EZRA, BOOK OF, an Old Testament book. The name Ezra is by most persons held to denote that he was the author of the book. It may, however, signify no more than that the doings of Ezra are the main theme of the book, which is certainly the case. The illustrious per sonage so designated was a priest de scended from Phinehas, the son of Aaron. His immediate father was Seraiah. He was a ready scribe in the law of Moses. An exile in Persia, he so commended himself to the then reigning monarch (apparently Artaxerxes Longimanus), as to obtain from him a commission to lead the second expedition of Jews back to their own land. The enterprise be gan about 458 B. C. Subsequently we find him again at Jerusalem, exercising only priestly functions under Nehemiah. Where he died is uncertain. The period which the book spans is about 80 years, viz., from the first of Cyrus, 536 B. c., to the eighth of Artaxerxes Longimanus. 456 B. C. Both Jews and Christians consider the work part of the Scripture canon.
F, f, the sixth letter, and fourth conso nant of the English language, is a labial or labiodental articulation, being formed by the emission of breath between the lower lip and the upper teeth. It is a surd spirant, the corresponding sonant spirant being V (q. v.). In Anglo-Saxon it was pronounced as v, and it still re tains that sound in of. It takes its form from the Greek digamma, which had a very similar power. An original f has frequently become v in English words, as vat for fat, vetch for fetch, vixen for fixen. It has also disappeared from many words, as in head (0. Eng. heved), lord (0. Eng. hlaford), hawk (0. Eng. hafoe), woman (0. Eng. wilinan), etc., and in others it has been dropped, as hasty (0. Fr. hastif), jolly (0. Eng. jolif), testy (0. Eng. testify, etc. An f sound is now used in trough, enough, and rough, to represent an original guttural. In the plurals of nouns of pure English origin ending in -f or -1f, with a preced ing long vowel (except oo), the f is changed into v. In Romance words the f
remains unchanged, and the plural is formed by adding s. Words ending in -ff or -rf, also form the plural by the addition of s. In Russian the letter f is uniformly used to represent the sound of th, as Feodor for Theodore.
F as an initial is used: 1. In music: For forte, to mark that a passage is to be played or sung loudly; ff=fortissimo, when it is to be played or sung very loudly.
2. In distinctions: For Fellow, as F. R. S.=Fellow of the Royal Society.
3. In medicine: For the Latin word Fiat=let it be made.
F as a symbol is used: 1. In numerals: For 40, and with a dash over it (F) =40,000.
2. In chemistry: For the non-metallic element, fluorine, and for fluoride—e. g., F = fluorine, KF =potassium fluoride. Sometimes F written with a stroke above is used for formic acid.
3. In music: (1) For the note called parhypate in the Greater Perfect system of the Greeks. The letter name of Frite in the upper tetrachord.
(2) The first note of the Eolian mode, or church scale, commencing four notes above the hypo-Eolian.
(3) The note called Fa ut in the hexa chord system. The fourth note in the scale of C.
(4) The keynote of the major scale requiring one flat in the signature; and the keynote of the minor scale related to A flat.
(5) For the note Fah in the Tonic Sol fa notation.
4. In Bibical criticism: F for the Codex Augiensis; f (small letter), for the Cursive MSS.
5. In physics: For Fahrenheit, denot ing that the degree of temperature is according to that scale, as 60° F.
6. In old law: F was branded on felons who were admitted to benefit of clergy.
7. In heraldry: For the FESSE-POINT, .the central point of the escutcheon.