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Text Mining Classification Clustering and Applications
1st Edition Ashok Srivastava Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Ashok Srivastava, Mehran Sahami
ISBN(s): 9781420059403, 1420059408
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 4.37 MB
Year: 2009
Language: english
 Text Mining
Classification,
Clustering, and
Applications

© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

 Chapman & Hall/CRC
Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery Series

Series Editor
Vipin Kumar
University of Minnesota
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A

AIMS AND SCOPE

This series aims to capture new developments and applications in data mining and knowledge
discovery, while summarizing the computational tools and techniques useful in data analysis. This
series encourages the integration of mathematical, statistical, and computational methods and
techniques through the publication of a broad range of textbooks, reference works, and hand-
books. The inclusion of concrete examples and applications is highly encouraged. The scope of the
series includes, but is not limited to, titles in the areas of data mining and knowledge discovery
methods and applications, modeling, algorithms, theory and foundations, data and knowledge
visualization, data mining systems and tools, and privacy and security issues.

Published Titles
Understanding Complex Datasets: Data Mining with Matrix Decompositions
David Skillicorn
COMPUTATIONAL METHODS OF FEATURE SELECTION
Huan Liu and Hiroshi Motoda
CONSTRAINED CLUSTERING: Advances in Algorithms, Theory, and Applications
Sugato Basu, Ian Davidson, and Kiri L. Wagstaff
KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY FOR COUNTERTERRORISM AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
David Skillicorn
MULTIMEDIA DATA MINING: A Systematic Introduction to Concepts and Theory
Zhongfei Zhang and Ruofei Zhang
NEXT GENERATION OF DATA MINING
Hillol Kargupta, Jiawei Han, Philip S. Yu, Rajeev Motwani, and Vipin Kumar
DATA MINING FOR DESIGN AND MARKETING
Yukio Ohsawa and Katsutoshi Yada
THE TOP TEN ALGORITHMS IN DATA MINING
Xindong Wu and Vipin Kumar
GEOGRAPHIC DATA MINING AND KNOWLEDGE DISCOVERY, Second Edition
Harvey J. Miller and Jiawei Han
TEXT MINING: CLASSIFICATION, CLUSTERING, AND APPLICATIONS
Ashok N. Srivastava and Mehran Sahami

© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

 Chapman & Hall/CRC
Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery Series

Text Mining
Classification,
Clustering, and
Applications

Edited by
Ashok N. Srivastava
Mehran Sahami

CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
Boca Raton London New York

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Text mining : classification, clustering, and applications / Ashok Srivastava, Mehran

Sahami.
p. cm. ‑‑ (Chapman & Hall/CRC data mining and knowledge discovery series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978‑1‑4200‑5940‑3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Data mining‑‑Statistical methods. I. Srivastava, Ashok, 1969‑ II. Sahami, Mehran.
III. Title. IV. Series.

QA76.9.D343T393 2009
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 To my mom, dad, Lynn, and Leela
for all that you have given me.
−A.N.S.

To Heather, William, and Claire

for always keeping the truly important things in perspective.
−M.S.

© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Contents

List of Figures xiii

List of Tables xix

Introduction xxi

About the Editors xxvii

Contributor List xxix

1 Analysis of Text Patterns Using Kernel Methods 1

Marco Turchi, Alessia Mammone, and Nello Cristianini
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 General Overview on Kernel Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2.1 Finding Patterns in Feature Space . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.2 Formal Properties of Kernel Functions . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.3 Operations on Kernel Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3 Kernels for Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3.1 Vector Space Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3.2 Semantic Kernels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.3 String Kernels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.4 Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.5 Conclusion and Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

2 Detection of Bias in Media Outlets with Statistical Learning

Methods 27
Blaz Fortuna, Carolina Galleguillos, and Nello Cristianini
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.2 Overview of the Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3 Data Collection and Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.1 Article Extraction from HTML Pages . . . . . . . . . 31
2.3.2 Data Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.3.3 Detection of Matching News Items . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.4 News Outlet Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.5 Topic-Wise Comparison of Term Bias . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.6 News Outlets Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.6.1 Distance Based on Lexical Choices . . . . . . . . . . . 42

vii
© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
viii

2.6.2 Distance Based on Choice of Topics . . . . . . . . . . 43

2.7 Related Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.9 Appendix A: Support Vector Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.10 Appendix B: Bag of Words and Vector Space Models . . . . . 48
2.11 Appendix C: Kernel Canonical Correlation Analysis . . . . . 49
2.12 Appendix D: Multidimensional Scaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

3 Collective Classification for Text Classification 51

Galileo Namata, Prithviraj Sen, Mustafa Bilgic, and Lise Getoor
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.2 Collective Classification: Notation and Problem Definition . . 53
3.3 Approximate Inference Algorithms for Approaches Based on
Local Conditional Classifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.3.1 Iterative Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.3.2 Gibbs Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3.3 Local Classifiers and Further Optimizations . . . . . . 55
3.4 Approximate Inference Algorithms for Approaches Based on
Global Formulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.4.1 Loopy Belief Propagation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.4.2 Relaxation Labeling via Mean-Field Approach . . . . 59
3.5 Learning the Classifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.6 Experimental Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.6.1 Features Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.6.2 Real-World Datasets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.6.3 Practical Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.7 Related Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.9 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

4 Topic Models 71
David M. Blei and John D. Lafferty
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.2 Latent Dirichlet Allocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.2.1 Statistical Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.2.2 Exploring a Corpus with the Posterior Distribution . . 75
4.3 Posterior Inference for LDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.3.1 Mean Field Variational Inference . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.3.2 Practical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
4.4 Dynamic Topic Models and Correlated Topic Models . . . . . 82
4.4.1 The Correlated Topic Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.4.2 The Dynamic Topic Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

 ix

5 Nonnegative Matrix and Tensor Factorization for Discussion

Tracking 95
Brett W. Bader, Michael W. Berry, and Amy N. Langville
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
5.1.1 Extracting Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
5.1.2 Related Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
5.2 Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.3 Tensor Decompositions and Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5.3.1 PARAFAC-ALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.3.2 Nonnegative Tensor Factorization . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.4 Enron Subset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5.4.1 Term Weighting Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.5 Observations and Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.5.1 Nonnegative Tensor Decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.5.2 Analysis of Three-Way Tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.5.3 Analysis of Four-Way Tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.6 Visualizing Results of the NMF Clustering . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.7 Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

6 Text Clustering with Mixture of von Mises-Fisher Distribu-

tions 121
Arindam Banerjee, Inderjit Dhillon, Joydeep Ghosh, and Suvrit Sra
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
6.2 Related Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.3 Preliminaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.3.1 The von Mises-Fisher (vMF) Distribution . . . . . . . 124
6.3.2 Maximum Likelihood Estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.4 EM on a Mixture of vMFs (moVMF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
6.5 Handling High-Dimensional Text Datasets . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.5.1 Approximating κ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
6.5.2 Experimental Study of the Approximation . . . . . . . 130
6.6 Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
6.7 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.7.1 Datasets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
6.7.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
6.7.3 Simulated Datasets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
6.7.4 Classic3 Family of Datasets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
6.7.5 Yahoo News Dataset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.7.6 20 Newsgroup Family of Datasets . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.7.7 Slashdot Datasets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
6.8 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
6.9 Conclusions and Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

x

7 Constrained Partitional Clustering of Text Data: An

Overview 155
Sugato Basu and Ian Davidson
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
7.2 Uses of Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
7.2.1 Constraint-Based Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
7.2.2 Distance-Based Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
7.3 Text Clustering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
7.3.1 Pre-Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
7.3.2 Distance Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
7.4 Partitional Clustering with Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
7.4.1 COP-KMeans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
7.4.2 Algorithms with Penalties – PKM, CVQE . . . . . . . 164
7.4.3 LCVQE: An Extension to CVQE . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
7.4.4 Probabilistic Penalty – PKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
7.5 Learning Distance Function with Constraints . . . . . . . . . 168
7.5.1 Generalized Mahalanobis Distance Learning . . . . . . 168
7.5.2 Kernel Distance Functions Using AdaBoost . . . . . . 169
7.6 Satisfying Constraints and Learning Distance Functions . . . 170
7.6.1 Hidden Markov Random Field (HMRF) Model . . . . 170
7.6.2 EM Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
7.6.3 Improvements to HMRF-KMeans . . . . . . . . . . . 173
7.7 Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
7.7.1 Datasets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
7.7.2 Clustering Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
7.7.3 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.7.4 Comparison of Distance Functions . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.7.5 Experimental Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
7.8 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

