Johann Ludwig Faber (17th Century) Glassmaker

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Johann Ludwig Faber
Beaker with View of Kraftshof near Nuremberg. Clear glass, black enamel painting. Summary: In the mid-17th century Johann Schaper of Nuremberg transferred the black vitreous painting technique known from stained-glass painting to hollow glassware and ceramic materials. He and a number of successors decorated glasses and faiences in this manner, often with coats-of-arms, vistas and townscapes, and mythological scenes. Today they are known as 'Hausmaler', because in contrast to their colleagues who were employed in manufactories they worked at home and on their own account.
Johann Ludwig Faber

Johann Ludwig Faber
17th Century German glass maker.

References

  • Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, ©1984
  • Flashback: Hausmaler Decoration on Fayence and Porcelain
  • Glas mit Ansicht von Kraftshof bei Nürnberg (Kugelfußbecher)
  • Goblet and cover, Johann Ludwig Faber, 1690. Museum no. 1835-1855
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    fabrikoid

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    Pronunciation key
    (fabri-koid)

    fab•ri•koid n.

    1. A fabric with cloth base but pyroxylin surface, inpervious to water or other fluid.
    2. A fabric made to resemble leather, used for upholstery, etc.
    3. A trademark or tradename.

    "Fabrikoid was one of DuPont’s first non-explosives products. Produced by coating fabric with nitrocellulose and marketed as artificial leather, Fabrikoid was widely used in upholstery, luggage and bookbindings during the early 20th century. In the 1920s, Fabrikoid became the preferred material for automobile convertible tops and seat covers."

    References

  • Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition) ©1955
  • Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary, Comprehensive International Edition, ©1976
  • Artificial Leather : 1910
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    Fabricius ab Aquapendente, Geronimo Fabrici (1537-1619) Anatomist

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    Fabricius ab Aquapendente
    Fabricius ab Aquapendente

    Geronimo Fabrici, Girolamo Fabrizio or Fabrizi (Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aquapendente)

    Born May 20, 1537 in Aquapendente, Italy. Died May 21, 1619 in Padua, Italy.

    An outstanding surgeon and Renaissance anatomist which helped found modern embryology. The majority of his life was spent at the University of Padua where after a course of philosophy, he studied medicine under the anatomist Gabriel Fallopius. As successor to Fallopius to the chair of surgery and anatomy (1562-1613), Fabricius built a reputation that attracted students from all over Europe.

    Among his pupils there was the English anatomist, William Harvey, who later elaborated the circulation of the blood. In De Venarum Ostiolis (1603); "On the Valves of the Veins," Fabricius gave the first clear description of the semilunar valves of the veins, which later provided Harvey with a crucial point in his famous argument for circulation of the blood.

    Fabricius ab Aquapendente

    Fabricius' De Formato Foetu (1600); "On the Formation of the Fetus", summarizing his investigations of the fetal development of many animals, including man, contained the first detailed description of the placenta and opened the field of comparative embryology. He also gave the first full account of the larynx as a vocal organ and was first to demonstrate that the pupil of the eye changes its size.

    When he gave up his chair of surgery in 1609, Fabricius maintained a large practice so that he might continue to develop improved surgical techniques. His Opera Omnia Anatomica et Physiologica "Complete Anatomical and Physiological Works" was first published in 1625.

    Fabricius ab Aquapendente

    References

  • Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, ©1984
  • Girolamo Fabrici, AKA Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aquapendente
  • Fabricius, ab Aquapendente, ca. 1533-1619
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    Johann Albert Fabricius (1668-1736) Bibliographer and Scholar

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    Johannes Fabricius
    (Above) Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery
    Johann Albert Fabricius

    Johann Albert Fabricius

    (1668-1736) German classical scholar and bibliographer, born at Leipzig. He was born the son of Werner Fabricius, the director of the St. Paul’s Church choir and was the author of several works, the most important being Deliciae Harmonicae (1656) from whom he received his first education which was later completed under the theologian Alberti which his father recommended him to the care of at time of his death.

