ARYAN LANGUAGES (The)—­

1.  Sanskrit, whence Hindustanee. 2.  Zend, whence Persian. 3.  Greek, whence Romaic. 4.  Latin, whence Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Wallachian (Romance). 5.  Keltic, whence Welsh, Irish, Gaelic. 6.  Gothic, whence Teutonic, English, Scandinavian. 7.  Slavonic, whence European Russian, and Austrian.

AS YOU LIKE IT, a comedy by Shakespeare.  One of the French dukes, being driven from his dukedom by his brother, went with certain followers to the forest of Arden, where they lived a free and easy life, chiefly occupied in the chase.  The deposed duke had one daughter, named Rosalind, whom the usurper kept at court as the companion of his own daughter Celia, and the two cousins were very fond of each other.  At a wrestling match Rosalind fell in love with Orlando, who threw his antagonist, a giant and professional athlete.  The usurping duke (Frederick) now banished her from the court, but her cousin Celia resolved to go to Arden with her; so Rosalind in boy’s clothes (under the name of Ganymede), and Celia as a rustic maiden (under the name of Alie’na), started to find the deposed duke.  Orlando being driven from home by his elder brother, also went to the forest of Arden, and was taken under the duke’s protection.  Here he met the ladies, and a double marriage was the result—­Orlando married Rosalind, and his elder brother Oliver married Celia.  The usurper retired to a religious house, and the deposed duke was restored to his dominions.—­(1598.)

ASAPH.  So Tate calls Dryden in Absalom and Achitophel.

  While Judah’s throne and Zion’s rock stand fast,
  The song of Asaph and his fame shall last.

  Part ii.

Asaph (St.) a British [i.e.  Welsh] monk of the sixth century, abbot of Llan-Elvy, which changed its name to St. Asaph, in honor of him.

  So bishops can she bring, of which her saints shall be: 
  As Asaph, who first gave that name unto that see.

  Drayton, Polyolbion, xxiv. (1622).

ASCAL’APHOS, son of Acheron, turned into an owl for tale-telling and trying to make mischief.—­Greek Fable.

ASCA’NIO, son of don Henrique (2 syl.), in the comedy called The Spanish Curate, by Beaumont and Fletcher (1622).

AS’CAPART or AS’CUPART, an enormous giant, thirty feet high, who carried off sir Bevis, his wife Jos’ian, his sword Morglay, and his steed Ar’undel, under his arm.  Sir Bevis afterwards made Ascapart his slave, to run beside his horse.  The effigy of sir Bevis is on the city gates of Southampton.—­Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. (1612).

He was a man whose huge stature, thews, sinews, and bulk ... would have enabled him to enact “Colbrand,” “Ascapart,” or any other giant of romance, without raising himself nearer to heaven even by the altitude of a chopin.—­Sir W. Scott.

  Those Ascaparts, men big enough to throw
  Charing Cross for a bar.