8 Adaptive Information Filtering 185

Yi Zhang
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
8.2 Standard Evaluation Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
8.3 Standard Retrieval Models and Filtering Approaches . . . . . 190
8.3.1 Existing Retrieval Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
8.3.2 Existing Adaptive Filtering Approaches . . . . . . . . 192
8.4 Collaborative Adaptive Filtering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
8.5 Novelty and Redundancy Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
8.5.1 Set Difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
8.5.2 Geometric Distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
8.5.3 Distributional Similarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
8.5.4 Summary of Novelty Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
8.6 Other Adaptive Filtering Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
8.6.1 Beyond Bag of Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

 xi

8.6.2 Using Implicit Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

8.6.3 Exploration and Exploitation Trade Off . . . . . . . . 203
8.6.4 Evaluation beyond Topical Relevance . . . . . . . . . 203
8.7 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

9 Utility-Based Information Distillation 213

Yiming Yang and Abhimanyu Lad
9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
9.1.1 Related Work in Adaptive Filtering (AF) . . . . . . . 213
9.1.2 Related Work in Topic Detection and Tracking (TDT) 214
9.1.3 Limitations of Current Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
9.2 A Sample Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
9.3 Technical Cores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
9.3.1 Adaptive Filtering Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
9.3.2 Passage Retrieval Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
9.3.3 Novelty Detection Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
9.3.4 Anti-Redundant Ranking Component . . . . . . . . . 220
9.4 Evaluation Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
9.4.1 Answer Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
9.4.2 Evaluating the Utility of a Sequence of Ranked Lists . 223
9.5 Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
9.6 Experiments and Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
9.6.1 Baselines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
9.6.2 Experimental Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
9.6.3 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
9.7 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
9.8 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

10 Text Search-Enhanced with Types and Entities 233

Soumen Chakrabarti, Sujatha Das, Vijay Krishnan, and Kriti Puniyani
10.1 Entity-Aware Search Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
10.1.1 Guessing Answer Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
10.1.2 Scoring Snippets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
10.1.3 Efficient Indexing and Query Processing . . . . . . . . 236
10.1.4 Comparison with Prior Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
10.2 Understanding the Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
10.2.1 Answer Type Clues in Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
10.2.2 Sequential Labeling of Type Clue Spans . . . . . . . . 240
10.2.3 From Type Clue Spans to Answer Types . . . . . . . . 245
10.2.4 Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
10.3 Scoring Potential Answer Snippets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
10.3.1 A Proximity Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
10.3.2 Learning the Proximity Scoring Function . . . . . . . 255
10.3.3 Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
10.4 Indexing and Query Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

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10.4.1 Probability of a Query Atype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

10.4.2 Pre-Generalize and Post-Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
10.4.3 Atype Subset Index Space Model . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
10.4.4 Query Time Bloat Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
10.4.5 Choosing an Atype Subset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
10.4.6 Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
10.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
10.5.1 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
10.5.2 Ongoing and Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

List of Figures

1.1 Modularity of kernel-based algorithms: the data are trans-

formed into a kernel matrix, by using a kernel function; then
the pattern analysis algorithm uses this information to find
interesting relations, which are all written in the form of a
linear combination of kernel functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 The evolutionary rooted tree built using a 4-spectrum kernel
and the Neighbor Joining algorithm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.3 Multi-dimensional scaling using a 4-spectrum kernel distance
matrix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.1 Number of discovered pairs vs. time window size . . . . . . . 34

2.2 Distribution of BEP for 300 random sets . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.3 Relative distance between news outlets using the BEP metric 43
2.4 Relative distance between news outlets, using the Topic simi-
larity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

3.1 A small text classification problem. Each box denotes a doc-

ument, each directed edge between a pair of boxes denotes
a hyperlink, and each oval node denotes a random variable.
Assume the smaller oval nodes within each box represent the
presence of the words, w1 , w2 , and w3 , in the document and
the larger oval nodes the label of the document where the set
of label values is L = {L1, L2}. A shaded oval denotes an
observed variable whereas an unshaded oval node denotes an
unobserved variable whose value needs to be predicted. . . . 52

4.1 Five topics from a 50-topic LDA model fit to Science from

1980–2002. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.2 A graphical model representation of the latent Dirichlet allo-
cation (LDA). Nodes denote random variables; edges denote
dependence between random variables. Shaded nodes denote
observed random variables; unshaded nodes denote hidden
random variables. The rectangular boxes are “plate notation,”
which denote replication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.3 Five topics from a 50-topic model fit to the Yale Law Journal
from 1980–2003. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

xiii
© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
xiv

4.4 (See color insert.) The analysis of a document from Sci-

ence. Document similarity was computed using Eq. (4.4);
topic words were computed using Eq. (4.3). . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.5 One iteration of mean field variational inference for LDA. This
algorithm is repeated until the objective function in Eq. (4.6)
converges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.6 The graphical model for the correlated topic model in Sec-
tion 4.4.1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.7 A portion of the topic graph learned from the 16,351 OCR arti-
cles from Science (1990-1999). Each topic node is labeled with
its five most probable phrases and has font proportional to its
popularity in the corpus. (Phrases are found by permutation
test.) The full model can be browsed with pointers to the origi-
nal articles at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/ lemur/science/ and on
STATLIB. (The algorithm for constructing this graph from the
covariance matrix of the logistic normal is given in (9).) . . . 85
4.8 A graphical model representation of a dynamic topic model
(for three time slices). Each topic’s parameters βt,k evolve
over time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.9 Two topics from a dynamic topic model fit to the Science
archive (1880–2002). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.10 The top ten most similar articles to the query in Science
(1880–2002), scored by Eq. (4.4) using the posterior distri-
bution from the dynamic topic model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

5.1 PARAFAC provides a three-way decomposition with some

similarity to the singular value decomposition. . . . . . . . . 99
5.2 (See color insert.) Five discussion topics identified in the three-
way analysis over months. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.3 Three discussion topics identified in the three-way analysis
over days. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.4 Weekly betting pool identified in the three-way (top) and four-
way (bottom) analyses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.5 Long running discussion on FERC’s various rulings of RTOs. 110
5.6 Forwarding of Texas A&M school fight song. . . . . . . . . . 111
5.7 (See color insert.) Pixel plot of the raw Enron term-by-email
matrix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.8 (See color insert.) Pixel plot of the reordered Enron term-by-
email matrix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.9 (See color insert.) Pixel plot of the reordered Enron term-by-
document matrix with term and document labels. . . . . . . 114
5.10 (See color insert.) Close-up of one section of pixel plot of the
reordered Enron term-by-document matrix. . . . . . . . . . . 115

6.1 True and approximated κ values with d = 1000 . . . . . . . . 130

© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

 xv

6.2 Comparison of approximations for varying d, κ = 500. . . . . 131

6.3 Comparison of approximations for varying r̄ (with d = 1000). 132
6.4 (See color insert.) Small-mix dataset and its clustering by
soft-moVMF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
6.5 Comparison of the algorithms for the Classic3 datasets and
the Yahoo News dataset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
6.6 Comparison of the algorithms for the 20 Newsgroup and some
subsets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
6.7 Comparison of the algorithms for more subsets of 20 News-
group data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
6.8 (See color insert.) Variation of entropy of hidden variables
with number of iterations (soft-movMF). . . . . . . . . . . . 148

7.1 Input instances and constraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

7.2 Constraint-based clustering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
7.3 Input instances and constraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
7.4 Distance-based clustering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
7.5 Clustering using KMeans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
7.6 Clustering under constraints using COP-KMeans. . . . . . . 165
7.7 DistBoost algorithm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
7.8 A hidden Markov random field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
7.9 Graphical plate model of variable dependence. . . . . . . . . 171
7.10 HMRF-KMeans algorithm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
7.11 Comparison of cosine and Euclidean distance. . . . . . . . . 178
7.12 Results on News-Different-3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
7.13 Results on News-Related-3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
7.14 Results on News-Similar-3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

8.1 A typical filtering system. A filtering system can serve many

users, although only one user is shown in the figure. Infor-
mation can be documents, images, or videos. Without loss of
generality, we focus on text documents in this chapter. . . . 186
8.2 Illustration of dependencies of variables in the hierarchical
model. The rating, y, for a document, x, is conditioned on
the document and the user model, wm , associated with the
user m. Users share information about their models through
the prior, Φ = (μ, Σ). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

9.1 PNDCU Scores of Indri and CAFÉ for two dampen-

ing factors (p), and various settings (PRF: Pseudo Rele-
vance Feedback, F: Feedback, N: Novelty Detection, A: Anti-
Redundant Ranking). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
9.2 Performance of CAFÉ and Indri across chunks. . . . . . . . . 228

