached to some firm part of the building. To the bar A B is firmly attached a telescope FG. At a point a, near A, is attached a plumb line a H; sometimes it is fastened at a point of attachment which is movable, in order that by moving the point of suspension the plumb line may be made to pass over a fine dot at a. The limb CD is graduated, sometimes on a circular arc of which a is the centre, and sometimes on a R K на shall be exactly vertical. It is impossible to insure this accuracy; but it is easy to see that if the instrument be turned half round in azimuth, and the same observation made, the apparent zenith distance will be just as much greater than the true as in the former determination it was less. The mean of the two will therefore be the true zenith distance of the star. The advantages of the zenith sector are these: The stars observed being very near the zenith, the tremor and dancing which generally affect stars in other positions are seldom seen; there is no uncertainty about the effects of refraction; the telescope and the whole instrument are not subject to flexure; and the variation of temperature produces no sensible effect. For a detailed account of Ramsden's zenith sector used in the measurement of the English arcs of the meridian, see the second volume of the Trigonometrical Survey of England and Wales, or Phil. Trans. for 1803. This superb instrument was unfortunately burnt in the great fire which took place in the tower of London ZEOLITE in October 1841. Another sector, on a different plan from that above described (the zenith point being determined by levels), has been constructed for the use of the survey by Troughton and Simms, under the direction of the Astronomer Royal. A description and drawing of the new instrument is given in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society for May 1842. ZEUS The teeth of this carnivorous whale were first described and figured by the mediæval palæontologist Scilla. The American remains have been erroneously referred to a genus of reptiles, and termed Squalodon, Basilosaurus, and Dorudon by various American authors. The entire skeleton of the largest species (Zeuglodon Harlani) indicates an animal about seventy feet in length. The skull is very long Zeolite (Gr. Céw, to boil). A name formerly and narrow; the nostril single, with an upward given to Mesotype and Stilbite. It is now, aspect, above and near the orbits. The jaws however, used in a more extended sense to are armed with teeth of two kinds, set wide denote a family of silicates, the chief dis- apart; the crown of the tooth being contracted tinguishing feature of which is that they from side to side in the middle of its base, so always contain a large proportion of water, as to give its transverse section an hour-glass varying from 4 to 20 per cent. They also form (whence the name). The Zeuglodonts possess in common the property of melting form a distinct family of Cetacea, intermediate with considerable ebullition before the blow-between that order and the Sirenia. pipe, and of forming a precipitate of gelatinous Zeugma (Gr. a yoke). A figure in Gramsilica in hydrochloric acid, and of yielding a mar, by which an adjective or verb which colourless streak. agrees with a nearer word is referred also, by way of supplement, to one more remote. The Zeolites usually occur in volcanic rocks in the form of crystals, or of foliated and ra- Zeus (Gr.). This name for the supreme diated masses, filling cavities, veins, and fis- god of the Greeks is etymologically idensures-sometimes, as in basalt, they constitute tical with the Sanscrit Dyaus, the Latin Jovis an essential ingredient of the rock itself. The (Jupiter), the Anglo-Saxon Tiw [TUESDAY], principal species composing the group of Zeo- the Eddic god TYR, the Old High German Zio. litic minerals are: ÂNALCIME, APOPHYLLITE, The analysis of language and mythology shows CHABAZITE, GMELINITE: HARMOTOME, HEU-that this god was originally the supreme deity of LANDITE, LAUMONTITE, MESOLITE, NATROLITE, PHILLIPSITE, PREHNITE, SCOLEZITE, STILBITE, THOMSONITE. Zephyrus (Gr. (épupos, akin to Cópos, darkness, a word which has many forms, as dvopos, γνόφος, κνέφας, νεφός, νεφέλη, Lat. nubes). In Greek Mythology, the west wind blowing from the dark land, in which dwell NEPHELÊ and the children of the mist. In the Hesiodic Theogony, Zephyrus is described as a son of Astræus (the starry) and Eos (the morning). By the Harpy Podarge (of the glistering feet) he became the father of Xanthos and Balios, the undying horses of Achilleus. [CHARITES.] Zero (Ital.?). A term generally used in reference to the thermometer, implying the point at which the graduation commences. The zero of Réaumur's and of the centigrade thermometer is the freezing point of water. The zero of Fahrenheit's scale is 32° below the point at which water congeals, being about the temperature of a mixture of salt and snow. [THERMOMETER.] Zetes (Gr. (ns). In Greek Mythology, a son of Boreas and Oreithyia. Like his brother Calais, he was born with wings, and took part in the Argonautic expedition. [MYSTERIES.] They were engaged also in pursuit of the HARPIES, and were slain by HERACLES in Tenos. Zeugite (Gr. (Čevyírns, yoked or joined together). A native phosphate of lime which is met with in white or slightly yellowish and brownish amorphous masses, in guano at the Key of Sombrero. Zeuglodon (Gr. Çevyλn, a yoke, and odoús, a tooth). A genus of gigantic cetacean animals, the remains of which have been found in the miocene strata of Europe and North America. VOL. III. 1057 the whole Aryan family of nations. Among the Hindus this deity was at a comparatively early period eclipsed by Indra, the god who by smiting VRITRA brings rain upon the earth; but Indra is himself the son of Dyaus-pitâr, the Ζεὺς πατὴρ of the Greeks, the Diespiter and Jupiter of the Latins. This name Dyaus is derived from the same root which yields the verb dyut, to beam; and in the modern Hindustani dyu remains the name for sky and day, with which latter word it is identical. In this fact we have the reason