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SALUTATIONS, or GREETINGS

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 96 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SALUTATIONS, or GREETINGS , the customary forms of kindly or respectful address, especially on See also:meeting or parting or on occasions of ceremonious approach. Etymologically the word salutation (See also:Lat. salutatio, " wishing See also:health ") refers only to words spoken. Forms of salutation frequent among savages and barbarians may last on almost unchanged in civilized See also:custom. The See also:habit of affectionate clasping or embracing is seen at the meetings of the Andaman islanders and Australian blacks, or where the Fuegians in friendly salute See also:hug " like the grip of a See also:bear."' This natural gesture appears in old Semitic and See also:Aryan custom: " See also:Esau ran to meet him (See also:Jacob) and embraced him, and See also:fell on his See also:neck, and kissed him, and they wept " (Gen. xxxiii. 4) ; SO, when See also:Odysseus makes himself known, Philoetius and Eumaeus See also:cast their arms See also:round him with kisses on the See also:head, hands and shoulders (Odyss. xxi. 223). The See also:idea of the See also:kiss being an instinctive gesture is negatived by its being unknown over See also:half the See also:world, where the prevailing salute is that by smelling or sniffing (often called by travellers "rubbing noses "), which belongs to Polynesians, See also:Malays, Burmese and other Indo-See also:Chinese, See also:Mongols, &c., extending thence eastward to the See also:Eskimo and westward to See also:Lapland, where See also:Linnaeus saw relatives saluting by putting their noses together? This seems the only See also:appearance of the habit in See also:Europe. On the other See also:hand the kiss, the salute by tasting, appears constantly in Semitic and Aryan antiquity, as in the above cases from the See also:book of See also:Genesis and the Odyssey, or in See also:Herodotus's description of the Persians of his See also:time kissing one another—if equals on the mouth, if one was somewhat inferior on the cheek (See also:Herod. i. 134). In See also:Greece in the classic See also:period it became customary to kiss the hand, See also:breast or See also:knee of a See also:superior. In See also:Rome the kisses of inferiors became a burdensome civility (See also:Martial xii.

59). The See also:

early Christians made it the sign of fellowship: "greet all the brethren with an See also:holy kiss" (1 Thess. v. 26; cf. Rom. xvi. 16, &c.). It early passed into more ceremonial See also:form in the kiss of See also:peace given to the newly baptized and in the celebration of the See also:Eucharist;3 this is retained by the See also:Oriental See also:Church. After a time, however, its indiscriminate use between the sexes gave rise to scandals, and it was restricted by ecclesiastical regulations —men being only allowed to kiss men, and See also:women women, and eventually in the See also:Roman Church the ceremonial kiss at the communion being only exchanged by the ministers, but a relic or See also:cross called an osculatorium or See also:pax being carried to the See also:people to be kissed' While the kiss has thus been adopted as a religious rite, its See also:original social use has continued. Among men, however, it has become less effusive, the alteration being marked in See also:England at the end of the 17th See also:century by such passages as the See also:advice to See also:Sir Wilfull by his See also:London-bred See also:brother: " in the See also:country, where See also:great lubberly See also:brothers slabber and kiss one another when they meet; . . . 'T is not the See also:fashion here."' See also:Court ceremonial keeps up the kiss on the cheek between sovereigns and the kissing of the hand by subjects, and the See also:pope, like a Roman See also:emperor, receives the kiss on his See also:foot. A curious trace which these osculations have See also:left behind is that when ceasing to be performed they are still talked of by way of politeness: Austrians say, "Kass d'Hand!" and Spaniards, "Beso a Vd. See also:las manos!" "I kiss your hands!" Strokings, pattings and other caresses have been turned to use as salutations, but have not a wide enough range to make them important. Weeping for joy, often occurring naturally at meetings, is sometimes affected as a salutation; but this seems to be different from the highly ceremonious weeping performed by several See also:rude races when, meeting after See also:absence, they renew the See also:lamentations over those See also:friends who have died in the meantime.