© 2009 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
deviate from the same usage in the case of the deluge. 3. To the
authority of Josephus, we may oppose that of the great Jewish
antiquary, Philo, in the generation before him; who thus accounts for
the institution of the sacred year by Moses:--“This month, Abib,
being the seventh in number and order according to the sun’s
course, or civil year, reckoned from the autumnal equinox, is virtually
the first, and is therefore called ‘the first month’ in the sacred books.
And the reason, I think, is this: because the vernal equinox is the
image and representative of the original epoch of the creation of the
world. Thereby God notified the spring, in which all things bloom
and blossom, to be an annual memorial of the world’s creation.
Wherefore this month is properly called the first in the law, as being
the image of the first original month, stamped upon it, as it were, by
that archetypal seal.” 4. The first sacrifice on record seems to decide
the question. The time of the sacrifice of Cain and Abel appears to
have been spring; when Cain, who was a “tiller of the ground,”
brought the first fruits of his tillage, or a sheaf of new corn; and
Abel, who was “a feeder of sheep,” “the firstlings of his flock,” lambs:
and this was done “at the end of days,” or “at the end of the year;”
which is the correct meaning of the phrase ‫מקץ ימם‬, and not the
indefinite expression, “in process of time,” Gen. iv, 3. It is a
remarkable proof of the accuracy of Moses, and a confirmation of
this expression, that he expresses the end of the civil year, or
“ingathering of the harvest,” by different phrases, ‫בצאת השנה‬, “at
the going out of the year,” Exod. xxiii, 16; and ‫תקופת השנה‬, “at the
revolution of the year,” Exod. xxxiv, 22; as those phrases may more
critically be rendered. But, in process of time, it was found that the
primeval year of three hundred and sixty days was shorter than the
tropical year; and the first discovery was, that it was deficient five
entire days, which therefore it was necessary to intercalate, in order
to keep up the correspondence of the civil year to the stated
seasons of the principal festivals. How early this discovery and
intercalation was made, is nowhere recorded. It might have been
known and practised before the deluge. The apocryphal book of
Enoch, which probably was as old as the Septuagint translation of
the Pentateuch, stated that “the archangel Ariel, president of the
stars, discovered the nature of the month and of the year to Enoch,
in the one hundred and sixty-fifth year of his age, and A. M. 1286.”
And it is remarkable, that Enoch’s age at his translation, three
hundred and sixty-five years, expressed the number of entire days in
a tropical year. This knowledge might have been handed down to
Noah and his descendants; and that it was early communicated
indeed to the primitive Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Chinese, we learn
from ancient tradition.
This article would be rendered too prolix were we to notice the
various inventions of eminent men in different ages to rectify the
calendar by adjusting the difference between lunar and tropical
years; which at length was effected by Gregory XIII. in 1583. This
Gregorian, or reformed Julian year, was not adopted in England until
A. D. 1751, when, the deficiency from the time of the council of Nice
then amounting to eleven days, this number was struck out of the
month of September, by act of parliament; and the third day was
counted the fourteenth, in that year of confusion. The next year, A.
D. 1752, was the first of the new style. Russia is the only country in
Europe which retains the old style.
The civil year of the Hebrews has always begun at autumn, at the
month they now call Tisri, which answers to our September, and
sometimes enters into October, according as the lunations happen.
But their sacred years, by which the festivals, assemblies, and all
other religious acts, were regulated, begin in the spring, at the
month Nisan, which answers to March, and sometimes takes up a
part of April, according to the course of the moon. See Months.
Nothing is more equivocal among the ancients, than the term year.
It always has been, and still is, a source of disputes among the
learned, whether on account of its duration, its beginning, or its end.
Some people heretofore made their year consist only of one month,
others of four, others of six, others of ten, and others of twelve.
Some have divided one of our years into two, and have made one
year of winter, another of summer. The beginning of the year was
fixed sometimes at autumn, sometimes at the spring, and
sometimes at midwinter. Some people have used lunar months,
others solar. Even the days have been differently divided: some
people beginning them at evening, others at morning, others at
noon, and others at midnight. With some the hours were equal, both
in winter and summer; with others, they were unequal. They
counted twelve hours to the day, and as many to the night. In
summer the hours of the day were longer than those of the night;
but, on the contrary, in winter the hours of the night were longer
than those of the day.
While the Jews continued in the land of Canaan, the beginnings of
their months and years were not settled by any astronomical rules or
calculations, but by the phasis, or actual appearance of the new
moon. When they saw the new moon, they began the month.
Persons were therefore appointed to watch on the tops of the
mountain for the first appearance of the moon after the change. As
soon as they saw it, they informed the sanhedrim, and public notice
was given by lighting beacons throughout the land; though after
they had been often deceived by the Samaritans, who kindled false
fires, they used, say the Mishnical rabbins, to proclaim its
appearance by sending messengers. Yet as they had no months
longer than thirty days, if they did not see the new moon the night
following the thirtieth day, they concluded the appearance was
obstructed by the clouds, and, without watching any longer, made
the next day the first of the following month. But after the Jews
became dispersed through all nations, where they had no
opportunity of being informed of the first appearance of the new
moon, as they formerly had, they were forced to make use of
astronomical calculations and cycles for fixing the beginning of their
months and years. The first cycle they made use of for this purpose
was of eighty-four years. But that being discovered to be faulty, they
came afterward into the use of Meto’s cycle of nineteen years, which
was established by the authority of Rabbi Hillel Hannasi, or prince of
the sanhedrim, about A. D. 360. This they still use, and say it is to
be observed till the coming of the Messiah. In the compass of this
cycle there are twelve common years, consisting of twelve months,
and seven intercalary years, consisting of thirteen months. We find
the Jews and their ancestors computing their years from different
eras, in different parts of the Old Testament; as from the birth of the
patriarchs, for instance, of Noah, Gen. vii, 11; viii, 13; afterward
from their exit out of Egypt, Num. xxxiii, 38; 1 Kings vi, 1; then from
the building of Solomon’s temple, 2 Chron. viii, 1; and from the
reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel. In latter times the
Babylonish captivity furnished them with a new epocha, from
whence they computed their years, Ezek. xxxiii, 21; xl, 1. But since
the times of the Talmudical rabbins, they have constantly used the
era of the creation.
There is not a more prolific source of confusion and
embarrassment in ancient chronology, than the substitution of the
cardinal numbers, one, two, three, for the ordinals, first, second,
third, &c, which frequently occurs in the sacred and profane
historians. Thus Noah was six hundred years old when the deluge
began, Gen. vii, 6; and presently after, in his six hundredth year:
confounding complete and current years. And the dispute whether A.
D. 1800, or A. D. 1801, was the first of the nineteenth century,
should be decided in favour of the latter; the former being in reality
the last of the eighteenth century; which is usually, but improperly,
called the year one thousand eight hundred, complete; whereas it is
really the one thousandth, eight hundredth; as in Latin we say, Anno
Domini millesimo octingentesimo. There is also another and a
prevailing error, arising from mistranslation of the current phrases,
μεθ’ ἡμέρας ὀκτὼ, μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας, &c, usually rendered, “after
eight days,” “after three days,” &c; but which ought to be rendered
“eight days after,” “three days after,” as in other places, μετὰ τινὰς
ἡμέρας, μετ’ οὐ πολλὰς ἡμέρας, which are correctly rendered “some
days after,” “not many days after,” in our English Bible, Acts xv, 36;
Luke xv, 13, the extreme days being included. Such phrases seem to
be elliptical, and the ellipsis is supplied, Luke ix, 28, speaking of our
Lord’s transfiguration, μετὰ τοὺς λόγους τούτους, ὡσεὶ ἡμέραι ὀκτὼ:
“After these sayings, about eight days,” or rather about the eighth
day, counted inclusively; for in the parallel passages, Matt. xvii, 1,
Mark ix, 2, there are only “six days,” counted exclusively, or omitting
the extremes. Thus, circumcision is prescribed, Gen. xvii, 11, when
the child is “eight days old;” but in Lev. xii, 3, “on the eighth day.”
And Jesus accordingly was circumcised, ὅτε ἐπλήσθησαν ἡμέραι
ὀκτὼ, “when eight days were accomplished,” Luke ii, 21; whereas
John the Baptist, τῇ ογδοῃ ἡμέρᾳ, “on the eighth day.” The last,
which was the constant usage, explains the meaning of the former.
This critically reconciles our Lord’s resurrection, μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας,
“three days after,” according to Matt. xxvii, 63; Mark viii, 31; with his
resurrection, τῇ τρίτη hήμερᾳ, “on the third day,” according to Matt.
xvi, 21; Luke ix, 22; and according to fact: for our Lord was crucified
on Good Friday, about the third hour; and he arose before sunrise,
πρωΐ, “early,” on Sunday; so that the interval, though extending
through three calendar days current, did not in reality amount to two
entire days, or forty-eight hours. This phraseology is frequent among
the most correct classic writers. Some learned commentators, Beza,
Grotius, Campbell, Newcome, render such phrases, “within eight
days,” “within three days;” which certainly conveys the meaning, but
not the literal translation, of the preposition μετὰ, “after.” In memory
of the primeval week of creation, revived among the Jews, after
their departure from Egypt, their principal festivals, the passover,
pentecost, and tabernacles, lasted a week each. They had weeks of
seven years a piece, at the term of which was the sabbatical year;
as also weeks of seven times seven years, that were terminated by
the year of jubilee; and finally weeks of seven days. And it is
remarkable that, from the earliest times, sacrifices were offered by
sevens. Thus, in the patriarch Job’s days, “seven bullocks and seven
rams were offered up for a burnt offering” of atonement, by the
divine command, Job xiii, 8. The Chaldean diviner, Balaam, built
seven altars, and prepared seven bullocks and seven rams, Num.
xxiii, 1. And the Cumæan sibyl, who came from Chaldea, or
Babylonia, gives the same directions to Æneas, that Balaam did to
Balak:
 Nunc grege de intacto septem mactare juvencos
Præstiterit, totidem lectas, de more, bidentes.

