Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ammon, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Ammon ămˈən [key], in the Bible, people living E of the Dead Sea. Their capital was Rabbath-Ammon, the present-day Amman (Jordan). Their god was Milcom, to whom Solomon built an altar. A Semitic pe...

Rougé, Emmanuel, vicomte de

(Encyclopedia)Rougé, Emmanuel, vicomte de ĕmänüĕlˈ vēkôNtˈ də ro͞ozhāˈ [key], 1811–72, French Egyptologist. Rougé was curator of the Egyptian section of the Louvre and professor of Egyptology at the...

Gombos, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Gombos, Julius gömˈbösh [key], Hung. Gömbös Gyula, 1886–1936, Hungarian premier and officer. He was minister of war under the premiership of Stephen Bethlen (1921–31) and of Julius Károlyi (...

Indo-European

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Indo-European, family of languages having more speakers than any other language family. It is estimated that approximately half the world's population speaks an Indo-European tongue as a first ...

Hausa language

(Encyclopedia)Hausa language, member of the Chadic group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic family of languages. See Afroasiatic languages. ...

German language

(Encyclopedia)German language, member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). It is the official language of Germany and Austria and i...

Sargon, king of Akkad

(Encyclopedia)Sargon särˈgŏn [key], king of Akkad in Mesopotamia (reigned c.2340–c.2305 b.c.). By conquest he established a great empire that included the whole of Mesopotamia and extended over Syria and Elam,...

Athabascan

(Encyclopedia)Athabascan both: –păsˈ– [key], group of related Native American languages forming a branch of the Nadene linguistic family or stock. In the preconquest period, Athabascan was a large and extensi...

sign language

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Manual alphabet sign language, gestural communication used as an alternative or replacement for speech. Sign languages resemble oral languages in every way other than their modality. As with o...

bilingualism

(Encyclopedia)bilingualism, ability to use two languages. Fluency in a second language requires skills in listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing, although in practice some of those skills are often...