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Monboddo, James Burnett, Lord

(Encyclopedia)Monboddo, James Burnett, Lord, 1714–99, English writer, b. Scotland. A pioneer in anthropology, he wrote Of the Origin and Progress of Language (6 vol., 1774–92), in which he anticipated Darwin an...

Otomí

(Encyclopedia)Otomí ōtōmēˈ [key], a Macro-Otomanguean language spoken by Native Americans of W central Mexico. See Native American languages. ...

Jackson, Abraham Valentine Williams

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, Abraham Valentine Williams, 1862–1937, American Orientalist, b. New York City. Teaching at Columbia (1895–1935), he was a great authority on ancient Persian religion, language, and litera...

Zend

(Encyclopedia)Zend zĕnd [key], term formerly used for the language of the Avesta (see Zoroastrianism). ...

Senegal, country, Africa

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Senegal sĕnĭgôlˈ, sĕnˈĭgôl [key], officially Republic of Senegal, republic (2015 est. pop. 13,975,000), 76,124 sq mi (197,161 sq km), W Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in t...

miracle play

(Encyclopedia)miracle play or mystery play, form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th cent., reaching its height in the ...

Godard, Jean-Luc

(Encyclopedia)Godard, Jean-Luc zhäN-lük gôdärˈ [key], 1930–, French film director and scriptwriter, b. Paris. He wrote criticism for a number of Parisian cinema journals in the early 1950s before embarking o...

Provence

(Encyclopedia)Provence prôväNsˈ [key], region and former province, SE France. It encompasses what now are Var, Vaucluse, and Bouches-du-Rhône depts. and (in part) Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes dep...

Huron, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Huron hyo͝orˈänˌ [key], confederation of four Native North American groups who spoke the Wyandot language, which belongs to the Iroquoian branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native Am...

Faliscan

(Encyclopedia)Faliscan fəlĭsˈkən [key], extinct language belonging to the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. See Italic languages. ...