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Sogn og Fjordane

(Encyclopedia)Sogn og Fjordane sôngˈnə ô fyôrˈdänə [key], county (1995 pop. 107,612), c.7,150 sq mi (18,500 sq km), W Norway, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Hermansverk is the capital. The cou...

Perlman, Selig

(Encyclopedia)Perlman, Selig, 1888–1959, American economist, b. Bialystok, Poland. His parents were active in the Zionist and labor movements of Eastern Europe. Perlman emigrated to the United States in 1918, whe...

Cathay

(Encyclopedia)Cathay kăthāˈ [key], name for North China used by medieval Europeans, derived from the Khitan (or Khitai), a Manchurian people who conquered S Manchuria and N China and founded the Liao dynasty (93...

Lapland

(Encyclopedia)Lapland lăpˈlăndˌ [key], Finn. Lappi, Nor. Lapland, Swed. Lappland, vast region of N Europe, largely within the Arctic Circle. It includes the Norwegian provinces of Finnmark and Troms and part of...

hunting

(Encyclopedia)hunting, act of seeking, following, and killing wild animals for consumption or display. It differs from fishing in that it involves only land animals. Hunting was a necessary activity of early humans...

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...

Liotard, Jean-Étienne

(Encyclopedia)Liotard, Jean-Étienne zhäN ātyĕnˈ lyôtärˈ [key], 1702–89, Swiss painter. He is best known for his portraits and drawings in pastel, but he also made portraits in oil, paintings on glass and ...

Mélusine

(Encyclopedia)Mélusine mĕlyo͝osēˈnä [key], in French legend, a fairy who changed into a serpent from the waist down every Saturday. She married a mortal, Count Raymond, said to be the ancestor of the house of...

Mustafa II

(Encyclopedia)Mustafa II, 1664–1703, Ottoman sultan (1695–1703), nephew and successor of Ahmed II. The grand vizier (chief executive officer) of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), Husayn Köprülü, exercised the act...

Laki

(Encyclopedia)Laki, volcano, 2,684 ft (818 m) high, S Iceland, at SW edge of the Vatnajökull glacier. Its eruption in 1783 was one of the more devastating on record, leading to the deaths of a quarter of Iceland's...