“Seven bullocks, yet unyoked, for Phœbus choose,

And for Diana seven unspotted ewes.”
Dryden.

And when the ark was brought home by David, the Levites offered
seven bullocks and seven rams, 1 Chronicles xv, 26. And hence we
may account for the peculiar sanctity of the seventh day, among the
older Heathen writers, even after the institution of the Sabbath fell
into disuse, and was lost among them.
The Fallow or Sabbatic Year. Agricultural labour among the Jews
ceased every seventh year. Nothing was sown and nothing reaped;
the vines and the olives were not pruned; there was no vintage and
no gathering of fruits, even of what grew wild; but whatever
spontaneous productions there were, were left to the poor, the
traveller, and the wild beast, Lev. xxv, 1–7; Deut. xv, 1–10. The
object of this regulation seems to have been, among others, to let
the ground recover its strength, and to teach the Hebrews to be
provident of their income and to look out for the future. It is true,
that extraordinary fruitfulness was promised on the sixth year, but in
such a way as not to exclude care and foresight, Lev. xxv, 20–24. We
are not to suppose, however, that the Hebrews spent the seventh
year in absolute idleness: they could fish, hunt, take care of their
bees and flocks, repair their buildings and furniture, manufacture
cloths of wool, linen, and of the hair of goats and camels, and carry
on commerce. Finally, they were obliged to remain longer in the
tabernacle or temple this year, during which the whole Mosaic law
was read, in order to be instructed in religious and moral duties, and
the history of their nation, and the wonderful works and blessings of
God, Deut. xxxi, 10–13. This seventh year’s rest, as Moses predicted,
Lev. xxvi, 34, 35, was for a long time neglected, 2 Chron. xxxvi, 21;
after the captivity it was more scrupulously observed.
As a period of seven days was every week completed by the
Sabbath, so was a period of seven years completed by the sabbatic
year. It seems to have been the design of this institution, to afford a
longer opportunity than would otherwise have been enjoyed for
impressing on the memory the great truth, that God the Creator is
alone to be worshipped. The commencement of this year was on the
first day of the seventh month Tishri, or October. During the
continuance of the feast of tabernacles this year, the law was to be
publicly read for eight days together, either in the tabernacle or
temple, Deut. xxxi, 10–13. Debts, on account of there being no
income from the soil, were not collected, Deut. xv, 1, 2; they were
not, however, cancelled, as was imagined by the Talmudists, for we
find in Deut. xv, 9, that the Hebrews are admonished not to deny
money to the poor on account of the approach of the sabbatical
year, during which it could not be exacted; but nothing farther than
this can be educed from that passage. Nor were servants
manumitted on this year, but on the seventh year of their service,
Exodus xxi, 2; Deut. xv, 12; Jer. xxxiv, 14.
The Year of Jubilee followed seven sabbatic years; it was on the
fiftieth year, Lev. xxv, 8–11. To this statement agree the Jews
generally, their rabbins, and the Caraites; and say farther, that the
argument of those who maintain that it was on the forty-ninth, for
the reason that the omission to till the ground for two years in
succession, namely, the forty-ninth and fiftieth, would produce a
famine, is not to be attended to. It is not to be attended to, simply
because these years of rest being known long beforehand, the
people would of course lay up provision for them. It may be
remarked farther in reference to this point, that certain trees
produced their fruits spontaneously, particularly the fig and
sycamore, which yield half the year round, and that those fruits
could be preserved for some months; which explains at once how a
considerable number of the people might have obtained no
inconsiderable portion of their support. The return of the year of
jubilee was announced on the tenth day of the seventh month, or
Tishri, October, being the day of propitiation or atonement, by the
sound of trumpet, Lev. xxv, 8–13; xxvii, 24; Num. xxxvi, 4; Isa. lxi,
1, 2. Beside the regulations which obtained on the sabbatic year,
there were others which concerned the year of jubilee exclusively: 1.
All the servants of Hebrew origin on the year of jubilee obtained
their freedom, Lev. xxv, 39–46; Jer. xxxiv, 7, &c. 2. All the fields
throughout the country, and the houses in the cities and villages of
the Levites and priests which had been sold on the preceding years,
were returned on the year of jubilee to the sellers, with the
exception of those which had been consecrated to God, and had not
been redeemed before the return of the said year, Lev. xxv, 10, 13–
17, 24–28; xxvii, 16–21. 3. Debtors, for the most part, pledged or
mortgaged their lands to the creditor, and left it to his use till the
time of payment, so that it was in effect sold to the creditor, and
was, accordingly, restored to the debtor on the year of jubilee. In
other words, the debts for which land was pledged were cancelled;
the same as those of persons who had recovered their freedom after
having been sold into slavery, on account of not being able to pay.
Hence it usually happened in the later periods of Jewish history, as
we learn from Josephus, that, at the return of jubilee, there was a
general cancelling of debts.

