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R          A liquid Confonant, and the Seventeenth Letter of
the Alphabet. See LETTER and ALPHABET.
The Grammarians hold it a Semi-vowel; elpecially
in the Greek, where, in common with the other
Vowels, it admits an Afpirate, 6&c. tho' whether the Afpirate
ihould come before or after it is fome doubt.  We find Inftan-
ces of each.
Thus pfsi the Latins wrote Rheda; and je6 the A~olians wrote
.*AP. The Antient Goths, and Teutones, Littketon obferves, pre-
;fild h to r.
The Hebrews allow'd it the Privilege of a Guttural, that is, they
never double it, which yet is done by the Arabs, Greeks, and
Latins, &c. See GUTTURAL.
Perkius calls it fittera canina, becaufe the Dogs feem to pro-
nounce it in fnarling: Yet it (hould feem to have had a fofter
Sound among the Romans, than among us, by its being frequent-
lyinterpos'd'to prevent the Clafling of Vowels: As in rams from
kash ee nrus from vns, murex from lAn, mus muris from p´*u pul;
and this Softnefs was fuch as frequently occasioned its being dropt
as ufelefs in Writing.
Thus for Hetrufci they frequently wrote 7ihufci, and even Tuf-
ci; and for urJ/u, rurfus, prorfus; fufum ruAus, pro/us.
In effe~t there was that Agreement betxeen the Sound of the
r and r, that as the Romans avoided the doubling of their Confo-
nants, 'twas no wonder they here drop'd the r; the s Supplying
the place of both. Hence too it came to pafs, that what they
at firfi pronounced, A/fa, AJfena, Cafmen; was afterwards, Ara,
Adrena, Carmen; and thofe firft named Fapii and Valef: were after-
wards call'd Furii and Valerii; and Cicero tells us, the papirii were
c calledpapyii; and even fixes the time when the Change was
made, 'viz. in the Year of Rome 415. Fefltus adds, that olerapignora,
puima, were antiently ole/a, pigno/a, pluima.
From the fame foftnefs of the Sound of the r, it came to be
'id indifferendy with the 1 in many Words, e. gr. Latiaris and
Latialis, pali/ia and parilia, &c.
Thoe the r more frequently degenerated into 1; thus Remures
became changed into Lemures, interlego, perluceo into Intelligo and
pelluceo, frater into fratellus, &c. and the fame is fometimes done
between x and r, as xreus and eveus, &c.
R. was anciently a Numeral Letter; fignifying 8o, "according
to the Verfe,
Ofoginta dabit tili R, fiquis numerabit.
When a Dafh was added a-top as It, it fignified 8o thoufand.
The Greek, r, p, fignified an hundred.
R or BR in Medicinal Prefcription, ftands for Recipe, take. See
RECIPE. See alfo CHARACTER.
RABATE in Faulconry.    A Hawk is (aid to rabatu, when by
the Motion of the Hand of the Bearer, the Lure, Call, &c. fSie
leaves purfuing her Prey, or Quarry ; and recovers the Fift.
RABATE in Commerce. See REBATE.
RABBI, or RABBIN, a Doaqor of the Yewi/ Law. See
DOCTOR.
The Words Rabbi, and Rabbit, have the fame fignification;
yet is there fome Difference in their Ufe.  When we fpeak ab-
Jblutely, and without applying the Term  to any proper Name,
we fay Rabbits, not Rabbi. Thus, it would be unjuft to attribute
to the antient Rabbins all the Notions of the Modern ones.
On the other Hand, when we prefix the Term to the proper
Name of fome Je-vi/h Dodor, we fay Rabbi, not Rabbit; as
,Rabbi Salomon .7arrhi is of this Opinion.
Yet Rabbi having no Plural, we fay the Rabbitss. Yehuda Chijug,
and Yehuda hen Chabin, are the Authors of two antient Hebrew
Grammars.
The Word in its Original 'xl, fignifies Maler.
. The modern Rabbims are entitled to a good deal of refpe6t a-
mong the Jews: They have the firif Places in the Synagogues;
they determine all Matters and Controverfies of Religion, and
Very frequently pronounce upon Civil Affairs. They have even
a Power to excommunicate the Difobedient.
They retain a vaft number of fuperifitious Traditions, from
te Writings of their Predeceffors; which they obferve as fcru-
'   as the Law of Mofes.   See TRADITION.      See alfo
A!MUD.
- The antient Rabbixi were infinite dealers in Allegories: Their
Writings are almoft wholly Allegorical, particularly their Coin-
meats and I        Snteprea   of the Scripture;  See CABBALA.
