Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Pashto

(Encyclopedia)Pashto –to͞o [key], or Afghan, language belonging to the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. See Indo-Iranian languages. ...

Barentsøya

(Encyclopedia)Barentsøya bârˈənts, bärˈ– [key], island of Svalbard, 513 sq mi (1,329 sq km), in Barents Sea between Spitsbergen and Edgeøya. The island rises to 1,302 ft (397 m). ...

Bekabad

(Encyclopedia)Bekabad byĕgōvätˈ [key], city, Tashkent region, E Uzbekistan, on the Syr Darya River. It is ...

Typhon

(Encyclopedia)Typhon tīfēˈəs [key], in Greek mythology, fierce and monstrous son of Gaea. He was the father of Echidna—a monster half woman and half dragon—and of Cerberus, Hydra, the Sphinx, and the Chimer...

Timnah

(Encyclopedia)Timnah tĭmˈnăth [key], in the Bible. 1 Hill town, S ancient Palestine. 2 Place associated with Judah. It may be the same as 1 or 3. 3 Town associated with Samson's “Timnite” wife and also with ...

Balzac, Jean Louis Guez de

(Encyclopedia)Balzac, Jean Louis Guez de də bälzäkˈ [key], 1597?–1654, French writer. His Lettres (1624, tr. 1634) and other writings were a great influence in reforming French prose. Their style was marked ...

Bandar-e Imam Khomeini

(Encyclopedia)Bandar-e Imam Khomeini ēˈmäm khōˌmānēˈ [key], town, Khuzestan prov., SW Iran,...

Omuta

(Encyclopedia)Omuta –dä [key], city (1990 pop. 150,453), Fukuoka prefecture, W Kyushu, Japan, a port on the Amakusa Sea. With conversion from coal to petroleum in the 1960s, Omuta's coal mining decreased, which ...

Xiangtan

(Encyclopedia)Xiangtan shyängˈtänˈ, syängˈ– [key], city (1994 est. pop. 490,100), E central Hunan prov., China, on the Xiang River. Formerly an agricultural distribution center, it is now industrialized. Pr...

Simeon Stylites, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Simeon Stylites, Saint stīlīˈtēz [key] [Gr.,= of a pillar], d. 459?, Syrian hermit. He lived for more than 35 years on a small platform on top of a high pillar. He had many imitators (called styli...

Browse by Subject