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Pryor, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Pryor, Richard, 1940–2005, American comedian, b. Peoria, Ill. His iconoclastic, wildly inventive, and racially explosive comic style was expressed in language that was often crude and frequently bri...

Babel

(Encyclopedia)Babel bāˈbəl [key] [Heb.,=confused], in the Bible, place where Noah's descendants (who spoke one language) tried to build a tower reaching up to heaven to make a name for themselves. For this presu...

Walpi

(Encyclopedia)Walpi wälˈpē [key] [Hopi,=place of the gap], pueblo, NE Ariz., on a mesa NE of Flagstaff; founded c.1700. Its inhabitants are Pueblo who speak the Hopi language (Uto-Aztecan linguistic family). One...

Canarsee

(Encyclopedia)Canarsee kənärˈsē [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They occupied the western part of Long Island, N...

Bessenyei, György

(Encyclopedia)Bessenyei, György dyörˈdyə bĕˈshĕnyā [key], 1747–1811, Hungarian dramatist and writer. In Vienna he came in contact with French rationalism and was an ardent follower of Voltaire and the Enc...

Celt

(Encyclopedia)Celt kĕlt [key]. 1 One who speaks a Celtic language or who derives ancestry from an area where a Celtic language was spoken; i.e., one from Ireland, the Scottish Hebrides and Highlands, the Isle of M...

Kyzyl

(Encyclopedia)Kyzyl or Kizil both: kĭzĭlˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 85,000), capital of Tuva Republic, S Siberian Russia, on the Yenisei River. It services motor transport and has brickyards, sawmills, furniture fa...

Lacombe, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Lacombe, Albert älbĕrˈ läkôNbˈ [key], 1827–1916, French Canadian Roman Catholic missionary. He studied at Assomption College in Quebec prov. before he joined the Oblate order and was ordained ...

Vinje, Aasmund Olafsson

(Encyclopedia)Vinje, Aasmund Olafsson ôsˈmo͝on ōˈläfs-sôn vĭnˈyə [key], 1818–70, Norwegian essayist and poet. After establishing a reputation as a successful journalist, Vinje earned a law degree. In 18...

Amyot, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Amyot or Amiot, Joseph ämyōˈ [key], 1718–1794?, French Roman Catholic missionary in China, a Jesuit. He wrote a long treatise on the history, sciences, and customs of the Chinese (15 vol., 1776�...