    Fabricius studied under G. Herrichen, and afterwards at Quedlinburg under Samuel Schmid. It was in Schmid's library, as he afterwards said, that he found the two books, F. Barth's Adversaria and D. G. Morhof's Polyhistor Literarius, which suggested to him the idea of his Bibliothecae, the works on which his great reputation was founded. Having returned to Leipzig in 1686, he published anonymously (two years later) his first work, Scriptorum recentiorum decas, an attack on ten writers of the day. His Decas Decadum, sive plagiariorum et pseudonymorum centuria (1689) is the only one of his works to which he signs the name Faber.

    Johann Albert Fabricius
    Johannes Albert Fabricius

    He then applied himself to the study of medicine, which, however, he relinquished for that of theology. He moved to Hamburg in 1693, there he was librarian to John Mayer. In 1699, he taught as professor of rhetoric and ethics until his death, April 30, 1736.

    He compiled numerous bibliographies of ancient literature and his Bibliotheca Græca (1705) which is the basis for every subsequent history of Greek literature. His Codex Apocryphus (1703) is still a standard authority on apocryphal Christian literature. Among his other works are Bibliotheca Latina (1697) a history of Latin literature; Bibliotheca Antiquaria (1713); and Centifolium Lutheranum (1728); a bibliography of Lutheran literature.

    Details of the life of Johann Albert Fabricius are detailed in De Vita et Scriptis A. Fabricii Commentarius, by his son-in-law, H. S. Reimarus, the well-known editor of Dio Cassius, published at Hamburg, 1737.

    References

  • Funk and Wagnall's Encyclopedia, ©1950
  • Johann Albert Fabricius
  • Johann Albert Fabricius
  • Johann Albert Fabricius (1668-1736)
  • Johann Albert Fabricius
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    Johannes Fabricius (1587-1615) Astronomer

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    Johannes Fabricius
    Johannes Fabricius

    Johannes Fabricius [fä-brē′tsē-s]

    German astronomer who discovered the sun rotates on its axis and in 1610, while a medical student he discovered sunspots about the same time as Galileo. Noting that sunspots move, he concluded the movement was a result of rotation of the sun.

    Born January 8, 1587 in Resterhafe, Netherlands in the East Friesland, and died in 1615. Johannes was the son of the noted astronomer David Fabricius (1564-1617), a Lutheran pastor and noted astronomer who discovered the variability of light in the star Mira in the Cetus constellation in 1596.

    Johannes Fabricius was educated in medicine as a physician at the university in Wittenberg. In Holland, he obtained some of the earliest astronomical telescopes that were starting to circulate in the Netherlands. He first saw sunspots on February 27, 1611, (March 9 on the Gregorian calendar which had not yet been adopted in East Frisia). Shortly after his discovery he decided to team up with his father for further guidance and observation.

    Johann, a studied physician, left medicine and in 1611, returned home. His father lived in Osteel, a town in the northwest part of Germany which in addition to his studies of astronomy, he was a Lutheran preacher. In Osteel, Johannes Fabricius shared his telescopes with his father, and on March 9 they collectively began to observe the sun.

    At first, the Fabricius team first made their sunspot observations before and after sunrise, observing the sun directly through their telescope. According to their account:

    "Having adjusted the telescope, we allowed the sun's rays to enter it, at first from the edge only, gradually approaching the center, until our eyes were accustomed to the force of the rays and we could observe the whole body of the sun. We then saw more distinctly and surely the things I have described [sunspots]. Meanwhile clouds interfered, and also the sun hastening to the meridian destroyed our hopes of longer observations; for indeed it was to be feared that an indiscreet examination of a lower sun would cause great injury to the eyes, for even the weaker rays of the setting or rising sun often inflame the eye with a strange redness, which may last for two days, not without affecting the appearance of objects."
    David Fabricius
    Warnfried church in Osteel, Germany where David Fabricius preached and his son Johannes Fabricius observed sun spots on March 9, 1611. Credit: NASA and Inlandsvägen

    Johannes observed and made record of the black spots on the sun's surface. Sunspots had been seen by the Chinese, and Thomas Harriot observed them through telescopes in December of 1610.

