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Elyot, Sir Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Elyot, Sir Thomas ĕlˈyət, ĕlˈēət [key], c.1490–1546, English author. He wrote the earliest Latin-English dictionary (1538) and is remembered especially for his sensible and well-written treat...

Corea, Chick

(Encyclopedia) Corea, Chick (Armando Anthony), 1941-2021, American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader, b. Chelsea, Ma. Corea’s father was a bandleader in Boston...

Odebrecht corruption scandal

(Encyclopedia)Odebrecht corruption scandal, series of graft scandals involving the Odebrecht (now Novonor), a Brazilian construction and petrochemicals conglomerate, as well as Petrobras, the Brazilian multinationa...

gender

(Encyclopedia)gender [Lat. genus=kind], in grammar, subclassification of nouns or nounlike words in which the members of the subclass have characteristic features of agreement with other words. The term gender is n...

Macrobius

(Encyclopedia)Macrobius məkrōˈbēəs [key], fl. c.430, Latin writer and philosopher. His Saturnalia, a dialogue in seven books chiefly concerned with a literary evaluation of Vergil, incorporates valuable quotat...

Ayton, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Ayton or Aytoun, Sir Robert both: āˈtən [key], 1570–1638, English poet and courtier. He was private secretary to the queens of James I and Charles I, besides holding other posts of honor. He wrot...

vocative

(Encyclopedia)vocative vŏkˈətĭv [key] [Lat.,=calling], in the grammar of certain languages (e.g., Latin), the case referring to a person addressed. In English a special intonation expresses the vocative, as in ...

Goliardic songs

(Encyclopedia)Goliardic songs gōlēärˈdĭk [key], Late Latin poetry of the “wandering scholars,” or Goliards. The Goliards included university students who went from one European university to another, schol...

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...

Minucius Felix, Marcus

(Encyclopedia)Minucius Felix, Marcus märˈkəs mĭnyo͞oshˈəs fēˈlĭks [key], fl. 2d cent., Christian apologist, author of a dialogue, Octavius, one of the earliest Latin apologies. In it a pagan and a Christi...