ZABII, or ZABÆANS, or ZABIANS, or SABIANS. The Sabians

mentioned in Scripture were evidently a nation, or perhaps a
wandering horde, such as fell upon Job’s cattle, Job i, 15; men of
stature, Isa. xiv, 14; a people afar off, Joel iii, 8. But we speak here
of the Zabians as a sect, probably the first corrupters of the
patriarchal religion; and so called, as is believed, from tsabiim, the
“hosts,” that is, of heaven; namely, the sun, moon, and stars, to
whom they rendered worship; first immediately, and afterward
through the medium of images; this particularly distinguished them
from the magi, whose idolatry was confined to the solar orb, and its
earthly representative, the fire. If the above derivation be right, the
Zabians were originally Chaldeans, though afterward the same sect
arose in Arabia. Their study of the heavenly bodies led them, not
only to astronomy, but to astrology, its degenerate daughter, which
was for many ages the favourite pursuit of the oriental nations.
The following account is abridged from Dr. Townley’s “Essays;”--
The Zabii, or Zabians, were a sect of idolaters who flourished in the
early ages of the world, considerable in their numbers, and extensive
in their influence. The denomination of Zabii, given to these
idolaters, appears to have been derived from the Hebrew ‫צבא‬, a
host; with reference to the ‫ צכא השמים‬or, host of heaven, which
they worshipped; though others have derived it from the Arabic
tsaba “to apostatize,” “to turn from one religion to another;” or from
‫צביים‬, or the Arabic Tsabin, “Chaldeans,” or “inhabitants of the east.”
Lactantius considers Ham, the son of Noah, as the first seceder from
the true religion after the flood; and supposes Egypt, which was
peopled by his descendants, to have been the country in which
Zabaism, or the worship of the stars, first prevailed. That the
worship of the heavenly bodies prevailed in the east at a very early
period, is certain from the words of Job, who thus exculpates himself
from the charge of idolatry: “If I beheld the sun when it shined, or
the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly
enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand; this also were an
iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the
God that is above,” Job xxii, 26–28. It would appear that the
idolatrous opinions of the Zabii originated with the posterity of Ham,
at a very early period after the flood, in Egypt or Chaldea; but
spread so rapidly and extensively, that in a very short time nearly
the whole of the descendants of Noah were infected with their
pestiferous sentiments and practices. Maimonides says, “This
people,” that is, the Zabii, “had filled the whole world.” Their first
and principal adoration was directed to the host of heaven, or the
stars. They were ignicolæ, or “worshippers of fire.” The city of Ur, in
Chaldea, seems to have had its name from the inhabitants being
devoted to the worship of fire. They dedicated images to the sun
and the other celestial orbs, supposing that, by a formal
consecration of them to those luminaries, a divine virtue was infused
into them, by which they acquired the faculty of understanding, and
the power of conferring prophecy and other gifts upon their
worshippers. These images were formed of various metals,
according to the particular star to which any of them was dedicated.
They also regarded certain trees as being appropriated to particular
stars, and, when idolatrously dedicated, as being possessed of very
singular virtues. From these opinions sprang the adoption of
astrology by them, in all its various forms. They maintained the
doctrine of the eternity of the world. “All the Zabii,” says
Maimonides, “believe in the eternity of the world; for, according to
them, the heavens are God.” Holding the eternity of the world, they
easily became Pre-Adamites, affirming that Adam was not the first
man. They also fabled concerning him, that he was the apostle of
the moon, and the author of several works on husbandry. Of Noah,
they taught, that he was a husbandman, and was imprisoned for
dissenting from their opinions. They add, that Seth was another of
those who forsook the worship of the moon. They held agriculture in
the highest estimation, regarding it as intimately connected with the
worship of the heavenly bodies. On this account, it was deemed
criminal, by the major part of them, to slay or feed upon cattle.
Goats were also reputed to be sacred animals, because the demons
whom they worshipped were said to appear in the woods and
deserts in the forms of goats or of satyrs. Of their superstitious
practices, some were dangerous, as the sacrifices of lions, tigers,
and other wild beasts. Certain of their rites were cruel, as the
passing of their children through the fire, and branding themselves
also with fire. Some of their practices were loathsome and
disgustful; such as eating blood, believing it to be the food of
demons, &c. Others were frivolous and tedious; as offering bats and
mice to the sun, various and frequent ablutions, lustrations, &c.
Some of them were obscene and beastly, as the rites practised on
engrafting a tree, or to obtain rain. Many of the rites were magical.
These Maimonides divides into three kinds:--“The first is that which
respects plants, animals, and metals. The second consists in the
limitation and determination of the times in which certain works
ought to be performed. The third consists in human gestures and
actions, as leaping, clapping the hands, shouting, laughing, lying
down, or stretching at full length upon the ground, burning
particular things, raising a smoke, and, lastly, repeating certain
intelligible or unintelligible words. Some things cannot be completed
without the use of all these rites.” It is generally acknowledged that
some traces of Zabianism are still to be found both among the
Hindoos and Chinese in the east, and the Mexicans and other
nations in the south. The Guebres, or Parsees, who inhabit Persia,
and are scattered through various parts of Hindostan, are the
acknowledged worshippers of fire, or the supreme Deity under that
symbol. “That the Persians,” says Hyde, “were formerly Sabians or
Zabii, is rendered probable by Ibn Phacreddin Angjou, a Persian,
who, in his book ‘Pharhangh Gjihanghiri,’ treating of the Persians
descended from Shem, says in the preface, ‘Their religion, at that
time, was Zabianism; but at length they became magi, and built fire
temples.’ And the author of the book ‘Mu’gjizat Pharsi,’ adopts the
same opinion: ‘In ancient times, the Persians were of the Zabian
religion, worshipping the stars, until the time of Gushtasp, son of
Lohrasp.’ For then Zoroaster reformed their religion.” The modern
Sabians, who inhabit the country round about Mount Libanus,
believe the unity of God, but pay an adoration to the stars, or the
angels and intelligences which they suppose reside in them, and
govern the world under the supreme Deity. They are obliged to pray
three times a day, and they fast three times a year. They offer many
sacrifices, but eat no part of them; and abstain from beans, garlic,
and some other pulse and vegetables. They greatly respect the
temple of Mecca and the pyramids of Egypt, fancying these last to
be the sepulchres of Seth, and of Enoch and Sabi, his two sons,
whom they look on as the first propagators of their religion. At these
structures, they sacrifice a cock and a black calf, and offer up
incense. Their principal pilgrimage, however, is to Haran, the
supposed birth place of Abraham. Such is the account of this sect
given by Sale, D’Herbelot, and Hyde.
ZACCHEUS, chief of the publicans; that is, farmer general of the
revenues, Luke xix, 1, &c. This is all that is known concerning this
person. See Publicans and Sycamore.
ZADOK, son of Ahitub, high priest of the Jews, of the race of
Eleazar. At the death of Ahimelech, or Abiathar, he came to the
pontificate, A. M. 2944. For some time there were two high priests in
Israel, 2 Sam. viii, 17; xv, 24, &c; xix, 11, 12; 1 Kings i, 8, &c. After
the death of David, 1 Kings ii, 35, Solomon excluded Abiathar from
the high priesthood, because he espoused the party of Adonijah,
and made Zadok high priest alone.
ZAMZUMMIM, or ZUZIM, a gigantic race of people, who, together
with the Rephaim and Emim, men of like stature, occupied, in the
time of Abraham, the country east of Jordan and the Dead Sea,
where they were routed by Chedorlaomer, and from which they were
afterward expelled by the Ammonites, Deut. ii, 20, 21. These,
together with the Anakim, another family of giants, were all
evidently of a race foreign to the original inhabitants of the countries
where they were found; they were probably tribes of invading
Cushites. The Vulgate and the Septuagint say, they were conquered
with the Rephaim in Ashteroth-Karnaim. The Chaldee interpreters
have taken Zuzim in the sense of an appellative, for stout and valiant
men; and the Septuagint have rendered the word Zuzim, ἔθνη
ἰσχυρὰ, robust nations. We meet with the word Zuzim only in Gen.
xiv, 5.
ZEAL. The original word, in its primary signification, means heat;
such as the heat of boiling water. When it is figuratively applied to
the mind, it means any warm emotion or affection. Sometimes it is
taken for envy: so we render it, Acts v, 17, where we read, “The high
priest, and all that were with him, were filled with envy,”
ἐπλήσθησαν ζήλου: although it might as well be rendered, “were
filled with zeal.” Sometimes it is taken for anger and indignation;
sometimes, for vehement desire. And when any of our passions are
strongly moved on a religious account, whether for any thing good,
or against any thing which we conceive to be evil, this we term
religious zeal. But it is not all that is called religious zeal which is
worthy of that name. It is not properly religious or Christian zeal, if it
be not joined with charity. A fine writer (Bishop Sprat) carries the
matter farther still. “It has been affirmed,” says he, “no zeal is right,
which is not charitable, but is mostly so. Charity, or love, is not only
one ingredient, but the chief ingredient, in its composition.” May we
not go farther still? May we not say, that true zeal is not mostly
charitable, but wholly so? that is, if we take charity, in St. Paul’s
sense, for love; the love of God and our neighbour. For it is a certain
truth, although little understood in the world, that Christian zeal is all
love. It is nothing else. The love of God and man fills up its whole
nature. Yet it is not every degree of that love to which this
appellation is given. There may be some love, a small degree of it,
where there is no zeal. But it is, properly, love in a higher degree. It
is fervent love. True Christian zeal is no other than the flame of love.
This is the nature, the inmost essence of it. Phinehas is commended
for having expressed much zeal against those wicked persons that
violated the law of the Lord, Num. xxv, 11, 13; and in Psalm lxix, 9,
the psalmist says, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up;” my
earnest desire to have all things duly ordered about thy worship, and
my just displeasure and indignation at all abuses in it, have wasted
my natural moisture and vital spirits.
ZEBOIM, one of the four cities of the Pentapolis, consumed by fire
from heaven, Gen. xiv, 2; xix, 24. Eusebius and St. Jerom speak of
Zeboim as of a city remaining in their time, upon the western shores