R   A-G C
They had a great number of Rules, and Forms of Interpreting'
and Quoting, which fome modern Writers fuppofe to have been
follow'd by the Apoftles, in their Interpretation, and Quotation
of the Prophefies of the Old Teflament, in the New.  See
PROPHECY .
The lofs of thefe Rules Dr. Stanhope, Dr. Jenkins, &c. la-
ment, as what in all probability would reconcile the jarring Paf-
fages in the Old and New Teftament. Surenhujfus, Hebrew Pro-
feffor at Admflerdam, imagines he has retrieved thofe Rules from
'the antient Jewifh Writers.
I he Rabbins, he obferves, interpreted Scripture in fuch a man-
ner as to change the litteral Senfe into a more noble and Spiritual
Senfe. To this End, he fays they ufied ten ways of quoting and
explaining the Old Teftament i inftances of each whereof he gi-
ves in the Writings of the Apoftles.
They confift in changing the Points; the Letters; both Let-
ters and Points; adding and taking away Letters; tranfpofing
Words and Letters; dividing one Word into two; adding Words;
changing the Order, &c. See QUOTATION.
RABBETING, in Carpentry, the planing or cutting of Chan-
nels, or Grooves, in Boards. See PLANE.
In Ship-Carpentry it fignifies the letting in of the Planks of
the Ship into the Keel.
RABBINIST, a Follower of the Doctrine of the Rabbins;
in contradltinftion to Caraito. See CARAITE.
Pere Simon contends for RabbaniJl or Rabbanite, inifead of Rab-
binifl; in effee&, the former are apparently preferable to the lat-
ter; the Word being derived from the Hebrew Rabbanim, which
is the Name of the Sect, and which the yews ufe to diftinguilh
their Doftors from thofe of the Caraite yews.
Rabbinif, then, fignifies a Jewi/b Do6tor, who adheres to
the Traditions of his Fathers; not fimply a Rabbin or Dolor;
for the Caraites who oppofe thofe Traditions, have their Rabbint
as well as the other sews. See TRADITION.
RABDOIDES,               I RHABDOIDES.
RABJ)OLOGY, J         See  RHABDOLOG1Y.
RABDOMANCY,)              RHABDOMANCY.
RABINET, a fmall piece of Ordnance, between a Falconet
and a Bafe. Its Dimenfions, &c. See under CANNON.
RACA, 'qr RACHA, a Syriac Term, found in the Gofpel of
St. Matthew, Ch. v. 22. and preferv'd in moft Tranflations.
F. Simon obferves that the Greek Tranflator of St. Matthews
Gofpel retain'd the Syriac Racas which he found in the Original,
by reafon it was very common among the J7ews.  And St. Je-
rom, Luther, the Engx/h Tranflators, thole of Geneva, Louvaiv,
Port Roya4 &c. tlill preferve it in their refpedive Languages.
F. Bouhours chufes rather to exprefs the Senfe tlereot in a fort
of Paraphrafe, thus: He that fays to his Brother,' Homme de pen
de fens, Man of little und-rJfanding, fhall deferve to be condemn-
ed by the Tribunal of the Council, &C.
Moft Tranflators, except the Engl4h, and F. Simon, for Raca
write Racha: But the latter feems the beft founded; all the La-
tin Copies having Raca; and all the Greek ones pvxd, or, with
Hefjchius, p--c, which is the fame: All, we mean, but St. Ire-
7xeus, and Beza's Copy, now at Cambridge. In effe6t, the Origin
of the Word (hews it Ihould be Raca; as coming from the Syriac
Upl, Raca, of the Hebrew l)>. rek, empty, fhallow.
RACCOURCY, in Heraldry, fignifies the fame as Coupee, that
is, cut off, or fhortned; and denotes a Crofs or other ordinary,
when it does not extend to the Edges of the Efcutcheon, as they
do when abfoluttly named, without fuch Diftination.  See
COUPEE.
RACE, in Genealogy, a Lineage, or Extraffion: continued
from Father to Son. See LINE.
The Word is formed from the Latin, radix, root; as intima-
ting the root of the Genealogical Tree.
In feveral Orders of Knighthood, as in that of M41ta, &c.
the Candidates muft prove a Nobility of four Races or Defcents.
See DESCENT.
In fome Republicks the Magiftrates are to prove themkelves
of Plebeian Race, to be qualified.
The French reckon their Kings by Races; as the firft Race,
the fecond Race, the third Race. We alfo fay the Race of the
Ottomans, the Ar/acides, the Ptolomys, &c. See DYNASTY.
Hervieux obferves that 'tis ufual to put the Female Canary-
Bird to the Male Goldfinch, Linner, or the like, to breed; but,
Ii I I-for
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