Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Baluchi

(Encyclopedia)Baluchi bəlo͞oˈchē [key], language belonging to the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. See Indo-Iranian languages. ...

Rhaeto-Romanic

(Encyclopedia)Rhaeto-Romanic rēˈtō-rōmănˈĭk [key], generic name for several related dialects of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). The...

Louga

(Encyclopedia)Louga lo͞oˈgä [key], town (1988 pop. 52,763), W Senegal. Located in a region where peanuts, cassava, and gum arabic are produced, the town manufactures peanut oil and processes hides and skins. Lou...

Yaqut al-Hamawi

(Encyclopedia)Yaqut al-Hamawi yäko͞otˈ äl-hämäwēˈ [key], 1179–1229, Arab geographer. Born in Byzantium, he was bought as a slave by a merchant, al-Hamawi. He was freed on the death of his master and trave...

Bidpai

(Encyclopedia)Bidpai or Bidpay both: bĭdˈpī [key], supposed name of the author of the fables of the Panchatantra. The name first appears in an Arabic version of these fables—hence they are called the fables of...

Tayma

(Encyclopedia)Tayma tāˈmä [key], large oasis, SW Saudi Arabia. Cuneiform inscriptions possibly dating from the 6th cent. b.c. have been recovered from Tayma. In ancient Arabic tradition the oasis was noted as a ...

Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayumi

(Encyclopedia)Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayumi säˈdēä, äl-fīyo͞oˈmē [key], 882–942, Jewish scholar, b. Egypt. He was known as Saadia Gaon. He was the head of the great Jewish Academy at Sura, Babylonia, which...

Yuman

(Encyclopedia)Yuman yo͞oˈmən [key], branch of Native American languages belonging to the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock, or family, of North America (including Mexico) and Central America. See Native American lan...

Bopp, Franz

(Encyclopedia)Bopp, Franz fränts bôp [key], 1791–1867, German philologist. A professor at the Univ. of Berlin from 1821 to 1864, he did research in many languages and earned a great reputation as a scholar by d...

Uto-Aztecan

(Encyclopedia)Uto-Aztecan yo͞oˈtō-ăztĕkˈən [key], branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock. The languages belonging to this stock are spoken in North and Central America. See Native American languages. ...