Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Institut de France

(Encyclopedia)Institut de France ăNstētüˈ də fräNs [key], cultural institution of the French state. Founded in 1795 by the Directory, it replaced five learned societies that had been suppressed in 1793 by the...

Kabardino-Balkar Republic

(Encyclopedia)Kabardino-Balkar Republic kăbˌərdēˈnō-bălkârˈ [key] or Kabardino-Balkaria, constituent republic (1990 est. pop. 760,000), c.4,800 sq mi (12,400 sq km), SE European Russia, in the northern par...

Austin, John Langshaw

(Encyclopedia)Austin, John Langshaw, 1911–60, British philosopher. A graduate of Oxford, he was a fellow of All Souls (1933–35) and Magdalen (1935–52) colleges before he became White's professor of moral phil...

Nuristan

(Encyclopedia)Nuristan no͝orĭstănˈ [key] [Persian,=land of light or the enlightened], region on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush, NE Afghanistan, bordered on the E by Pakistan. Formerly called Kafiristan [...

Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilyevich

(Encyclopedia)Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilyevich mēkhəyēlˈ vəsēˈlyəvĭch ləmənôˈsəf [key], 1711–65, Russian scientist, scholar, and writer, an outstanding figure in 18th-century Russia. Lomonosov was the...

Mohave, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Mohave mōhäˈvē [key], indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Yuman branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the mid-18th cent. they...

Malecite

(Encyclopedia)Malecite or Maliseet both: mălˈəsīt [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In th...

Mandeville, Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Mandeville, Bernard mănˈdəvĭl [key], 1670–1733, English author, b. Dordrecht, Holland. A physician, he went to London in 1692 ostensibly to learn the language, but eventually settled there perma...

Kochanowski, Jan

(Encyclopedia)Kochanowski, Jan yän kôkhänôfˈskē [key], 1530–84, esteemed as the greatest poet of the Polish Renaissance. Kochanowski assimilated the poetic traditions of Italy and France and created new rhy...

Massachuset

(Encyclopedia)Massachuset măsəcho͞oˈsĭt [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early 1...