Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Dumah

(Encyclopedia)Dumah do͞oˈmə [key], in the Bible. 1 Descendants of Ishmael, an Arabic tribe in the desert of N Arabia. 2 Town, S ancient Palestine. 3 Apparently a symbolic name for Edom. ...

Mutanabbi, al-

(Encyclopedia)Mutanabbi, al-, 915–65, Arab poet, considered the greatest classical Arabic poet, b. Iraq. His early involvement with a religious cult earned him the sobriquet “the would-be prophet.” He was par...

Goidelic

(Encyclopedia)Goidelic goidĕlˈĭk [key], or Gaelic, group of languages belonging to the Celtic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. See Celtic languages; Irish language. ...

Gaelic

(Encyclopedia)Gaelic gāˈlĭk [key], or Goidelic, group of languages belonging to the Celtic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. See Celtic languages; Irish language. ...

Grimm's law

(Encyclopedia)Grimm's law, principle of relationships in Indo-European languages, first formulated by Jakob Grimm in 1822 and a continuing subject of interest and investigation to 20th-century linguists. It shows t...

Lithuanian

(Encyclopedia)Lithuanian lĭthˌo͞oāˈnēən [key], a language belonging to the Baltic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Baltic languages). The official language of Lithuania since 1918, Lit...

Anti-Lebanon

(Encyclopedia)Anti-Lebanon, ancient Anti-Libanus, Arabic Jabal al Sharqi, mountain range between Syria and Lebanon, rising to Mt. Hermon, 9,232 ft (2,814 m) high. Once noted for its forests of oak, pine, cypress, a...

Hesychius of Alexandria

(Encyclopedia)Hesychius of Alexandria hēsĭkˈēəs [key], fl. 5th cent.?, Alexandrian grammarian. Hesychius is known as the compiler of an invaluable lexicon, a glossary of unusual words and expressions occurring...

Melchites

(Encyclopedia)Melchites or Melkites both: mĕlˈkīts [key], members of a Christian community in the Levant and the Americas, mainly Arabic-speaking and numbering about 250,000. They are in communion with the pope ...

Prakrit

(Encyclopedia)Prakrit präˈkrĭt [key], any of a number of languages belonging to the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-Iranian). The Prakrits are usually...