The typical See also:

case is that of the Australian natives, where the male nearest of See also:kin presses his breast to the new corner's, and the nearest See also:female relative, with piteous lamentations, embraces his knees with one hand, while with the other she scratches her See also:face till the See also:blood drops 9 Obviously this is no joy-weeping, but See also:mourning, and the same is true of the New See also:Zealand tangi, which is performed at the reception of a distinguished visitor, whether he has really dead friends to mourn or not.' Cowering or crouching is a natural gesture of fear or inability to resist that belongs to the brutes as well as See also:man; its extreme form is lying prostrate face to ground. In barbaric society, as soon as 1W. P. See also:Snow in Trans. Ethnol. See also:Soc., n.s., i. 263. 2 J. E. See also:Smith, Linnaeus's Tour in Lapland, i. 315. ' See also:Bingham, Antiquities of the Chr.

Church, bk. xii. c. 4, xv. C. 3. The latter See also:

term has supplied the Irish See also:language with its term for a kiss, pog, Welsh poc ; see Rhys, Revue Celtique, vi. 43. See also:Congreve's Way of the World, See also:act iii. ° See also:Grey, See also:Journals, ii. 255. 7 A. See also:Taylor, New Zealand, p. 221.distinctions are marked between See also:master and slave, See also:chief and commoner, these tokens of submission become salutations.

The sculptures of See also:

Egypt and See also:Assyria show the lowly prostrationsof the See also:ancient See also:East, while in See also:Dahomey or See also:Siam subjects crawl before the See also:king, and even Siberian peasants grovel and kiss the dust before a See also:noble. A later See also:stage is to suggest, but not actually perform, the prostration, as the Arab bends his hand to the ground and puts it to his lips or forehead, or the Tongan would See also:touch the See also:sole of a chief's foot, thus symbolically placing himself under his feet. Kneeling prevails in the See also:middle stages of culture, as in the ceremonial of See also:China; See also:Hebrew custom sets it rather apart as an act of See also:homage to a deity (1 See also:Kings xix. 18; Isa. xlv. 23); See also:medieval Europe distinguishes . between kneeling in See also:worship on both knees and on one knee only in homage, as in the Boke of Curtasye (15th century): " Be curtayse to See also:god, and knele doun On bothe knees with grete deuocioun; To mon Doti shalle knele See also:opon be ton, j1e tojier to See also:jay self Doti halde See also:aloe." Bowing, as a salute of reverence, appears in its extreme in Oriental custom, as among the ancient Israelites: " bowed himself to the ground seven times " (Gen. xxxiii. 3).7 The Chinese according to the degree of respect implied See also:bow kneeling or See also:standing .9 The bowing salutation, varying in Europe from something less than the Eastern See also:salaam down to the slightest inclination of the head, is interesting from being given mutually, the two saluters each making the sign of submission to the other, which would have been absurd till the sign passed into See also:mere civility. Uncovering is a See also:common mode of salutation, originally a sign of disarming or defencelessness or destitution in the presence of a superior. Polynesian or See also:African chiefs require more or less stripping, such as the uncovering to the See also:waist which See also:Captain See also:Cook describes in See also:Tahiti.10 Taking off the See also:hat by men has for ages been the accepted mode in the Western world. See also:Modern usage has moderated this bowing and scraping (the scrape is throwing back the right See also:leg as the See also:body is See also:bent forward), as well as the curtseys (courtoisie) of women. Some Eastern nations are See also:apt to see disrespect in See also:baring the head, but insist on the feet being uncovered. See also:Burma was agitated for years by the great See also:shoe question," whether Europeans should be called on to conform to native custom rather than their own, by taking off their shoes to enter the royal presence." Grasping hands is a gesture which makes its appearance in antiquity as a legal act symbolic of the parties joining in compact, peace or friendship; this is well seen in See also:marriage, where the hand grasp was See also:part of the ancient See also:Hindu ceremony, as was the " dextrarum junctio " in Rome, which passed on into the See also:Christian rite. In the classic world we see it passing into a mere salutation, as where the tiresome acquaintance met by See also:Horace on his stroll along the Via Sacra seizes his hand (See also:Hor., Sat. i.

