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tom-tom

(Encyclopedia)tom-tom, name popularly applied to high-pitched hand drums, usually barrel-shaped and having either one or two drumheads of skin. They are tunable to specific pitches. Supposedly of Native American or...

pizzicato

(Encyclopedia)pizzicato pĭtˌsəkäˈtō [key], in music, the technique of plucking the strings of an instrument that is usually bowed. Directions for playing pizzicato are found in early 17th-century music. Pagan...

Tonti, Henri de

(Encyclopedia)Tonti or Tonty, Henri de both: äNrēˈ də tôNtēˈ [key], c.1650–1704, French explorer in North America, b. Italy. Serving in the French army, he lost a hand in battle; his skillful use of the ap...

Paul the Deacon

(Encyclopedia)Paul the Deacon, c.725–799?, Lombard historian. He received a good education, probably at Pavia, and he learned Latin thoroughly and some Greek. He lived at Monte Cassino and at Charlemagne's court....

Cocceius, Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Cocceius, Johannes kŏksēˈəs [key], 1603–69, German theologian, whose surname was originally Koch or Koken. Born in Bremen, he went to Holland, where he was professor at Francken and Leiden. He p...

Tussaud, Marie

(Encyclopedia)Tussaud, Marie to͝osōˈ, tüsōˈ [key], 1760–1850, Anglo-French modeler in wax, b. Strasbourg, France, as Marie Grosholtz or Grosholz. She learned her art from her uncle, Philippe Curtius, a prop...

Vambery, Arminius

(Encyclopedia)Vambery, Arminius or Hermann ärˈmĭn [key], 1832–1913, Hungarian philologist and traveler. In Constantinople (1857–63) he learned several languages and dialects of Asia Minor and then traveled t...

Pasquier, Étienne

(Encyclopedia)Pasquier, Étienne ātyĕnˈ päkyāˈ [key], 1529–1615, French jurist and man of letters. After study under Jacques Cujas, Pasquier began his legal career in 1549. Always a confirmed advocate of Ga...

hornbook

(Encyclopedia)hornbook, primer of a kind in use from the 15th to the 18th cent. On one side of a sheet of parchment or paper the matter to be learned was written or printed; over the sheet, for its protection, a tr...

Burgkmair, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Burgkmair or Burckmair, Hans both: häns bo͝orkˈmīər [key], 1473–1531, German engraver, woodcut designer, and painter. Having learned woodcutting from Schongauer, he settled in 1498 in his nativ...