of the Dead Sea. Consequently, after the time of Lot this city must
have been rebuilt near the place where it had stood before. Mention
is made of the valley of Zeboim, 1 Sam. xiii, 18, and of a city of the
same name in the tribe of Benjamin, Neh. xi, 34.
ZEBULUN, the sixth son of Jacob and Leah, Gen. xxx, 20. He was
born in Mesopotamia, about A. M. 2256. His sons were Sered, Elon,
and Jahleel, Gen. xlvi, 14. Moses acquaints us with no particulars of
his life; but Jacob, in his last blessing, said of Zebulun, “Zebulun
shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for a haven of
ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon,” Gen. xlix, 13. His portion
extended along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, one end of it
bordering on this sea, and the other on the sea of Tiberias, Joshua
xix, 10, &c. In the last words of Moses, he joins Zebulun and
Issachar together, saying, “Rejoice Zebulun, in thy going out, and
Issachar in thy tents. They shall call the people unto the mountain,
there shall they offer sacrifices of righteousness. For they shall suck
of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand,”
Deut. xxxiii, 18; meaning, that these two tribes being at the greatest
distance north, should come together to the temple at Jerusalem, to
the holy mountain, and should bring with them such of the other
tribes as dwelt in their way; and that being situated on the coast of
the Mediterranean Sea, they should apply themselves to trade and
navigation, and to the melting of metals and glass, denoted by those
words, “treasures hid in the sand.” The river Belus, whose sand was
very fit for making glass, was in this tribe. When the tribe of Zebulun
left Egypt, it had for its chief Eliab the son of Elon, and
comprehended fifty-seven thousand four hundred men able to bear
arms, Num. i, 9–30. In another review thirty-nine years afterward,
this tribe amounted to sixty thousand five hundred men of age to
bear arms, Num. xxvi, 26, 27. The tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali
distinguished themselves in the war of Barak and Deborah against
Sisera, the general of the armies of Jabin, Judges iv, 5, 6, 10; v, 14,
18. It is thought these tribes were the first carried into captivity
beyond the Euphrates by Pul and Tiglath Pileser, kings of Assyria, 1
Chron. v, 26. They had also the advantage of hearing and seeing
Jesus Christ in their country, oftener and longer than any other of
the twelve tribes, Isa. ix, 1; Matthew iv, 13, 15.
ZECHARIAH, king of Israel, 2 Kings xiv, 29. He succeeded his
father Jeroboam II. A. M. 3220. He reigned but six months, and was
murdered.
2. Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, high priest of the Jews; probably the
same as Azariah, 1 Chron. vi, 10, 11. He was put to death by the
order of Joash, A. M. 3164, 2 Chron. xxiv, 20–22. Some think this is
the Zacharias mentioned Matt. xxiii, 35.
3. Zechariah, the eleventh of the twelve lesser prophets, was the
son of Barachiah, and the grandson of Iddo. He was born during the
captivity, and came to Jerusalem when the Jews were permitted by
Cyrus to return to their own country. He began to prophesy two
months later than Haggai, and continued to exercise his office about
two years. Like his contemporary Haggai, Zechariah begins with
exhorting the Jews to proceed in the rebuilding of the temple; he
promises them the aid and protection of God, and assures them of
the speedy increase and prosperity of Jerusalem; he then
emblematically describes the four great empires, and foretels the
glory of the Christian church when Jews and Gentiles shall be united
under their great High Priest and Governor, Jesus Christ, of whom
Joshua the high priest, and Zerubbabel the governor, were types; he
predicts many particulars relative to our Saviour and his kingdom,
and to the future condition of the Jews. Many moral instructions and
admonitions are interspersed throughout the work. Several learned
men have been of opinion that the last six chapters were not written
by Zechariah; but whoever wrote them, their inspired authority is
established by their being quoted in three of the Gospels, Matt. xxvi,
31; Mark xiv, 27; John xix, 37. The style of Zechariah is so
remarkably similar to that of Jeremiah, that the Jews were
accustomed to observe, that the spirit of Jeremiah had passed into
him. By far the greater part of this book is prosaic; but toward the
conclusion there are some poetical passages which are highly
ornamented. The diction is in general perspicuous, and the
transitions to the different subjects are easily discerned.
ZEDEKIAH, or MATTANIAH, was the last king of Judah before the
captivity of Babylon. He was the son of Josiah, and uncle to
Jehoiachin his predecessor, 2 Kings xxiv, 17, 19. When
Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem, he carried Jehoiachin to Babylon,
with his wives, children, officers, and the best artificers in Judea,
and put in his place his uncle Mattaniah, whose name he changed
into Zedekiah, and made him promise, with an oath, that he would
continue in fidelity to him, A. M. 3405, 2 Chron. xxxvi, 13; Ezek. xvii,
12, 14, 18. He was twenty-one years old when he began to reign at
Jerusalem, and he reigned there eleven years. He did evil in the
sight of the Lord, committing the same crimes as Jehoiakim, 2 Kings
xxiv, 18–20; 2 Chron. xxxvi, 11–13; and regarded not the menaces
of the Prophet Jeremiah, from the Lord; but hardened his heart. The
princes of the people, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, imitated his
impiety, and abandoned themselves to all the abominations of the
Gentiles. In the first year of his reign, Zedekiah sent to Babylon
Elasah, the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah,
probably to carry his tribute to Nebuchadnezzar. By these
messengers Jeremiah sent a letter to the captives at Babylon, Jer.
xxix, 1–23. Four years afterward, either Zedekiah went thither
himself, or at least he sent thither; for the Hebrew text may admit
either of these interpretations, Jer. li, 59; Baruch i, 1; Jer. xxxii, 12.
The chief design of this deputation was to entreat Nebuchadnezzar
to return the sacred vessels of the temple, Baruch i, 8. In the ninth
year of his reign, he revolted against Nebuchadnezzar, 2 Kings xxv. It
was a sabbatical year, in which the people should set their slaves at
liberty, according to the law, Exod. xxi, 2; Deut. xv, 1, 2, 12; Jer.
xxxiv, 8–10. Then King Nebuchadnezzar marched his army against
Zedekiah, and took all the fortified places of his kingdom, except
Lachish, Azekah, and Jerusalem. He sat down before the last-
mentioned city on the tenth day of the tenth month of the holy year,
which answers to our January. Some time afterward, Pharaoh
Hophrah, king of Egypt, marched to assist Zedekiah, Jer. xxxvii, 3–5,
10. Nebuchadnezzar left Jerusalem, and went to meet him, defeated
him, and obliged him to return into Egypt; after which he resumed
the siege of Jerusalem. In the mean while, the people of Jerusalem,
as if freed from the fear of Nebuchadnezzar, retook the slaves whom
they had set at liberty, which drew upon them great reproaches and
threatenings from Jeremiah, xxxiv, 11, 22. During the siege Zedekiah
often consulted Jeremiah, who advised him to surrender, and
pronounced the greatest woes against him if he should persist in his
rebellion, Jer. xxxvii, 3, 10; xxi. But this unfortunate prince had
neither patience to hear, nor resolution to follow, good counsels. In
the eleventh year of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month,
(July,) Jerusalem was taken, 2 Kings xxv, 2–4; Jer. xxxix, 2, 3; lii, 5–
7. Zedekiah and his people endeavoured to escape by favour of the
night; but the Chaldean troops pursuing them, they were overtaken
in the plains of Jericho. He was seized and carried to
Nebuchadnezzar, then at Riblah, a city of Syria. The king of Chaldea,
reproaching him with his perfidy, caused all his children to be slain
before his face, and his eyes to be put out; then loading him with
chains of brass, he ordered him to be sent to Babylon, 2 Kings xxv,
4–7; Jer. xxxii, 4–7; lii, 4–11. Thus were accomplished two
prophecies which seemed contradictory: one of Jeremiah, who said
that Zedekiah should see and yet not see, Nebuchadnezzar with his
eyes, Jer. xxxii, 4, 5; xxxiv, 3; and the other of Ezek. xii, 13, which
intimated that he should not see Babylon, though he should die
there. The year of his death is not known. Jeremiah had assured him
that he should die in peace; that his body should be burned, as
those of the kings of Judah usually were; and that they should
mourn for him, saying, “Ah, lord!” Jer. xxxiv, 4, 5.
ZEPHANIAH was the son of Cushi, and was probably of a noble
family of the tribe of Simeon. He prophesied in the reign of Josiah,
about B. C. 630. He denounces the judgments of God against the
idolatry and sins of his countrymen, and exhorts them to
repentance; he predicts the punishment of the Philistines, Moabites,
Ammonites, and Ethiopians, and foretels the destruction of Nineveh;
he again inveighs against the corruptions of Jerusalem, and with his
threats mixes promises of future favour and prosperity to his people;
whose recall from their dispersion shall glorify the name of God
throughout the world. The style of Zephaniah is poetical; but it is not
distinguished by any peculiar elegance or beauty, though generally
animated and impressive.
ZERUBBABEL, or ZEROBABEL, was son of Salathiel, of the royal
race of David. St. Matthew, i, 12, and 1 Chron. iii, 17, 19, make
Jeconiah king of Judah to be father to Salathiel; but they do not
agree as to the father of Zerubbabel. The Chronicles say Pedaiah
was father of Zerubbabel; but St. Matthew, St. Luke, Ezra, and
Haggai, constantly make Salathiel his father. We must therefore take
the name of son in the sense of grandson, and say that Salathiel
having educated Zerubbabel, he was always afterward looked upon
as his father. Some think that Zerubbabel had also the name of
Sheshbazzar, and that he has this name in Ezra i, 8. Zerubbabel
returned to Jerusalem long before the reign of Darius, son of
Hystaspes. He returned at the beginning of the reign of Cyrus, A. M.
3468, fifteen years before Darius. Cyrus committed to his care the
sacred vessels of the temple with which he returned to Jerusalem,
Ezra i, 11. He is always named first, as being the chief of the Jews
that returned to their own country, Ezra ii, 2; iii, 8; v, 2; he laid the
foundations of the temple, Ezra iii, 8, 9; Zech. iv, 9, &c; and restored
the worship of the Lord, and the usual sacrifices. When the
Samaritans offered to assist in rebuilding the temple, Zerubbabel
and the principal men of Judah refused them this honour, since
Cyrus had granted his commission to the Jews only, Ezra iv, 2, 3.
 ZIKLAG, a city of the Philistines, first assigned to the tribe of
Judah, and afterward to that of Simeon, Joshua xv, 31; xix, 5; but it
does not appear that the Philistines were ever driven out; as, when
David fled into their country from Saul, Achish gave the city to him,
1 Sam. xxvii, 5, 6. It was afterward burned by the Amalekites, 1
Sam. xxx, 1. But it appears to have been rebuilt, as the author of
the First Book of Samuel, when relating its being given to David,
adds, that it pertained to the kings of Judah in his time.
ZION. See Sion.
ZUZIM. See Zamzummim.
 AN ALPHABETICAL
TABLE OF THE PROPER NAMES