9). Giving the right hand of fellowship (Gal. ii. 9) passed naturally into a salutation throughout Christendom, and spread, probably from See also:

Byzantium, over the Moslem world. The emphatic form of the original gesture in " striking hands " is still used to make the greeting more hearty. The variety called in See also:English " shaking hands " (Ger. Hande-schutteln) only appears to have become usual in the middle ages.'-2 In the Moslem legal form of joining hands the parties See also:press their thumbs together.'' This has been adopted as a salute by African tribes. As to words of salutation, it is found even among the See also:lower races, that certain See also:ordinary phrases have passed into formal greetings. Thus among the See also:Tupis of See also:Brazil, after the stranger's silent arrival in the hut, the master, who for a time had taken no See also:notice of him, would say " Ereioube ? " that is, "See also:Art See also:thou come ? " to which the proper reply was, "Yes, I am come"114 Many formulas See also:express difference of See also:rank and consequent respect, as where the Basuto salute their chiefs with Tama sevata I i.e. " Greeting, See also:wild beast ! See also:Congo negroes returning from a See also:journey salute their wives with an affectionate Okowe / but they meekly kneeling round him may not repeat the word, but must say Ka l ka / 16 Among cultured nations, salutations are apt to be expressions of peace and See also:goodwill, as in the Biblical instances, " Is it well with thee ?

" (2 Kings iv. 26) ; " Peace to thee, and peace to thine See also:

house," &c. (1 Sam. See also:xxv. 6; see See also:Ezra iv. 17). Such formulas run on from See also:age to age, and the latter may be traced on to the Moslem greeting, See also:Sahara 'alaikum/ "The peace be on you," to which the reply is Wa-'alaikum as-salam / " And on you be the peace (sc. of God) ! " This is an example how a greeting may become a pass-word among See also:fellow-believers, for it is usually held that it may not be used by or to an infidel. From an See also:epigram of See also:Meleager (Anth., ed. See also:Jacobs vii. 119; cf. See also:Plautus, Poen.' v. passim) we learn that, while the Syrian salutation was Shelom (" Peace ! "), the Phoenicians greeted by wishing See also:life (See also:anti en, the E See the See also:Egyptian bow with one hand to the knee; See also:Wilkinson, Anc.

Eg. 9 S. See also:

Wells See also:Williams, Middle See also:Kingdom, i. 8o1. 10 See references to these customs in See also:Tylor, Early See also:History of Mankind, ch. iii. il Shway Yoe, The Burman, ii. 158, 205. 12 See Tylor in See also:Macmillan's 1LSag. (May 1882), p. 76. 13 See also:Lane, Mod. Eg. i.

219. 14 See also:

Jean de Lery, part ii. p. 204. 1' Magyar, Reise in Sad-Afrika. of its course navigable by small steamers. The Rio See also:San See also:Miguel drains the country between the See also:bay of See also:Fonseca and the See also:basin of the Lempa. The volcanic mountains do not form a See also:chain but a See also:series of clusters: the Izalco See also:group in the W. --including Izalco (formed in 1770), Marcelino, See also:Santa See also:Ana, Naranjos, Aguila, San Juan de Dios, Apaneca, Tamajaso and Lagunita; the San See also:Salvador group, about 30 M. E.; Cojute-' peque to the N.E. and the San See also:Vicente group to the E. of the great volcanic See also:lake of Ilopango; the Siguatepeque summits to the N.E. of San Vicente; and the great S.E. or San Miguel group—San Miguel, Chinameca, Buenapa, Usulatan, Tecapa, Taburete. Cacaguateque and Sociedad volcanoes in the N.E. belong to the inland See also:Cordillera. Santa Ana (8300 ft.) and San Miguel (7120 ft.) are the loftiest volcanoes in the country. The neighbourhood of the See also:capital is subject to earthquakes.

San Miguel is described as one of the most treacherous burning mountains in See also:

America, sometimes several years in See also:complete repose and then all at once bursting out with terrific fury. In 1879–188o the Lake of Ilopango was the See also:scene of a remarkable series of phenomena. With a length of 51 M. and a breadth of 42, it forms a rough parallelogram with deeply indented sides, and is surrounded in all directions by steep mountains except at the points where the villages of Asino and Apulo occupy little patches of level ground. Between the 31st of See also:December 1879 and the rrth of See also:January 188o the lake See also:rose 4 ft. above its level. The Jibpa, which flows out at the S.E., became, instead of a very shallow stream 20 ft. broad, a raging torrent which soon scooped out for itself in the volcanic rocks a channel 30 to 35 ft. deep. A rapid subsidence of the lake was thus produced, and by the 6th of See also:March the level was 341 ft. below its maximum. Towards the centre of the lake a volcanic centre about 500 ft. in See also:diameter rose 150 ft. above the See also:water, surrounded by a number of small islands. See also:Climate.—The lowlands are generally hot and, on the See also:coast, malarial; but on the tablelands and See also:mountain slopes of the interior the climate is temperate and healthy. There are only two seasons: the wet, which Salvadorians See also:call See also:winter, from May to See also:October; and the dry, or summer, See also:season, from See also:November to See also:April. In See also:July and See also:August there are high winds, followed by torrents of See also:rain and thunderstorms; in See also:September and October the rain, not heavy, is continuous. For an See also:account of the See also:geology, See also:fauna and See also:flora of Salvador, see CENTRAL AMERICA. Inhabitants.—The See also:population in 1887 was stated to be 664,513, (1901) 1,006,848, (1906) 1,116,253.