for the slender hold which the name retained in the formation of their mythology. Among the Homeric Greeks, with whom words like anp, aieńp, and oupavós, were the common names for air, æther, and heaven, Zeus became more and more a person, being either exalted as the Supreme Impassible Creator, just and holy, or debased by the anthropomorphising process inseparable from the growth of mythology. But although the name ceased to be to the Greek a mere appellative for the heavens, still, in harmony with the original idea, Zeus in the partition of all things remains the lord of the æther or highest heaven, while he bestows the nether regions on HADES, and the sea on POSEIDON. The same idea is manifest in the prayer, ύσον, ὦ φίλε Ζεῦ, κατὰ τῆς apoúpas Twv 'Aonvaiwv (rain, O dear Zeus, on the land of the Athenians), as well as in the expression of Ennius, Aspice hoc sublime candens quem invocant omnes Jovem (see this glistening heaven which by all is named Jove). With these may be compared the phrases, sub dio vivere, to be in the open air; sub Jove frigido, under a cold sky; malus Jupiter, stormy weather. Of the original epithets of Dyaus, some were transferred to Indra, who thus becomes, for 3 Y Latins. ZEUS in the view taken of human life exhibits a example, Indra-sthâtas, the Jupiter Stator of the | seen in the Hesiodic Theogony as compared with the Homeric poems, the latter in the Thus, then, among the Greeks, the concep- Hesiodic Works and Days. This poem, which tions of Zeus parted off into two streams almost at the fountain head. On the one hand we have the anthropomorphised god, with his relations to other gods and beings duly defined according to the laws which determine the growth of myths; on the other, we find the idea (which, as time goes on, becomes clearer and stronger) of an Infinite and Eternal God, holy, just, and true, who desires righteousness in men and watches over them for their good. Although the mythical notions come uppermost in the language of ordinary life, yet, whenever the man is thrown back upon his own thoughts in times of need, distress, or excitement of any kind, he reverts instantly to a Zeus, who has nothing in common with the Zeus of the Homeric Olympus. For this Zeus is capricious, tyrannical, and lustful, as every being must be for whom language, both harmless and beautiful when applied to the phenomena of the heavens, has been translated into the conditions of human society; and such a Zeus could be no fit object of reverence, for, in the words of Euripides, εἰ θεοί τι ὁρῶσιν αἰσχρὸν, οὐκ εἰσὶν θεοί. If the gods do aught unseemly, then they are not gods at all.' Zeus then, as the sky or air, might be regarded as producing time or as produced by time. In the former case he would be Zeus Kronion, or the ancient of days: in the latter, he would be the son of Kronos, who is probably nothing more than a mythical being evoked from that which had been a mere epithet. But the air or heaven covers everything as with a garment, and so Zeus would be Ouranion; from which name sprang the conerete Ouranos [URANUS], who in the Hesiodic Theogony is assigned as a father to Kronos, and who reappears in the Vedic Varuna. Having advanced thus far, the growth of the myth next assigned to him a wife in HERA, a name connected by some with the Sanscrit svar, the bright sky, and sûrya, the sun. (Cox, Manual of Mythology, p. 24.) But the bright heaven through which the sun journeys may be regarded as the cause of all fertility, and the fruits of all lands may be looked upon as his children; and thus Zeus, like Heracles, became a being who had his earthly loves wherever he went, and took pride in recounting their numbers. It is obvious that the extension of this process must render the character of the being portrayed continually more gross and repulsive; and thus we have in Pindar and in Plato strong expressions of disgust for the coarseness and immorality of tales which were not only harmless but exquisitely graceful in their original form. [THEOLOGY.] But while the mythical descriptions were becoming more and more sensual, the conception of the spiritual Zeus was becoming more pure and refined. The former process is The etymological changes of the name are almost numberless. To those which have been already mentioned may be added the forms connected with it by the transition of dy (Dyaus) into j (Jupiter) or dj, as in the old form Diovis, met with in Oscan inscriptions, in the old Italian divinity Vejovis, in Jan, the older form of Janus (January), which again is the same as Juno, and is resolved also into Dianus and Diana. This last name with the so-called Digamma becomes Divâna, the heavenly, dîv-înus, the divine. Akin to the root of Dyaus, is the Sanscrit deva, a god, a word denoting originally brightness; and thus Vritra is called adêva, the atheist or enemy of the gods. Deva then is the Latin Deus, the Greek 0ɛós, the Lithuanian Diewas. The common Homeric epithet of Zeus, upúona, or broad-faced, explains itself, and is referred to the class which includes Europa, EURYANASSA, &c. [TELEPHASSA.] The cave of Dictê, in which, according to the Cretan legend, Zeus was born, is the cave or abyss from which springs the light of day. The name Dictê belongs, as some have thought, to the same root with deiкrvμi, to show; Sanscrit, die; Latin, indicare; German, lieht, zeichen; English, light, token. To this root also belongs, probably, the epithet Dictynna, applied to Artemis as employing diktva, or nets, in hunting, and the name of Dictys, who rescues DANAÊ from the sea at Seriphos. For a more full examination of the subject, the reader is referred to Max Müller, Comparative Mythology, and Lectures on Language, second sories, x.; Bréal, Hercule et Cacus; Cox, Gods and Heroes, and Thebes and Argos, Introductions. The mythical relations of Zeus to gods and men are minutely traced by Mr. Grote (History of Greece, part i. ch. i.); and the most important of these are noticed in the following articles: APHRODITÊ; ARĖS; CHARITES; HEPHÆSTUS; HERA; HERACLES; HERMES; Io; LYCAON; MEMNON; MINERVA; |