TThe twentieth letter of the English alphabet. Its Semitic original tail, the last letter of the Phoenician alphabet, meant cross, and was so called on account of the early shape of the character. The various forms which it has assumed are as follows: XT XTT Earl J Greek aud Latin. T' Later Greek and Latin. Phoenician. As a phonetic character i is the voiceless alveo- lar explosive. To form this sound the tongue- tip is brought into contact with the sockets of the upper front teeth, and the breath is made to escape explosively. English / represents in general an original Indo-Germanic d, as Sanskrit dam, 'to tame,' Greek Sa/idu, Latin doinare, English lame. It maj^ also represent an original Indo-Germanic t, as in Sanskrit stigh, 'to .step,' Greek areixu, Anglo-Saxon stigan, English stile. An excrescent t occurs especially between s and r. as a glide- sound between the median and lateral positions of the tongue, as in English stream, compared with Sanskrit sravas. An inorganic t has also been developed in some modern English words after a final s, as amidst from amiddes, amongst from amonges, iehilst from ichiles, and in the dialectic oncet, tu-icet. The digraph th represents both the voiced and the voiceless spirant, as then, thorough. It may be pronoimeed t, as Thames, thyme, as may also the -ed of the preterite and perfect par- ticiple, as dressed. In several words t is silent, as in chasten, moisten, christen, castle, gristle, hustle. In action, nation, portion, ti has the Bound of -sh. As a mediaeval numeral T = 160; T = 100,000. In music * = tenor, tempo. TAAFFE, tii'fe, Eduaed, Coimt (1833-0.5). An Austrian statesman of Irish extraction. He was born at Prague, and was educated in com- panionship with the Emperor Francis .Joseph. He entered the public service in 18.57 and was appointed Governor of Salzburg 'in 1863. He was Minister of the Interior in 1867 and Jlinister of National Defense in 1868. becoming president of the Council after Prince Anersperg's retirement in Septeinber. 1868. He resigned in .January, 1870. but throe months later became again Min- ister of the Interior and remained in office until February, 1871, when he was made Governor of 794 Tyrol and Vorarllierg. In February, 1879, Taaffe was once more appointed Minister of the Interior and in August he formed a new Cal)inet. over which he presided until 1893. The distinguishing feature of his administration was the greater weight given to the Slav nationalities, especially the Czechs and the Poles, as well as to the cleri- cals, in the public affairs of the Empire and his vain etl'ort to conciliate the divergent na- tionalities comprised in the Empire. He finally attempted to sustain his Government bv a radi- cal electoral reform measure, which displeased all parties, and was compelled to retire in No- vember, 1893. He died November 29, 1895. TAAL, till. A town of Luzon, Philippines, in the Province of Batangas. It is on the Transipit River near its fall into the Gulf of Balayan, and is connected by a bridge with Lemeri on the oppo- site bank { Map : Luzon, Ell). It carries on a large trade in coffee, sugar, and cotton goods in addition to the local industries of agriculture, fishing, aud stock-raising. TJie old town of Taal was situated on the bank of the lake of the same name near the volcano Taal (q.v.). and was destroyed in 1754. Population, in 1897, 22,000, now estimated at about 33.400, of wliom a con- siderable number are of Chinese origin. TAAL, or BoMBON. A volcano in Central Luzon, Philippines. It forms a small island in the middle of Lake Taal. which lies 10 miles soutliwest of the Bay Lagoon. Its lieight is only a little over 1000 feet, but it has a crater over a mile in diameter. A number of eruptions have been recorded since the discovery of the islands, the last occurring in 1873. TAAXIBI, tii-le'be (Ar. Abu Mnnsur Abd al-ilalik ihn Muhammad ibn Isma 'U al-Ta 'alibi) (961-1038). A prolific writer upon philological and literary subjects. He was a native of Persia, his birthplace being Nisaliur. and he represented the Persian-Arabic school of literature. Arabic philology was now passing from the ancient schools of Basra and Kufa to Persian soil. Por- tions of Taalibi's works have been edited in Eu- rope and translated, for example: Seligman, Prnrrtnium et Sprrimeii J.exiri Sti/iiont/miri .!»■- ahiri Atthalibi (JTpsala. 1S63) : Cool. Selccta ex Thaalehii Lihrn Facetinnini (Leyden, 183.5) ; Valeton. Talihii ffgutagma Dirfonim lirei'iiim et Ariitorum (Leyden, 1844). Consult Brockelmann, Orschiehte der arabischen Litteratur (Weimar, 1898).