    To be able to observe and track sunspots without hindrance, they adopted Kepler's camera obscura technique, which allows an image of the Sun to be formed by a pinhole opening and observed, without damage to one's eyes. The Fabricius' interpretations of sunspot activity gave indication the Sun possessed an axial rotation, and in the same year Johannes Fabricius completed a short account of their observations and interpretation. It was through this publication he covered his discovery of sunspots, and the rotation of the sun on its axis.

    Johannes Fabricius was the first scientist to publish a treatise on the subject. This publication lead the way to four centuries of solar research.

    David Fabricius
    De Maculis in Sole observatis et Apparente earum cum Sole Conversione Narratio (Narration on Spots Observed on the Sun and their Apparent Rotation with the Sun). Title page of the small pamphlet published in 1611 by Johann Goldsmid, better known by his latinized name Fabricius. He was born on 8 January 1587 at Resterhave, in East Frisia (Northwestern Germany).

    References

  • Funk and Wagnall's Encyclopedia, ©1950
  • Encyclopedia International, ©1966 (Grolier Inc.)
  • Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, ©1984
  • Celebrating 400 Years of Sunspot Observations, Nasa.gov
  • Johann Fabricius (1587-1616)
  • Read More »

    Rock Fabric definition

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    Rock Fabric
    Rock Fabric
    "Studies that relate rock fabric to pore-size distribution, and thus to petrophysical properties, are key to quantifying geologic models in numerical terms for input into computer simulators."
    - utexas.edu

    Rock Fabric

    Spatial arrangement orientation of components in rocks. In igneous rocks the term refers to the shape and relationship of the crystals. They may be

  • euhedral (have crystal faces) or
  • anhedral, or have particular shapes that are aligned or distributed randomly.

    In metamorphic rocks, fabric can be collectively used to denote structure and texture characteristics imposed on the rock during metamorphism. This is particularly useful, as it can denote the lack of consistency in the way the rock structure and texture have been used.

    In sedimentary rock, grain size and layering can be described by the term fabric.

    References

  • Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, ©1984
  • Carbonate Rock Fabric—Petrophysical
  • igneous rock, Britannica
  • Read More »

    Fabric definition

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    Pronunciation key
    (fabrik)

    fab•ric n. [Etymology: Middle French. fabrique; L. fabrica, from Latin fabrica; workshop, structure.]

    1. A woven, felted, or knitted material, as cloth, felt, hosiery, or lace; also the material used in its making. Any knitted, woven or felted cloth.
    2. Sentence example: "Challis is most often seen in fabrics made of cotton, wool, or rayon."

    3. A material that resembles cloth.
    4. Structure or framework
    5. Sentence example: "The fabric of society".

    6. Something that has been fabricated, constructed, or put together; any complex construction. Anything made of parts put together; structure; building; framework.
    7. Sentence example: "The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality (2004) is the second book on theoretical physics, cosmology, and string theory."

    8. An edifice: St. Paul's, that noble fabric.
    9. The manner of construction; workmanship; texture: cloth of a very intricate fabric. The style or plan of construction; texture.
    10. Geol. The texture or structure of igneous rock.
    11. Sentence example: "The pattern found in a rock, the fabric provides some of the most useful clues to the nature and sequence of magmatic crystallization."

