Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

10 results found

Ossian

(Encyclopedia)Ossian əshēnˈ [key], legendary Gaelic poet, supposedly the son of Finn mac Cumhail, hero of a cycle of tales and poems that place his deeds of valor in the 3d cent. a.d. These traditional tales wer...

Howard, Leland Ossian

(Encyclopedia)Howard, Leland Ossian, 1857–1950, American entomologist, b. Rockford, Ill., grad. Cornell (B.S., 1877), Ph.D. Georgetown Univ., 1896. Associated with the U.S. Bureau of Entomology from 1878 (as its ...

Oisin

(Encyclopedia)Oisin: see Ossian.

Finn mac Cumhail

(Encyclopedia)Finn mac Cumhail, Fionn mac Cumhail, or Finn MacCool all: fĭn məko͞olˈ [key], semimythical Irish hero. His exploits are recorded in long narrative poems by Ossian and in many ballads, called Feni...

Glenalmond

(Encyclopedia)Glenalmond glĕnäˈmənd [key], valley of the Almond River, Perth and Kinross, central Scotland, N of Crieff. A huge flat stone marks the traditional grave of Ossian, the legendary Gaelic poet. A Rom...

Macpherson, James

(Encyclopedia)Macpherson, James, 1736–96, Scottish author. Educated at Aberdeen and Edinburgh, he spent his early years as a schoolmaster. In later life he held a colonial secretaryship in West Florida (1764–66...

Fenian movement

(Encyclopedia)Fenian movement fēˈnēən or Fenians, secret revolutionary society organized c.1858 in Ireland and the United States to achieve Irish independence from England by force. It was known variously as th...

Gaelic literature

(Encyclopedia)Gaelic literature, literature in the native tongue of Ireland and Scotland. Since Scots Gaelic became separate from Irish Gaelic only in the 17th cent., the literature is conventionally divided into O...

literary frauds

(Encyclopedia)literary frauds, manuscripts that are presented to the public as works of famous authors but that are actually forgeries or imitations. Literary frauds are perpetrated for various reasons—occasional...

English literature

(Encyclopedia)English literature, literature written in English since c.1450 by the inhabitants of the British Isles; it was during the 15th cent. that the English language acquired much of its modern form. For the...

Browse by Subject