ARZAMAS

This article appears in Volume V02, Page 713 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: ARN-AUD

ARZAMAS , a town of Russia, in the government of, and 76 m. by rail S. of the town of, Nizhniy-

Novgorod

NOVGOROD
NOVGOROD (formerly known as V elikiy-Novgorod,
Great
- GREAT
Novgorod)

, on the Tesha river, at its junction with the Arsha. It is an important centre of trade, and has tanneries, oil, flour, tallow, dye, soap and iron works; knitting is an important domestic industry. Sheep-
skins and sail-cloth are articles of trade. The town has several churches. Pop. (1897) 10,591.
AS, the Roman unit of weight and measure, divided into 12 unciae (whence both " ounce " and " inch ") ; its fractions being deunx j- , dextans I, dodrans , bes I, septunx -17g,
ASAFETIDA 713
semis a, quincunx- , triens a, quadrans 4f sextanss,sescuncia8i uncia 3&. As really denoted any integer or whole; whence the English word " ace." The unit or as of weight was the libra
(pound: =about 11 oz. avoirdupois); of length, pes (foot:
=about 11 in.); of surface, jugerum (=about acre); of
measure, liquid amphora (about 51 gal.), dry modius (about 14 peck). In the same way as signified a whole inheritance; whence heres ex asse, the

heir

HEIR (Lat. heres, from a root meaning to grasp, seen in heres or erus, master of a
house
- HOUSE
- HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
  Gothic
  - GOTHIC
  it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)
, Gr. xeip, hand, Sans. hat ana, hand)

to the whole estate, heres ex semisse,

heir

HEIR (Lat. heres, from a root meaning to grasp, seen in heres or erus, master of a
house
- HOUSE
- HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
  Gothic
  - GOTHIC
  it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)
, Gr. xeip, hand, Sans. hat ana, hand)

to half the estate. It was also used in the calculation of rates of

interest

INTEREST

.
As was also the name of a Roman coin, which was of different weight and value at different periods (see

NUMISMATICS

, Roman). The first introduction of coined money is ascribed to Servius Tullius. The old as was composed of the mixed metal aes, an alloy of copper, tin and lead, and was called as libralis, because it nominally weighed 1 lb or 12 ounces (actually so). Its

original

ORIGINAL

shape seems to have been an irregular oblong bar, which was stamped with the figure of a sheep, ox or sow. This, as well as the word petunia for money (pecus, cattle), indicates the fact of cattle having been the earliest Italian medium of exchange. The value was indicated by little points or globules, or other marks. After the round shape was introduced, the one side was always inscribed with the figure of a ship's prow, and the other with the

double

head of Janus. The subdivisions of the as had also the ship's prow on one side, and on the other the head of some deity. The First Punic War having exhausted the treasury, the as was reduced to 2 oz. In the Second Punic War it was again reduced to half this weight, viz. to oz. And lastly, by the Papirian law (89 s.C.) it was further reduced to the diminutive weight of half an ounce. It appears to have been still more reduced under Octavian, Lepidus and Antony, when its value was a of an ounce. Before silver coinage was introduced (269 B.C.) the value of the as was about 6d., in the time of Cicero less than a

halfpenny

HALFPENNY, WILLIAM

. In the time of the emperor Severus it was again lowered to about - of an ounce. During the commonwealth and empire aes grave was used to denote the old as in contradistinction to the existing depreciated coin; while aes rude was applied to the

original

ORIGINAL

oblong coinage of primitive times.

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