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jargon

(Encyclopedia)jargon, pejorative term applied to speech or writing that is considered meaningless, unintelligible, or ugly. In one sense the term is applied to the special language of a profession, which may be unn...

Du Cange, Charles du Fresne, sieur

(Encyclopedia)Du Cange, Charles du Fresne, sieur shärl dü frĕn syör dü käNzh [key], 1610–88, French medieval historian and philologist. He is principally known for his Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitat...

Aram

(Encyclopedia)Aram āˈrăm [key], ancient country and people centered in Damascus in S Syria between the 11th and 8th cent. b.c. The Bible records constant contacts between the Hebrews and Aram. The Aramaeans spok...

Čelakovsky, František

(Encyclopedia)Čelakovsky, František fränˈtĭshĕk chĕˈläkôfskĭ [key], 1799–1852, Czech folklorist and poet. A disciple of Herder and a romantic Pan-Slavist, he collected Slavic folk songs from 1822 to 18...

hexameter

(Encyclopedia)hexameter hĕksămˈətər [key] [Gr.,=measure of six], in prosody, a line to be scanned in six feet (see versification). The most celebrated hexameter measure is dactylic, which was the meter for mos...

Akkadian

(Encyclopedia)Akkadian əkāˈdēən [key], extinct language belonging to the East Semitic subdivision of the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages (see Afroasiatic languages). Also called Assyro...

Münster, Sebastian

(Encyclopedia)Münster, Sebastian sābäsˈtyänˌ münˈstər [key], 1489–1552, German scholar and geographer. He was a Franciscan monk but after the Reformation became a Protestant and taught at Heidelberg and ...

Barbauld, Anna Letitia (Aikin)

(Encyclopedia)Barbauld, Anna Letitia (Aikin) bärˈbôld [key], 1743–1825, English poet and editor. In 1774 she married Rochemont Barbauld and with him opened a boarding school. Her Hymns in Prose for children, w...

Baccaloni, Salvatore

(Encyclopedia)Baccaloni, Salvatore sälvätôˈrā bäk–kälōˈnē [key], 1900–1970, Italian operatic bass, b. Rome. Baccaloni studied architecture before he made his singing debut in Rome in 1921. In 1926 he ...

Ham, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Ham, in the Bible, son of Noah. In biblical ethnography, Ham is the father of the nations Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. In a story separate from the flood narrative, the legend related in the Book ...