    12. a workshop, trade, product of a trade. < faber, a workman artisan, cf FORGE

    References

  • Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition), ©1955
  • Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary, Comprehensive International Edition, ©1976
  • Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus, ©2004
  • Britannica, Igneous Rock
  • Read More »

    Philippe (-François-Nazaire) Fabre d’Églantine (1750-1794)

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    Philippe (-François-Nazaire) Fabre d’Églantine
    Philippe (-François-Nazaire) Fabre dʼÉglantine
    Fabre d'Églantine, detail from an oil painting by Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805) in the Louvre, Paris

    Philippe (-François-Nazaire) Fabre dʼÉglantine (1750-1794)
    Born July 28, 1750 in Carcassonne, France and died on April 5, 1794 in Paris, France. He was a political drama satirist and prominent figure in the French Revolution. Fabre, a well–known poet and playwright, took an active role in the dechristianization movement that was getting under way in the fall of 1793. During a period known as "The Terror," he went to the guillotine, April 1794, supposedly for financial fraud but really for opposing Robespierre’s policies. Serving in the position of deputy in the National Convention, he voted for the execution of King Louis XVI. From statements made by Fabre during sessions on statutes and law, he and other deputies expressed favor toward the suppression of women's direct involvement in the French Revolution.

    dʼÉglantine was a surname he added after having made the false claim to have won a golden eglantine in a literary competition.

    Some of his writings include

    A poem, Étude de la nature, in 1783; "Study of Nature".
    The most celebrated of his comedies, Le Phillinte de Molière in 1790, which was a sequel to Molière's Misanthrope. The major characters are drawn as a politically dangerous aristocrat and virtuous Republicans.
    A song, Il pleut, il pleut, bergère, which translates, "It's raining, it's raining, shepherdess"). The song is still popular in France.

    Fabre had little knowledge of astronomy yet was in charge of the committee that drew up the Republican's calendar. Fabre became the victim of the guillotine in 1794 after arousing the animosities of Maximilian Robespierre for being too moderate in his views.

    References

  • Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, ©1984
  • Discussion of Women’s Political Clubs and Their Suppression, 29–30 October 1793
  • Fabre d'Églantine, Philippe François Nazaire
  • Read More »

    Ferdinand Fabre (1827-1898)

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    Ferdinand Fabre
    Ferdinand Fabre

    Ferdinand Fabre (1827-1898), French novelist who is said to have founded the French regional novel with studies of country life. He was born at Bedarieux, in Herault in which he made his uniquely individual literature. Born the son of an architect who failed in business, he was brought up by his uncle the Abbe Fulcran Fabre.

    During his childhood he gave an account Ma Vocation (1889). He was destined for work in the clergy and was sent for that cause to the seminary in St Pons de Thomieres, where, in 1848, he had, as he believed, an ecstatic vision of Christ, who warned him "It is not the will of God that thou shouldst be a priest." He attempted medicine at Montpellier, but took alternate employment as a lawyer's clerk in Paris.

    In 1853 he published a volume of verses, Feuilles de lierre after which his health suffered, and retired to his old home at Bedrieux. About a decade later he appeared in Paris with the manuscript of his earliest novel Le Courbezon (1862) in which he addressed the subject of country priests in the Cevennes. The work met with success, and was crowned a great literary achievement by many in the profession of the arts.

    Fabre settled into a life producing novels, a total of about 20 by the time of his death.

    References

  • Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, ©1984
  • Ferdinand_Fabre, 1911 Encyclopedia
  • Ferdinand Fabre
  • Read More »

    Émile Fabre (1869-1955)

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    Émile Fabre
    Émile Fabre, 1914
    H. Roger-Viollet
    Below: An Adaptation of one of Émile Fabre's works
    Émile Fabre
    1944, France, Drame
    Réalisé par Fernand Rivers
    Adaptation d'Emile Fabre

    Émile Fabre (1869-1955)

    Born in Metz, France March 24, 1869 and died in Paris, September 25, 1955.
    He was the son of a stage manager, and began composing and producing plays at the age of 13. In later life he worked as a playwright and was the administrator of the Comédie Française (1915-1936) who developed that institution into a vehicle for classical and contemporary repertory.

    Some of his childhood works were Comme ils sont tous (1894) "As They All Are") which was his first successful production, followed by a series of popular political and social satires. Some of those are L' Argent (1895) "Silver"), La Vie publique (1905) Les Ventres dorés (1905) "The Golden Bowels"), and Les Sautrelles (1911) "The Grasshoppers" which waged assault on colonial administration.

