Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

145 results found

Ave Maria

(Encyclopedia)Ave Maria äˈvā märēˈä [key] [Lat.,=hail, Mary], prayer to the Virgin Mary universal among Roman Catholics, also called the Ave, the Hail Mary, and the Angelic Salutation. The words in English a...

Bruce, William Speirs

(Encyclopedia)Bruce, William Speirs spĭrz [key], 1867–1921, Scottish explorer and authority on the polar regions. He first went to the Antarctic as ship's surgeon in 1892 and later did survey work in Franz Josef...

Bastian, Adolf

(Encyclopedia)Bastian, Adolf äˈdôlf bäsˈtyän [key], 1826–1905, German anthropologist. Often called the father of ethnography, he recorded his observations of peoples and cultures in Der Mensch in der Geschi...

Romberg, Sigmund

(Encyclopedia)Romberg, Sigmund rŏmˈbûrg [key], 1887–1951, Hungarian-American composer, educated in Vienna. He came to the United States in 1909, played in restaurant and café orchestras, and soon had his own ...

Grail, Holy

(Encyclopedia)Grail, Holy, a feature of medieval legend and literature. It appears variously as a chalice, a cup, or a dish and sometimes as a stone or a caldron into which a bleeding lance drips. It was identified...

Herskovits, Melville Jean

(Encyclopedia)Herskovits, Melville Jean hûrsˈkəvĭts [key], 1895–1963, American anthropologist, b. Bellefontaine, Ohio; educated at the Univ. of Chicago (Ph.B., 1920) and Columbia (Ph.D., 1923). After teaching...

Brüning, Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Brüning, Heinrich hīnˈrĭkh brünˈĭng [key], 1885–1970, German chancellor. Elected to the Reichstag in 1924, he was a leader of the Catholic Center party and a fiscal expert. In 1930 he was app...

Bayreuth

(Encyclopedia)Bayreuth bīroitˈ [key], city, capital of Upper Franconia, Bavaria, S Germany, on the Red Ma...

Oecolampadius, Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Oecolampadius, Johannes yōhänˈəs ökōlämpäˈdēo͝os, ĕkˌəlămpāˈdēəs [key], 1482–1531, German Protestant reformer, associate of Huldreich Zwingli in the Reformation in Switzerland. He...

Nazarenes

(Encyclopedia)Nazarenes năzˈərēnz [key], group of German artists of the early 19th cent., who attempted to revive Christian art. In 1809, J. F. Overbeck and Franz Pforr formed an art cooperative in Vienna calle...