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Pococke, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Pococke, Edward pōˈkŏk [key], 1604–91, English Orientalist, b. Oxford. Ordained a priest in 1629, he resided at Aleppo in Syria as a chaplain, where he collected valuable manuscripts and studied ...

language

(Encyclopedia)language, systematic communication by vocal symbols. It is a universal characteristic of the human species. Nothing is known of its origin, although scientists have identified a gene that clearly cont...

Portuguese language

(Encyclopedia)CEE Portuguese language, member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). It is the mother tongue of about 170 million people, c...

liturgy, Christian

(Encyclopedia)liturgy, Christian [Gr. leitourgia = public duty or worship] form of public worship, particularly the form of rite or services prescribed by the various Christian churches. In the Western Church the p...

Leo Africanus

(Encyclopedia)Leo Africanus ăfrĭkāˈnəs [key], c.1465–1550, Moorish traveler in Africa and the Middle East. His Arabic name was Al-Hasan ibn Muhammad. Captured by pirates, he was sent as a slave to Pope Leo X...

Sacy, Antoine Isaac, Baron Silvestre de

(Encyclopedia)Sacy, Antoine Isaac, Baron Silvestre de äNtwänˈ ēzäkˈ bärôNˈ sēlvĕˈstrə də säsēˈ [key], 1758–1838, French Orientalist. Sacy's works on Arabic were pioneering, and he was one of the ...

Van Dyck, Cornelius Van Alen

(Encyclopedia)Van Dyck, Cornelius Van Alen, 1818–95, American missionary, b. Kinderhook, N.Y. In 1840 he went to Syria as a medical missionary. In 1846 he was ordained in the Congregational ministry. Besides bein...

Copts

(Encyclopedia)Copts kŏpts [key], the native Christian minority of Egypt; estimates of the number of Copts in Egypt range from 5% to 17% of the population. Copts are not ethnically distinct from other Egyptians; th...

Bar-Hebraeus, Gregorius

(Encyclopedia)Bar-Hebraeus, Gregorius bär-hēbrēˈəs [key], 1226–86, Syrian scholar, bishop of the Jacobite Church. Partly Jewish in ancestry, his original name was Abu-al-Faraj. His most celebrated work is a ...

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