IN

THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS;

WITH

THEIR PRONUNCIATION,
AND

THE CHIEF MEANING OR LEADING SIGNIFICATION

OF EACH WORD IN
ITS ORIGINAL LANGUAGE.

AARON, Ay´-ron, lofty, mountainous.

Abad´don, the destroyer.
Abagtha, Ab-ag´-tha, father of the wine press.
Abana, Ab-ay´-nah, stony.
Abarim, Ab´-a-rim, passages.
Ab´aron, strength.
Ab´ba, father.
Ab´da, a servant.
Ab´di, my servant.
Abdiel, Ab´-de-el, a servant of God.
Ab´don, a servant.
Abed-nego, A-bed´-ne-go, servant of light.
A´bel, vanity, vapour, mourning.
Abel-beth-maachah, Ay´-bel-beth-ma-ay´-kah, mourning of the house
of Maachah.
A´bel-ma´im, the mourning of the waters.
Abel-meholah, Ay´-bel-me-ho´-lah, mourning of weakness, of
sickness.
Abel-mizraim, Ay´-bel-miz-ra´-im, the mourning of the Egyptians.
A´bel-shit´tim, mourning of the thorns.
A´bez, an egg, muddy.
Abi, A´-be, my father.
Abiah, Ab-i´-ah, the Lord is my father.
Abi´ahil, the father of light or praise.
Abi-albon, Ab-e-al´-bon, intelligent father.
Ab´iam, the father of the sea.
Abi-as´aph, a gathering or consuming father.
Abiathar, Ab-i´-a-thar, excellent father.
A´bib, green fruits, ears of corn.
Abi´dah, father of knowledge.
Abi´dan, father of judgment.
Abiel, Ab´-e-el, God my father.
Abiezer, Ab-e-e´-zer, father of help.
Abi-ezrite, Ab-e-ez´-rite.
Abigail, Ab´-e-gal, the joy of the father.
Abi´-gibeon, the father of the cup, father of Gibeon.
Abihail, Ab-e-hay´-il, the father of strength.
Abi´hu, he is my father, or his father.
Abi´hud, the father of praise or confession.
Abijah, Ab-i´-jah, the will of the Lord.
Abi´jam, father of the sea.
Abilene, Ab-e-le´-ne, the father of the apartment, or of mourning.
Abimael, Ab-be-may´-el, a father sent from God, my father comes
from God.
Abimelech, Ab-im´-me-lek, father of the king.
Abinadab, Ab-in´-na-dab, father of willingness, my father is a prince.
Abinoam, Ab-in´-no-am, father of beauty or comeliness, my father is
beautiful.
Abiram, Ab-i´-ram, a high father, father of
fraud.
Abishag, Ab´-be-shag, ignorance of the father.
Abishai, Ab-bish´-a-i, the present of my father, the father of the
sacrifice.
Abishalom, Ab-bish´-a-lom, the father of peace, the recompence of
the father.
Abishua, Ab-bish´-u-a, father of salvation or of magnificence.
Abishur, Ab´-be-shur, the father of the wall or of uprightness.
Abital, Ab´-be-tal, the father of the dew.
Abitub, Ab´-be-tub, father of goodness.
Abiud, Ab´-be-ud, father of praise.
Ab´ner, father of light, the son of the father.
A´braham, the father of a great multitude.
A´bram, a high father, the father of elevation.
Ab´salom, father of peace.
Accad, Ak´-ad, a pitcher, a sparkle.
Accho, Ak´-ko, close, pressed together.
Aceldama, A-kel´-da-mah, the field of blood.
Achaia, A-kay´-yah, grief, trouble.
Achaicus, A-kay´-e-kus, a native of Achaia.
Achan, Achar, A´-kan, A´-kar, he that troubles and bruises.
Achbor, Ak´-bor, a rat, bruising.
Achim, A´-kim, preparing, confirming, revenging.
Achir, A´-ker, the brother’s light.
Achish, A´-kish, thus it is, how is this?
Achmetha, Ak´-me-thah.
Achor, A´-kor, trouble.
Achsah, Ak´-sah, adorned, bursting of the veil.
Achshaph, Ak´-shaph, poison, tricks, one that breaks, the brim of any
thing.
Achzib, Ak´-zib, liar, one that runs.
Adadah, Ad´-a-dah, the testimony of the assembly.
Adah, Ay´-dah, an assembly.
Adaiah, Ad-a´-yah, the witness of the Lord.
Adaliah, Ad-a-ly´-ah, one that draws water, poverty, cloud, death.
Ad´am, earthy, taken out of red earth.
Adamah, Ad´-da-mah, red earth.
Adami, Ad´-da-my, my man, red, earthy.
A´dar, high, eminent.
Adbeel, Ad´-be-el, a vapour, a cloud of God, a vexer of God.
Ad´di, my witness, adorned, passage, prey.
Ad´don, basis, foundation, the Lord.
Adiel, Ad´-i-el, the witness of the Lord.
Adin, Ad´-din, adorned, dainty.
Adithaim, Ad-e-thay´-im, assemblies, testimonies.
Adlai, Ad-lay´-i, my witness, my ornament.
Ad´mah, earthy, red earth.
Admatha, Ad´-ma-thah, a cloud of death, a mortal vapour.
Ad´nah, rest, testimony, eternal.
Adona´i, my Lord.
Adoni-bezek, Ad´-o-ne-bee´-zek, the lightning of the Lord, the Lord of
Bezek.
Adonijah, Ad-o-ny´-jah, the Lord is my master.
Adonikam, Ad-o-ny´-kam, the Lord is raised, my Lord hath raised me.
Adoniram, Ad-o-ny´-ram, my Lord is most high, the Lord of might and
elevation.
Adoni-zedek, Ad´-o-ne-zee´-dek, justice of the Lord.
Adoraim, Ad-o-ray´-im, strength or power of the sea.
Adoram, Ad-o´-ram, their beauty, their power, their praise.
Adrammelech, Ad-ram´-me-lek, the cloak or glory of the king.
Adramyttium, Ad-ra-mit´-te-um, the court of death.
Adria, Ay´-dre-ah, the name of a city, which gives name to the
Adriatic Sea, now the Gulf of Venice.
A´driel, the flock of God.
Adullam, Ad-ul´-lam, their testimony, their prey, their ornament.
Adum´mim, earthly or bloody things.
Æ´neas, praised.
Agabus, Ag´-ga-bus, a locust, the feast of the father.
Agag, Ay´-gag, roof, floor.
A´gagite, of the race of Agag.
Aga´pæ, love feasts.
Agar, see Hagar.
Agi´e, a valley, deepness.
Agrippa, A-grip´-pah, one who at his birth causes great pain.
A´gur, a stranger, gathering.
A´hab, the brother of the father.
Aha´rah, a sweet brother, an odoriferous meadow.
Ahar´hel, another host, another sorrow, the sleep of the brother.
Ahasba´i, trusting in me, brother compassing. In Syriac, a brother of
age.
Ahasuerus, A-has-u-e´-rus, prince, chief.
Ahava, A-hay´-vah, essence, generation.
A´haz, one that takes and possesses.
Ahaziah, A-ha-zy´-ah, possession, vision of the Lord.
Ahi, my brother, my brethren.
Ahiah, A-hy´-ah, brother of the Lord.
Ahiam, A-hy´am, brother of the mother, brother of the nation.
Ahian, A-hy´-an, brother of wine.
Ahie´zer, brother of assistance.
Ahi´hud, brother of vanity, a brother of praise.
Ahijah, the same as Ahiah.
Ahikam, A-hy´-kam, a brother that raises up.
Ahi´lud, a brother born.
Ahim´aaz, brother of the council.
Ahi´man, a brother prepared.
Ahimelech, A-him´-me-lek, my brother is a king.
Ahimoth, A´-he-moth, brother of death.
Ahin´adab, a willing brother, a brother of a vow, brother of the prince.
Ahinoam, A-hin´-no-am, the beauty and comeliness of the brother.
