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Spanish Main

(Encyclopedia)Spanish Main, mainland of Spanish America, particularly the coast of South America from the isthmus of Panama to the mouth of the Orinoco River. Spanish treasure fleets, sailing home from the New Worl...

holly

(Encyclopedia)holly, common name for members of the Aquifoliaceae, a family of widely distributed trees and shrubs, most numerous in Central and South America. The evergreen English holly (Ilex aquifolium), the com...

patristic literature

(Encyclopedia)patristic literature, Christian writings of the first few centuries. They are chiefly in Greek and Latin; there is analogous writing in Syriac and in Armenian. The first period of patristic literature...

international language

(Encyclopedia)international language, sometimes called universal language, a language intended to be used by people of different linguistic backgrounds to facilitate communication among them and to reduce the misun...

Nepos, Cornelius

(Encyclopedia)Nepos, Cornelius nēˈpŏs [key], c.100 b.c.–c.25 b.c., Roman historian. He was an intimate friend of Pomponius Atticus, Cicero, and Catullus. His only extant work is a collection of biographies, mo...

nominative

(Encyclopedia)nominative nŏmˈĭnətĭv [key], [Lat.,=naming], in Latin grammar, the case usually employed for the noun that is the subject of the sentence. The term is used in the grammar of languages with Latinl...

Richard de Bury

(Encyclopedia)Richard de Bury bĕrˈē [key], 1287–1345, English bibliophile and bishop of Durham. His name was Aungerville, but he was called Bury from his birthplace, Bury St. Edmunds. Under Edward III he serve...

Schleicher, August

(Encyclopedia)Schleicher, August ouˈgo͝ost shlīˈkhər [key], 1821–68, German philologist. A professor at the universities of Prague and Jena, Schleicher wrote studies of the Lithuanian language (1856–57), t...

Alegría, Ciro

(Encyclopedia)Alegría, Ciro sēˈrō älāgrēˈä [key], 1909–67, Peruvian novelist. Imprisoned several times for his political activities, Alegría was exiled to Chile in 1934. He gained fame with his novel La...

Genovesi, Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Genovesi, Antonio äntôˈnyō jānōvĕˈzē [key], 1712–69, Italian philosopher and economist, a pioneer in writing philosophy in Italian instead of in Latin. Genovesi introduced new ideas, partic...