HYSTRIX, or PORCUPINE, a genus of quadrupeds belonging to the order of glires. See MAMMALIA INDEX.
1
II
Jabesh.
I, or i, the ninth letter and third vowel of the alphabet, is pronounced by throwing the breath suddenly against the palate, as it comes out of the larynx, with a small hollowing of the tongue, and nearly the same opening of the lips as in pronouncing a or e. Its sound varies: in some words it is long, as high, mind, &c.; in others short, as bid, hid, fin, &c.; in others, again, it is pronounced like y, as in collier, onion, &c.; and in a few, it sounds like ee, as in machine, magazine, &c. No English word ends in i, e being either added to it, or else the i turned into y.
But besides the vowel, there is the soft consonant; which, because of its different pronunciation, has likewise a different form, thus J, j. In English, it has the soft sound of g; nor is used, but when g soft is required before vowels, where g is usually hard: thus we say, jack, jet, join, &c. instead of gack, get, goin, &c. which would be contrary to the genius of the English language.
I, used as a numeral, signifies one, and stands for so many units as it is repeated times; thus I, one; II, two; III, three, &c.; and when put before a higher numeral, it subtracts itself, as IV, four, IX, nine, &c. But, when set after it, so many are added to the higher numeral as there are I's added: thus VI is , or six; VII, , or seven; VIII, , or eight. The ancient Romans likewise used ID for 500, CID for 1000, IDC for 5000, CCIDC for 10,000. Farther than this, as Pliny observes, they did not go in their notation; but, when necessary repeated the last number, as CCCCIDC, CCCCIDCC, for 200,000; CCCCIDCCC, CCCCIDCCCC, CCCCIDCCCC, for 300,000; and so on.
The ancients sometimes changed i into u; decimus for decimus; maximus for maximus, &c.
According to Plato, the vowel i is proper to express delicate but humble things, as in this verse in Virgil which abounds in i's, and is generally admired:
Accipiant inimicum imbrem, rimisque fatiscant.
I, used as an abbreviation, is often substituted for the whole word Jesus, of which it is the first letter.