SOL ( k

ordinary buildings, soffit or sofit, is takenfor the boards over the tops of win-dows, opposite to the window boards atbottom.

SOHAN, Ind. the seventh month.It, in some degree, corresponds withJuly and August.

SOI, Fr. one's self; itself; one.

Soi -disant, Fr. pretended; would-be.Hence, soi-disant soldat , a pretended orwould-be soldier; Soi-disant roi, pre-tending to be king, but not acknow-ledged as such. This was said, by theBritish , of Janies the Hd, when helived at St. Germain, in France .

SOL, Fr. soil; ground.

Sol, Fr. the ground upon which anybuilding or edifice is erected.

SOLAIRE de la jambe , Fr. thegreatest of the six hinder muscles of theleg, ending in the sole of the foot,which it serves to extend.

SOLAKS, bowmen or archers belong-ing to the personal guard of the GrandSeignor, They are always selected fromthe most expert bowmen that are amongthe Janizaries . Their only arms are thesabre, bow, and arrows.

SOLANDRES, Fr. chaps or ulcersin the ham of a horse.

SOLBATU, Fr. in farriery, surbated.

SOLD AN. This word is pronouncedSoudan. It was formerly given to ageneral who commanded the caliph'sarmy. Saladin , a general under Nara-din, king of Dama9, having killed thecaliph Caym, usurped the throne, andassumed the title in 1146; so that hebecame the first Soldan of Egypt.

SOLDAT, Fr. a soldier. Althoughwe have offered our own observationsrespecting the etymology of this word,under Soldier; we shall neverthelessextract, from a French authority, whatis said upon the same subject. Inthe Nouveau Dictionnaire Militaire wefind that Soldat 9 which comes fromSolde , signifies any man who serves thestate for a stipulated sum of money.This distinction did not obtain ground,nor was it acknowledged in France , un-til after the reign of Francis I. Underthe reigns of Charles the VUIth andLouis the Xllth, persons who took upthe profession of arms, were simplystyled aventuriers or adventurers; andbefore we conclude this article, it willnot be thought superfluous to remark,that although many writers have givenvarious interpretations to the word

^ ) SOL

aventurier, the term may be broughtunder a plain and historical explanation.These aventuriers, or adventurers, werenothing more than a certain descrip-tion of soldiers or armed men, whowere hired by a number of lords, thatbad the command of little jurisdictionsbeyond the Pyrenees and the Alps.Charles the Vlllth, Louis the Xllth,Francis the 1st, and Henry the lid,made use of these adventurers duringtheir campaigns in Italy . To return toour first article, it is nevertheless cer-tain, that, in France , bodies of armedmen were already taken into pay underthe reign ofPhilipe Auguste; and it isequally certain, that foreigners or mer-cenaries were first employed, for money,by Philipe-le-Bel. Among the Romans,soldiers were distinguished under a mul-tiplicity of appellations, which grew outof the dress or uniform of each parti-cular arm or corps; which was againmarked by some particular service, andpeculiar weapon of offence. Whenstrangers were taken into their pay,they were called mtxiliarii.

Simple Soldat, Fr. a private, or asoldier in the ranks.

Soldat ecroue, Fr. See Eckoue.

Soldat d'ordonnance a Varmee, Fr.an orderly man.

SOLD ATS etrangers ou mercenaires,Fr. foreign or mercenary troops.

Soldats de marine, Fr. marines, orsoldiers who do duty on board ships ofwar.

Soldats gardiens, Fr. a description ofinvalid soldiers, so called during the oldFrench monarchy. They were stationedat the sea-ports. There were 300 atToulon , ditto at Rochefort and Brest,and 50 at Ilavre-de-Grace. There werebesides, 300 in each of the first threeports, who received half-pay.

Faux Soldats, Fr. See Fagot.;Passe -volant.

SOLDATESQUE, Fr. a substantiveof the collective feminine gender, whichsignifies private soldiers, viz.

La bourgeoisie etait exposee aux in-suites de la soldatesque; the citizenswere exposed to the jnsults of the sol-diery.— La soldatesque s'est revoltee con-ire les officiers, the soldiers revolted, ormutinied, against the officers.

Soldatesque. The French say alsosoldatesque, or qvi sent le soldat in abad sense, meaning thereby coarse, rough,and overhearing. Hence insolence soL