B the second character in our alphabet, holds the same relative place in a the alphabet of all European lan- 7 guages except the Russian and two or three others, as Serbian and Bulgarian: in these alphabets the symbol B holds the third place, yet it stands not for our mute B but for a labial (not denti-labial) V or W; while in the second place stands a modified form of B with the same phonetic value as our B. The Russian alphabet is derived from the scheme of the monk Cyril, one of the first evangelists of Bulgaria, who translated into the language of the Sdavonians parts of the Bible. To do this it was necessary to trive new characters for designation of sounds alien to the Greek language and to modify existing Greek characters. But as in his time, — the 9th century,— and at a much earlier date, the current phonetic value of B was, as it still is, labial V, Cyril retained the symbol B as representing that V sound, while for the mute labial B he devised the symbol b. With this exception the character B has from memorial time held the second place in the alphabets of all the Aryan languages of Europe, as well as in Hebrew and Aramaic, Phoenician, Arabic and Coptic. The most ancient form of this symbol, both in Greek and Latin, was B, with two angular loops, which were afterward rounded. The most ancient form of the symbol B among the Phoenicians was not unlike the Arabic figure 9, namely, S. The Greeks not only added a second loop but they reversed the position of the loon by setting it on the right of the right stem; and they similarly transposed the loop of the Phoenician sign q which they made P (rho, our R), The difference tween the two labials B and P is that P is an absolute mute, in pronouncing which the voice is completely obstructed before the lips are drawn apart, while B is sonant, though the lips be still compressed: in the effort to pronounce B the voice is heard even before the lips are parted; but in pronouncing P no sound is heard while the lips are compressed; and when they are opened there is emission of breath but no voice. B and P substitute each other in words common to two or more languages and in transmutations of words within one language. Examples: Latin pila is
English and German ball. Bretzel is monly pronounced pretzel; but it is of the same origin as the English word bracelet, from Latin brachiale, an armlet, bracelet: and bretzel means also handcuffs. B is nearly allied also to F, Th, V and W; thus beech (German buche) is represented in Greek by phegos and in Latin by fagus; whale is from the same source as Greek phalaina and Latin balama; habere in Latin become§ in French avoir; caballus, Latin, is French cheval; Ger man Liebe, English love; Latin labium, French levre. V and B are little discriminated in Spanish and we have in one of the epigrams of Martial proof that in his day natives of Vasconia (Navarre) pronounced B as V and vice-versa when he wittily scores the bibu lous habits of that people by saying that for them not without reason vivere (to live) is bibere (to drink): so that one of that nature might say vivimus ut bibamus, and the mean ing would be either, we live to drink or we drink to live. In the Roman catacombs in sepulchral inscriptions of the 2d and 3d cen tures of our era, vixit (lived), is in very many instances written bixit; and the name of a virgin martyr of that age is written Bibiana and that form is retained in the Rom an martyrology instead of the correct form Viviana.
B is used also as a symbol and in abbre viations. In chemistry B stands for boron, one of the elements. In music B denotes the seventh or leading tone of the diatonic scale of C. In nautical charts b signifies a ablue sky.' In academic degrees B. is an abbrevia tion of Baccalau rens, Bachelor. See GRIMM'S LAW; PHILOLOGY; PHONETICS. Con sult Petrie, 'The Formation of the Alphabet' (London 1912) ; Prou, 'Manuel de paleog ranhie) (3d ed., Paris 1910) and Thompson, E. M., 'Introduction to Greek and Latin Palaeography' (Oxford 1912).
B. A. C. the abbreviation used by astron omers in referring to 'The Catalogue of Stars of the British Association for the Advance ment of Science,' by Francis Baily, London, 1845.