or KIN, an empire which arose in Eastern Tartary in the beginning of the 13th century. From the founder of this empire the late Chinese emperor Kang-hi said that his family was descended. See CHINA and TARTARY.

O.

O, THE 14th letter and fourth vowel of our alphabet; pronounced as in the words no, re, &c.

The sound of this letter is often so soft as to require it double, and that chiefly in the middle of words; as goosé, reproof, &c. And in some words, this eo is pronounced like u short, as in blood, flood, &c.

Vol. XV. Part I.

As a numeral, O was sometimes used for 11 among the ancients; and with a dash over it thus, o, for 11,000.

In the notes of the ancients, O. CON is read opus conductum; O. C. Q. opera conflictique; O. D. M. operae, donum munus; and O. LO. opus locatum. The Greeks had two O's; viz. omicron, o, and omega, ω; the first pronounced on the tip of the lips with a sharper sound; the second in the middle of the mouth, with a fuller sound, equal to oo in our language. The long and short pronunciation of our O are equivalent to the two Greek ones; the first, as in Hippo; the second, as in obey.

O is usually denoted long by a servile a subjoined, as moan; or by e at the end of the syllable, as bone; when these vowels are not used, it is generally short.

Among the Irish, the letter O, at the beginning of the name of a family, is a character of dignity annexed to great houses. Thus, in the history of Ireland, we frequently meet with the O Neals, O Carrols, &c. considerable houses in that island.

Camden observes, that it is the custom of the lords of Ireland to prefix an O to their names, to distinguish them from the commonalty.

The ancients used O as a mark of triple time; from a notion that the ternary, or number 3, was the most perfect of numbers, and therefore properly expressed by a circle, the most perfect of figures.

It is not, strictly speaking, the letter O, but the figure of a circle O, or double CO, by which the modern ancients in music used to express what they called tempo perfetto, or triple time. Hence the Italians call it circolo.

The seven antiphones, or alternate hymns of seven verses, &c. sung by the choir in the time of Advent, were formerly called O, from their beginning with such an exclamation.

O is an adverb of calling, or interjection of sorrow or willing.