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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...

teraphim

(Encyclopedia)teraphim tĕrˈəfĭm [key], in the Bible, a plural term of uncertain origin referring either to household idols or to idols set up in a local sanctuary, or consulted for purposes of divination. Littl...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

black humor

(Encyclopedia)black humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usu...