a town of Upper Hungary, and capital of a territory of the same name, at the confluence of the rivers Tisza and Keres. E. Long. 20° 57', N. Lat. 46° 50'.

D.

THE fourth letter of the alphabet, and the third consonant.

Grammarians generally reckon D among the lingual letters, as supposing the tongue to have the principal share in the pronunciation thereof; though the Abbot de Dangeau seems to have reason in making it a palatal letter. The letter D is the fourth in the Hebrew, Chaldee, Samaritan, Syriac, Greek, and Latin alphabets; in the five first of which languages it has the same name, though somewhat differently spoke, e.g. in Hebrew, Samaritan, and Chaldee Daleth, in Syriac Doleth, and in Greek Delta.

The form of our D is the same with that of the Latins, as appears from all the ancient medals and inscriptions, and the Latin D is no other than the Greek Δ, rounded a little, by making it quicker and at two strokes. The Δ of the Greeks, again, is borrowed from the ancient character of the Hebrew Daleth: which form it still retains, as is shown by the Jesuit Souciet, in his Dissertation on the Samaritan Medals.

D is also a numeral letter, signifying five hundred, which arises hence, that in the Gothic characters, the D is half the M, which signifies a thousand. Hence the verse.

Litera D velut A quingentos significabit.

A dash added a-top D, denotes it to stand for five thousand.

Used as an abbreviation, it has various significations: thus D stands for Doctor; as, M. D., for Doctor of Medicine; D. T., Doctor of Theology; D. D. implies Doctor of Divinity, or "dono dedit;" D. D. D. is used for "dat, dicit, dedicat;" and D. D. D. D. for "dignum Deo donum dedit."