of the realm was an oath that a person guilty of felony, who had taken sanctuary, might take. This oath permitted him to go into exile, and not return on pain of death, unless by the king's permission. In ecclesiastical language the term is applied to renunciation of heresy.
Abkha′sia, a Russian district, at the western extremity and south of the Caucasus, between the mountains and the Black Sea. The Abkhasians form a race distinguished from their neighbours in various respects. At one time they were Christians, but afterwards adopted Mahommedanism. Many of them migrated into Turkish territory in 1864 and 1878.
Ablaincourt. See Somme.
Ab′lative, a term applied to a case of nouns, adjectives, and pronouns in Latin, Sanskrit, and some other languages; originally given to the case in Latin because separation from (ab, from latus, taken) was considered to be one of the chief ideas expressed by the case.
Abnaki, a Confederacy of Algonquin tribes, formerly occupying what is now Maine and Southern New Brunswick. Their territory, to which they removed after 1724, is in Canada on the St. John River and at St. Francis.
Åbo (ō′bō), a town and port in Finland, the see of an archbishop, and the capital of Finland till 1819, when it was supplanted by Helsingfors. Pop. (1919), 56,168.
Abolitionists. See Slavery.
Aboma′sum, or Aboma′sus, the fourth stomach of ruminating animals, next the omasum or third stomach.
Abo′mey, or Agbo′mey, the capital of the French territory and former kingdom of Dahomey, in West Africa, in a fertile plain, near the coast of Guinea. Pop. 11,000.
Aborigines (ab-o-rij′i-nēz), the name given in general to the earliest known inhabitants of a country, those who are supposed to have inhabited the land from the beginning (Lat. ab origine). (The singular of the word is Aboriginal, or sometimes Aboriginé.)