Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Latin America

(Encyclopedia)Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. The 20 republics are Arge...

Latin language

(Encyclopedia)CEE Latin language, member of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Latin was first encountered in ancient times as the language of Latium, the region of central Italy in w...

Latin Road

(Encyclopedia)Latin Road: see Roman roads.

Latin Way

(Encyclopedia)Latin Way: see Roman roads.

Vulgar Latin

(Encyclopedia)Vulgar Latin, vernacular form of the Latin language spoken in ancient Rome and the Roman Empire, as distinguished from classical or literary Latin. Vulgar Latin, rather than classical Latin, is the tr...

Dares Phrygius

(Encyclopedia)Dares Phrygius dârˈēz frĭjˈēəs [key], supposed author of a history of the Trojan War. Dares of Phrygia is mentioned by Homer in the Iliad as a priest of Troy. During the Middle Ages he was wide...

Ozanam, Antoine Frédéric

(Encyclopedia)Ozanam, Antoine Frédéric äNtwänˈ frādārēkˈ ōzänämˈ [key], 1813–53, French Roman Catholic scholar. In 1831 he first achieved notice with his pamphlet against the Saint-Simonians. In Pari...

Old Norse literature

(Encyclopedia)Old Norse literature, the literature of the Northmen, or Norsemen, c.850–c.1350. It survives mainly in Icelandic writings, for little medieval vernacular literature remains from Norway, Sweden, or D...

Bale, John

(Encyclopedia)Bale, John, 1495–1563, English dramatist and clergyman. An ardent proponent of the Reformation, he used the stage as a vehicle for his views. His most famous play, King John (written c.1535), shows ...

Goliardic songs

(Encyclopedia)Goliardic songs gōlēärˈdĭk [key], Late Latin poetry of the “wandering scholars,” or Goliards. The Goliards included university students who went from one European university to another, schol...