The number of Ladinos (whites and persons of mixed blood) is about 775,000 and of See also:

Indians about 230,000. The various elements were, before 1901, estimated as follows, and the proportion still holds See also:good in the See also:main: whites (creoles and foreigners) so%, half-castes 50%, Indians 40%, and a very small proportion of negroes. The whites of pure blood are very few, a liberal estimate putting the proportion at 2.5%. There is no See also:immigration into the country, and the rapid increase with which the population is credited can be due only to a large surplus of births over deaths. The chief towns, which are described in See also:separate articles, comprise San Salvador the capital (pop. 1905, about 60,000), Santa Ana (48,000), San Miguel (25,000), San Vicente (18,000), See also:Sonsonate (17,000), Nueva San Salvador or Santa Tecla (18,000) and the seaport of La See also:Union (4000). For the ancient See also:Indian See also:civilization of Salvador, see CENTRAL AMERICA: See also:Archaeology, and See also:MEXICO: History. See also:Agriculture.—The only See also:industry extensively carried on is agriculture, but the methods employed are still See also:primitive. The more important products are See also:coffee, See also:sugar, See also:indigo and See also:balsam. The country is See also:rich in medicinal See also:plants. Peruvian balsam (Myrospermum Salvatorense or Myroxylon Pereirae) is an indigenous See also:balm, rare except on the Balsam Coast, as the region about Cape See also:Remedios is named. It is not cultivated in See also:Peru, but owes its name to the fact that, during the early period of See also:Spanish See also:rule, it was forwarded to the Peruvian See also:port of See also:Callao for transhipment to Europe.

See also:

Rubber is collected; See also:tobacco is grown in small quantities; See also:cocoa, See also:rice, cereals and fruits are cultivated. The See also:government seeks to encourage See also:cotton-growing, and has 96 kin, &c., of Neo-Punic gravestones). The cognate Babylonian form, " 0 king, live for ever!" (See also:Dan. iii. 9), represents a series of phrases which continue still in the Vivat rex / " See also:Long live the king!" The Greeks said xaipe, " Be joyful!" both at meeting and parting; the See also:Pythagorean iyLaivecv and the Platonic Eb 7rpiTTELV, wish health ; at a later time aoaaioµai, " I greet!" came into fashion. The See also:Romans applied Salve/ " Be in health!" especially to meeting, and Vale, " Be well?" to parting. In the modern civilized world, everywhere, the old inquiry after health appears, the " How do you do? ' becoming so formal as often to be said on both sides without either waiting for an See also:answer. Hardly less wide in range is the set of phrases "• Good See also:day ! " " Good See also:night!" &c., varying according to the See also:hour and translating into every language of Christendom. Among other See also:European phrases, some correspond to our " welcome! " and " farewell ! " while the religious See also:element enters into another class, exemplified by our " Good-bye!" (" God be with you !

"), and See also:

French Adieu, Attempts have been made to shape European greetings into expressions of orthodoxy, or even tests of belief, but they have had no great success. Examples are a See also:Protestant See also:German salutation " See also:Lobe Jesum Christum! " answered by " In Ewigkeit, See also:Amen!" and the See also:formula which in See also:Spain enforces the See also:doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, "See also:Ave Maria purisima!" answered by " See also:Sin pecado concebida!" On the whole, though the half-meaningless forms of salutation may often seem ridiculous, society would not carry them on so universally unless it found them useful. They serve the purpose of keeping up social intercourse, and establishing relations between the parties in an interview, of which their See also:tone may strike the keynote. (E. B.

End of Article: SALUTATIONS, or GREETINGS

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