A dialect of S. American, belonging to the Tupi or Guarini family, spoken in Brazil, and allied to Carib. See [Omagua].
Alphabet.
The English name for the collection of letters or written characters in our language, and derived from their Greek synonyms—viz., Alpha (A) + Beta (B), as in the line from Juvenal—
“Hoc discunt omnes ante alpha et beta puellæ.”
—Sat. xiv., l. 209.
These letters or characters are the representatives of certain sounds or utterances; and their numbers, forms, names, and equivalents differ very materially in different countries and in different districts. Ballhorn’s “Alphabete or. und occ. Sprachen,” Leipsig, 1853; 2nd ed., London. See [Letters].
Alpine.
A collective name for several local dialects derived from old Italic, but mingled with modern French.
Alsacian.
A sub-dialect of old High-German.