    Other plays contained themes which focused on family tragedy and adaptation of novels by Honoré de Balzac.

    References

  • Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, ©1984
  • Biographie
  • Read More »

    fa’

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    Pronunciation key
    (fô)

    fa’ (fô) n. Scot.

    1. Lot; luck.
    2. Share.
    3. Fall. Also spelled faw.

    References

  • Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary, Comprehensive International Edition, ©1976
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    fa

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    Pronunciation key
    (fä)

    fa n.

    The fourth tone of any key in music, or of the so-called natural key or diatonic scale. See solfeggio. [Italian, <famuli; see GAMUT.]

    References

  • Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition) ©1955, ©1955
  • Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary, Comprehensive International Edition, ©1976
  • Read More »

    Fabian definition

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    Pronunciation key
    (fābi·ən)

    Fa•bi•an

    adj.

    1. A member of the Fabian Society or a Fabian Socialist.
    2. of, relating to, or being a society of socialists organized in England in 1884 to gradually spread socialist principles.
    3. Using a cautious policy and strategy of delay, avoidance of battle like that of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verucosus (died 203 B.C.), who, in the Second Punic War with Hannibal, acquired the name Cunctator or Delayer, because he avoided direct engagements and used dilatory tactics, thereby foiling his antagonist; hence, practicing the policy of delay. — n. —

  • Fa’bi·an·ism n.
  • Fa’bi·an·ist n. & adj.
  • Fabian n.

    References

  • Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition) ©1955
  • Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary, Comprehensive International Edition, ©1976
  • Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus, ©2004

  • Read More »

    Peter Faber (1506-1546)

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    Faber, Peter also known as Pierre Lefevre, Pierre Favre or Petrus Faber (1506-1546). French Jesuit theologian and cofounder of the Society of Jesus. Tutor of Ignatius Loyola at Paris. He was appointed professor of theology at Rome by Pope Paul III (1537). He founded Jesuit colleges in Europe and was a delegate to the Council of Trent.

    References

  • Encyclopedia Britannica, ©1984
  • Read More »

    Fabrication

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    Pronunciation key
    (fabrə·kāshən)

    fab•ri•ca•tion n.

    1. The art of fabricating.
    2. Something fabricated, as a structure or contrivance.
    3. A contrived or trumped-up story; a falsehood.

    Syn. Deception, Fiction, Lie.

    References

  • Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition) ©1955
  • Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary, Comprehensive International Edition, ©1976
  • Read More »

    Fabricate

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    Pronunciation key
    (fabrə·kāt)

    fab•ri•cate n. v.t. ·ca·ted, ·ca·ting

    1. To make or manufacture or build.
    2. To make by combining parts or assembly.
    3. To invent, as lies or reasons; concoct.
    Syn. Construct, Make. fab’ri·ca’tor n.

    References

  • Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition) ©1955
  • Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary, Comprehensive International Edition, ©1976
  • Read More »

    Fabricant

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    Pronunciation key
    (fabrə·kənt)

    fab•ri•cant n.

    A manufacturer or maker.

    References

  • Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition) ©1955
  • Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary, Comprehensive International Edition, ©1976
  • Read More »

    Fabled definition

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    Pronunciation key
    (fābәld)

    fa•bled adj.

    1. Recorded in fable; made famous by fable.
    2. Existing and told only in fable; mythical.

    fa•bling To invent or tell (fables or stories); fabricate; lie.

    References

  • Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition) ©1955
  • Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary, Comprehensive International Edition, ©1976

  • Read More »

    F (letter of alphabet)

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    Pronunciation key

    ef

    F n. [pl. F's, f's, Fs, fs, (efs). Usage often capitalized.]

