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Namaqualand

(Encyclopedia)Namaqualand näˈməlănd [key], region, c.150,000 sq mi (388,500 sq km), SW Africa. It extends from Windhoek, Namibia, in the north to Northern Cape, South Africa, in the south and from the Namib Des...

Ostrovsky, Aleksandr Nikolayevich

(Encyclopedia)Ostrovsky, Aleksandr Nikolayevich əlyĭksänˈdər nyĭkəlīˈyəvĭch əstrôfˈskē [key], 1823–86, Russian dramatist. Ostrovsky's first play, The Bankrupt (1847; reworked as It's a Family Affai...

Oto

(Encyclopedia)Oto ōˈtō [key], Native North Americans, also called the Otoe, whose language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The Oto had a Plains ...

MacDiarmid, Hugh

(Encyclopedia)MacDiarmid, Hugh məkdûrˈmĭd, –mĭt [key], pseud. of Christopher Murray Grieve, 1892–1978, Scottish poet and critic, b. Langholm, Dumfrieshire. Passionately devoted to Communism and to Scottish...

Accademia della Crusca

(Encyclopedia)Accademia della Crusca äk-kädĕˈmēä dĕlˈlä kro͞osˈkä [key] [Ital.,=academy of the chaff], Italian literary society founded in Florence in 1582 to maintain the purity of the language. Leonar...

Masai

(Encyclopedia)Masai or Maasai mäsīˈ [key], a largely nomadic pastoral people of E Africa, chiefly in Kenya and Tanzania. Cattle and sheep form the basis of the economy that they have maintained in resistance to ...

lip reading

(Encyclopedia)lip reading, method by which the deaf are able to read the speech of others from the movements of the lips and mouth. It is sometimes referred to as speech reading, which technically also includes the...

Karamzin, Nikolai Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Karamzin, Nikolai Mikhailovich nyĭkəlīˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch kərəmzēnˈ [key], 1766–1826, Russian historian and writer. His Letters of a Russian Traveler, 1789–90 (1792, abr. tr. 1957), dealin...

Popol Vuh

(Encyclopedia)Popol Vuh pōpōlˈ vo͞oˈ [key] [Quiché,=collection of the council], sacred book of the Quiché. The most important document of the cosmogony, religion, mythology, migratory traditions, and history...

Budé, Guillaume

(Encyclopedia)Budé, Guillaume gēyōmˈ büdāˈ [key], 1467–1540, French humanist, b. Paris. Budé, known also by the Latinized form of his name, Budaeus, was a towering figure of the Renaissance. He was secret...