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zakat

(Encyclopedia)zakat zə-kätˈ [key] [Arab.,=purification], Islamic religious tax, one of the five basic requirements (arkan or “pillars”) of Islam. All adult Muslims of sound mind and body with a set level of ...

Zenobia

(Encyclopedia)Zenobia zĭnōˈbēə [key], d. after 272, queen of Palmyra. She was of Arab stock and was the wife of Septimius Odenathus. He was murdered, probably through her contrivance, and she obtained rule of ...

Martín, Esteban

(Encyclopedia)Martín, Esteban ĕstāˈbän märtēnˈ [key], fl. 1539, printer in Mexico. Martín is reputed to have preceded Juan Pablos. There is evidence that he printed Escala espiritual para llegar al cielo, ...

Sibawaihi

(Encyclopedia)Sibawaihi sēbäwīhē [key], c.760–793, Persian grammarian, considered the most important Arabic grammarian. His book al-Kitah fi'l nahwi is the first complete Arabic grammar, upon which all other ...

Aijeleth Shahar

(Encyclopedia)Aijeleth Shahar ăjˈəlĕth shāˈhär [key], superscription of Psalm 22, probably the tune to which it was to be sung, named from the first words of some other verse set to it. Other superscriptions...

Merton, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Merton, Thomas, 1915–68, American religious writer and poet, b. France. He grew up in France, England, and the United States and studied at Cambridge and at Columbia (B.A., 1938; M.A., 1939). Conver...

alum

(Encyclopedia)alum ălˈəm [key], any one of a series of isomorphous double salts that are hydrated sulfates of a univalent cation (e.g., potassium, sodium, ammonium, cesium, or thallium) and a trivalent cation (e...

Kusama, Yayoi

(Encyclopedia)Kusama, Yayoi, 1929–, Japanese artist. In childhood she began to experience hallucinations, often of repeated dots, visions that have strongly influenced the imagery in her paintings, collages, scul...

Olmsted, Frederick Law

(Encyclopedia)Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822–1903, American landscape architect and writer, b. Hartford, Conn. Although his Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England had appeared in 1852, Olmsted first attai...