    1. The sixth letter of the Greek, Etruscan and Latin alphabets known to the Greeks as digamma, the twentieth of the Arabic alphabet and the 23rd of the Persian alphabet. Originating from Phoenician vau through Hebrew vau (and vav as in some other kindred writings take the place of F and indicates sounds of v and u), and modification of the Old Greek digamma (Ϝ), which was dropped from the Greek alphabet but later restored by the Romans. The sound of F exists in Chinese and Japanese, but is absent in most Baltic and Slavic languages.
    2. The Italians, Spaniards and Portuguese have uniformly replaced the ancient Greek ø (ph) with F.
    3. The sound of F or f, normally an unvoiced labiodental fricative. The spelling of the sound is variegated (philosophy, laughter, rough, lieutenant in British English, and affray) or f may be silent (halfpenny, pronounced hāp′nĭ). Initially it the spelling of the latinized f was difficult and FH was used in the earliest inscriptions. It was bilabial, not a labiodental spirant but the h symbol was simply dropped and F came to be used alone, as it is in the English alphabet.
    4. A type or impression for F or f.
    5. In photography the symbol for F number. In optics, the focal length of a mirror or a lens. A special meaning is assigned to f, as it is used in descriptions of lenses in photography. Nearly every form of the letter is used to indicate the focal length of a lens divided by its actual opening; for instance a 1 inch lens of 4-inch focal length is designated F/4.
    6. A grade rating a student's work as failing.
    7. in geometry, the number of faces of a solid.
    8. An object shaped like an F.
    9. A mediaeval Roman numeral for forty and when featured with a superior bar it is the value of () 40,000.
    10. Sometimes a third grade quality meaning fair.
    11. The holes cut in the belly of violins and similar instruments are called f holes because of their shape.
    12. (symbol), in music the fourth tone or note in the scale of C major or the sixth in the scale of A minor. A key, string, et cetera producing this tone. A scale which has F as the keynote. A symbol for the bass clef.
      • f, bass clef
      • ff and fff, musical directions forte and fortissmo
    13. (symbol), in printing, for folio.
    14. adj. of F or f.
    15. sixth of a sequence or group.
    16. in military expression, Company F.
    17. (symbol), for the sixth in sequence or group.
    18. (symbol), in mathematics, in Calculus, for function and f is the symbol of a function having a differential coefficient.
    19. (symbol), monetary, franc or farthing.
    20. (symbol), in astrophysics, one of the spectral lines produced by hydrogen.
    21. in thermodynamics, free energy
    22. in meterology and physics, two of the layers of the ionosphere.
    23. Small f denotes the following: in electricity, the farad, or, in the more usual form, µ f, the microfarad.
    24. in linear measurement, the fathom, furlong, or foot.
    25. (symbol), in chemistry, fluorine.
    26. (symbol), in genetics, filial generation usually followed by a subscript numeral such as F1, F2 for the first, second, etc. filial generation mating offspring or hybrid offspring of an experimental mating of plants or animals. The parents are the P generation (or P1). In the genetic law of Mendelian inheritance, the mating of two individuals of the F1 generation produce offspring of the F2 generation.[#1]

    Usage in abbreviations often capitalized

    1. Fahrenheit
    2. false
    3. family
    4. farad
    5. female
    6. feminine
    7. forte
    8. French
    9. frequency
    10. Friday

    [#2] The original symbol in the Egyptian hieroglyphs was the picture of a cerastes or horned asp. When the Egyptian sign was adopted by the Phoenicians it received the name Vau from its resemblance to a nail or peg. It passed from the Phoenicians to the early Greek as a semi-vowel. During some time prior to oldest extant Greek inscriptions it developed into two characters, F which had the sound of w, and the other character being V with the name upsilon which became a vowel.

    ORIGIN FORM
    Egyptian and Cretan Hieroglyphs Egyptian Hieroglyph F
    Semitic Semitic F
    Phoenician Phoenecian F
    Cypro-Phoenician Cypro-Phoenecian F
    Early Hebrew Early Hebrew F
    Crete Seventh Century B.C. Crete Seventh Century F
    Boeotia Boeotia F
    Greek Classical Capitals Greek Classical Capital F
    Greek Classical Uncials Greek Classical Uncials F
    Etruscan Etruscan F
    Latin 4th Century B.C. Capitals Latin 4th Century B.C. Capitals
    Latin 3rd Century B.C. Uncials Latin 3rd Century B.C. Uncials
    Cyrillic and Russian Cyrillic and Russian
    German German
    English English
    Source: Collier's Encyclopedia, ©1960

    Both letter and positioning in the modern English alphabet originate from Latin, which derived from the Greek, through the Etruscan. The letter was borrowed by the Greeks from a Semitic writing system, where the name of the sound was waw originally used for the consonant w.