Ahi´o, his brother, his brethren.
Ahior. See Achior.
Ahira, A-hy´-rah, brother of iniquity or of the shepherd.
Ahiram, A-hy´-ram, brother of craft, protection.
Ahisamach, A-his´-sa-mak, brother of strength or of support.
Ahishabar, A-his´-sa-bar, brother of the morning or dew, brother of
blackness.
Ahi´shar, brother of a prince.
Ahithophel, A-hit´-to-fel, brother of ruin or folly.
Ahi´tub, brother of goodness.
Ah´lab, which is of milk, is fat.
Ah´lai, beseeching, sorrowing, beginning, brother to me.
Aho´ah, a thistle, a thorn, a fish hook, brotherhood.
Aho´hi, a living brother, my thistle or thorn.
Aho´lah, his tabernacle, his tent.
Aholiab, A-ho´-le-ab, the tent or tabernacle of the father.
Aholibah, A-ho´-le-bah, my tent and my tabernacle in her.
Aholibamah, A-ho´-le-bay´-mah, my tabernacle is exalted.
Ahran. See Charan.
Ahu´mar, a meadow of waters, brother of waters.
Ahu´zam, their taking possession, vision.
Ahuz´zah, possession, apprehension, vision.
Ai, or Hai, Ay´-i, mass, heap.
Ai´ah, a raven, a vulture, alas, where is it?
Ai´ath, an hour.
Ai´n, an eye, a fountain.
Aioth, the same as Ai.
Ajalon, Ad´-ja-lon, a chain, strength, a stag.
Ak´kub, the print of the foot where any creature hath gone,
supplantation.
Alammelech, Al-am´-me-lek, God is king.
Al´cimus, strong, of strength.
Al´emeth, a hiding, youth, worlds, upon the dead.
Al´emis, strength.
Alexan´der, one that assists men, one that turns away evil.
Alexandria, Al-ex-an´-dre-a, the city of Alexander.
Alleluia, Al-le-lu´-yah, praise the Lord.
A´lian, high.
Al´lon, an oak.
Allon-bachuth, Al´-lon-bak´-kuth, the oak of weeping.
Almo´dad, measure of God.
Al´mon, hidden.
Al´mon-dib´lathaim, a hiding, a heap of fig trees.
Alpha, Al´-fah, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, marked A.
Alpheus, Al-fe´-us, a thousand, chief.
A´mad, a people of witness, people everlasting.
Am´alek, a people that licks up or uses ill.
Amal´ekites, people descended from Amalek.
A´mam, mother, fear of them, people.
Amana, Am-ay´-nah, integrity and truth.
Amariah, Am-a-ry´-ah, the Lord says, the excellency of the Lord.
Amasa, Am-ay´-sah, a forgiving people, the burden of the people.
Amaziah, Am-a-zy´-ah, the strength of the Lord.
A´mi. See Amam.
Am´mah, my people.
Ammi, the same as Ammah.
Ammihud, Am´-me-hud, people of praise.
Amminadab, Am-min´-na-dab, prince of the people, a people that
vows.
Ammishaddai, Am-me-shad´-day-i, the people of the Almighty.
Am´mon, the son of my people.
Am´monites, a people descended from Benammi, son of Lot.
Am´non, faithful and true, foster father.
Amon, Ay´-mon, faithful, true.
Am´orite, bitter, a rebel, a babbler.
Amos, Ay´-mos, loading, weighty.
Amoz, Ay´-moz, strong, robust.
Amphipolis, Am-fip´-po-lis, a city encompassed by the sea.
Amplias, Am´-ple-as, large, extensive.
Am´ram, an exalted people, handfuls of corn.
Amraphel, Am´-ra-fel, one that speaks of hidden things or of ruin.
Am´zi, strong, mighty.
A´nab, a grape, a knot.
Anah, Ay´-nah, one who answers or sings, poor, afflicted.
Anak, Ay´-nak, a collar, an ornament.
Anakims, An´-ak-ims. See Anak.
Anammelech, An-am´-me-lek, answer, song of the king.
A´nan, a cloud, a prophecy.
Ananias, An-a-ny´-as, the cloud of the Lord.
Anathoth, An´-a-thoth, answer, affliction.
Andrew, An´drue, a stout and strong man.
Andronicus, An-dron´-ne-kus, a man excelling others.
Aner, Ay´-ner, answer, song, affliction.
An´na, gracious, merciful.
An´nas, one that answers, that afflicts.
An´tichrist, an adversary to Christ.
Antioch, An´-te-ok, instead of a chariot.
An´tipas, against all.
Antipatris, An-te-pay´-tris, against his own father.
Apelles, A-pel´-lees, to exclude, to separate.
Aphek, Ay´-fek, a stream, vigour.
Apollonia, Ap-po-lo´-ne-ah, perdition.
Apol´los, one that destroys and lays waste.
Apollyon, A-pol´-le-on, one that exterminates or destroys.
Apphia, Af´-e-ah, that is fruitful.
Appii-forum, Ap´-pe-i-fo´-rum, a town so called from Appius Claudius,
whose statue was erected there.
Aquila, Ak´-we-lah, an eagle.
Ar, awaking, uncovering.
Ara´bia, evening, a place wild and desert; mixtures, because this
country was inhabited by different kinds of people.
Ara´bian, an inhabitant of Arabia.
A´rad, a wild ass, a dragon.
A´ram, magnificence, one that deceives.
Ararat, Ar´-ra-rat, the curse of trembling.
Araunah, A-raw´-nah, ark, song, curse.
Ar´ba, the city of the four.
Archelaus, Ar-ke´-lay-us, the prince of the people.
Archippus, Ar-kip´-pus, governor of horses.
Arcturus, Ark-tew´-rus, a gathering together.
Ard, one that commands.
Areli, Ar-e´-lie, the light or vision of God.
Areopagite, A-re-op´-a-gyte, belonging to the council called
Areopagus.
Areopagus, A-re-op´-a-gus, the hill of Mars; a place where the
magistrates of Athens held their supreme council; from ἀρεῖος, “of
Mars,” and ϖάγος, “a hill.”
Aretas, A-re´-tas, one that is agreeable or virtuous.
Ar´gob, a turf of earth, curse of the well.
Ariel, Ay´-re-el, the altar, light, lion of God.
Arimathea, Ar-re-ma-the´-ah, a lion dead to the Lord. Ramath, or
Ramah, a city where Samuel dwelt.
Arioch, Ar´-e-ok, long, your drunkenness, your lion.
Aristarchus, A-ris-tar´-kus, the best prince.
Aristobulus, A-ris-tob´-bu-lus, a good counsellor.
Armageddon, Ar-ma-ged´-don, the mountain of Megiddo, of the
gospel, of fruits.
Armenia, Ar-me´-ne-ah, a province which is supposed to take its
name from Aram.
Ar´non, rejoicing, their ark.
Ar´oer, heath, tamarisk, the nakedness of the skin or of the enemy.
Ar´pad, the light of redemption, that lies down.
Arphaxad, Ar-fak´s-ad, one that heals or releases.
Artaxerxes, Ar-taks-erk´s-es, in Hebrew, Artachsasta, the silence of
light.
Artemas, Ar´-te-mas, whole, sound.
Asa, Ay´-sah, physician, cure.
Asahel, As´-a-el, the work or creature of God.
Asaiah, As´-a-i-ah, the Lord hath wrought.
Asaph, Ay´-saf, one that assembles together.
Asenath, As´-e-nath, peril, misfortune.
A´shan, vapour, smoke.
Ash´dod, inclination, a wild open place.
Ash´er, blessedness.
As´hiel, the work of God.
Ashima, Ash´-e-mah, crime, position, fire of the sea.
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