Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

499 results found

Asherah

(Encyclopedia)Asherah -rŏth [key], Canaanite fertility goddess and the wooden cult symbol that represented her. She is the consort of El in the Ugaritic texts. Several passages in the Bible may refer to the planti...

Burleigh, Henry Thacker

(Encyclopedia)Burleigh, Henry Thacker bûrˈlē [key], 1866–1949, American baritone and composer, b. Erie, Pa.; pupil of Dvořák at the National Conservatory, New York, where he later taught. He was soloist at S...

Hershey, Alfred Day

(Encyclopedia)Hershey, Alfred Day, 1908–1997, American microbiologist, b. Owosso, Mich., Ph.D., Michigan State College (now Michigan State Univ.), 1934. Hershey was a professor at the Washington Univ. School of M...

commutator

(Encyclopedia)commutator, device used in an electric generator to convert the alternating current produced in the generator into direct current before the current is sent into an external circuit; it is basically a...

Navarrete, Juan Fernández

(Encyclopedia)Navarrete, Juan Fernández hwän fārnänˈdĕth nävärāˈtā [key], 1526–79, Spanish religious painter, called El Mudo [the mute]. He studied in a monastery and later in Italy, perhaps with Titia...

Palomino de Castro y Velasco, Acislo Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Palomino de Castro y Velasco, Acislo Antonio äthēsˈlō äntōˈnyō pälōmēˈnō ᵺā käˈstrō ē vāläsˈkō [key], 1655–1726, Spanish historical painter and writer on art, called the Span...

Cernuda, Luis

(Encyclopedia)Cernuda, Luis lo͞oēsˈ thārno͞oˈᵺä [key], 1904–63, Spanish poet. Cernuda fled Spain after the Spanish civil war and taught abroad. His works include La realidad y el deseo [reality and desir...

Aijalon

(Encyclopedia)Aijalon ăˈjəlŏn, īˈ–, āˈ– [key], in the Bible. 1 Town, on the border between Philistia and Israel, the modern Yalo (Israel), NW of Jerusalem. In the Tell el Amarna letters it is called Aia...

Bayamo

(Encyclopedia)Bayamo bäyäˈmō [key], city (1995 est. pop. 132,000), Granma prov., SE Cuba. It is a manufacturing and transportation center. Cattle raising and sugar refining are the main industries. Founded in 1...

Ruiz, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Ruiz, Juan hwän ro͞oēthˈ [key], 1283?–1350?, Spanish poet, musician, and archpriest of Hita. Ruiz suffered 13 years in prison, during which time he revised his masterpiece, El Libro de buen amor...

Browse by Subject