    Development of the letter "F" from the ancient Phoenician to Classical Latin and Modern Form.
    Name of Form Approximate Date Form of Letter
    Phoenician 1200 BC Phoenician F
    Cretan 1100-900 BC Cretan F
    Theraean 700-600 BC ?
    Archaic Latin 700-500 BC Archaic Latin F
    Attic 600 BC ?
    Corinthian 600 BC Corinthian F
    Chalcidian 600 BC Chalcidian F
    Ionic 403 BC ?
    Roman Colonial Pre-classical and classical times Roman Colonial F
    Urban Roman Pre-classical and classical times Urban Roman F
    Faliscan Pre-classical and classical times Faliscan F
    Oscan Pre-classical and classical times Oscan F
    Umbrian Pre-classical and classical times Umbrian F
    Classical Latin and Present Form Modern times Classical Latin F
    Source: Encyclopedia Britannica, 14th Edition, ©1929

    The corresponding Greek letter digamma may have represented the w sound but disappeared prior to development of the classical Greek alphabet.

    As early as the seventh century B.C. the character F became obsolete as a letter in the Eastern Greek alphabet retained only to represent the numeral six. To the ancient Greeks it was a bilabial spirant similar to the English w. This sound had disappeared early on from the eastern Greek dialects so that the eastern, or Ionic alphabet contained no digamma. In the western alphabet, the Chalcidic and Corinthian alphabets, it was retained until the 5th century B.C., through classical times. From the Chaldcidian alphabet it was transmitted to Italy, in Latin, retaining its position as the sixth character, but with Latin became associated with the sound known of the modern f, instead of v or w. It is found used in early inscriptions in combination with h to represent the unvoiced labial spirant (English f) for example, in the word FHEFHAKED. The h was soon dropped and the sound represented by the letter F alone. The Latin language took V to represent both w and the vowel u, and remains true to the modern day.

    Frequent alternation occurs between f and v, partly in grammatical shift (loaf and loaves, theft and thieve), partly dialectical (fox and vixen). In the Cockney dialect f is substituted for th as in the Russian Fyodor (for Theodore). In few and refute it is fy in the English pronunciation. Older pronunciations still exist in sheriff which has f in place of older v(e) as in reeve.

    The forms of Greek characters included Greek F, Greek F, Greek F and Greek F. It does not occur in Semitic alphabets. Origin has been a matter of debate among some experts who maintain that it descends from Semitic Vau vau and the evidence is that Digamma in Crete occurs as a form of the digamma in Crete. Others dispute that it was merely differentiated from the epsilon by omission of a horizontal stroke.

    Through numerous transitions digamma came to represent the f sound in Western language. It is a voiceless, labiodental fricative made by expelling the breath between the lower lip and upper teeth. The voiced sound of f is v, and both sounds are interchanged at times, for example, the word of.

    Letter F History Chart

    Footnotes

  • #1 Cited from Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, ©1984
  • #2 Cited from The American Peoples Encyclopedia, ©1960
  • References

  • Encyclopedia Britannica, 14th Edition, ©1929
  • Funk and Wagnall's Encyclopedia, ©1950
  • Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language (College Edition), ©1955
  • The New World Family Encyclopedia, ©1955
  • Collier's Encyclopedia, ©1960
  • The American Peoples Encyclopedia, ©1960
  • Encyclopedia International, ©1966 (Grolier Inc.)
  • Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary, Comprehensive International Edition, ©1976
  • Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, ©1984
  • Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge, ©1991
  • Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus, ©2004
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