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ergot

(Encyclopedia)ergot ûrˈgət [key], disease of rye and other cereals caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea. The cottony, matlike body, or mycelium, of the fungus develops in the ovaries of the host plant; it eve...

foie gras

(Encyclopedia)foie gras fwä grä [key] [Fr.,=fat liver], livers of artificially fattened geese. Ducks and chickens are also sometimes used in the making of foie gras. The birds, kept in close coops to prevent exer...

Jamnia

(Encyclopedia)Jamnia jăbˈnə, –nē [key] [Heb.,=God causes to build], ancient city, central Israel. Its modern name is Yavne. A central city of Philistia, the Bible refers to its walls being destroyed by Uzziah...

Michelet, Jules

(Encyclopedia)Michelet, Jules zhül mēshəlāˈ [key], 1798–1874, French writer, the greatest historian of the romantic school. Born in Paris of poor parents, he visualized himself throughout his life as a champ...

Auerbach, Erich

(Encyclopedia)Auerbach, Erich, 1892–1957, German-American philologist, literary scholar, and critic, b. Berlin, Ph.D. Univ. of Greifswald, 1921. He is known primarily for Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in...

nave

(Encyclopedia)nave nāv [key], in general, all that part of a church that extends from the atrium to the altar and is intended exclusively for the laity. In a strictly architectural sense, however, the term indicat...

liberal arts

(Encyclopedia)liberal arts, term originally used to designate the arts or studies suited to freemen. It was applied in the Middle Ages to seven branches of learning, the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and...

Lugano

(Encyclopedia)Lugano chārāˈzyō [key], narrow and irregular in shape (c.20 sq mi/50 sq km), which lies between Switzerland and Italy. ...

Kutná Hora

(Encyclopedia)Kutná Hora ko͝otˈnä hôˈrä [key], Ger. Kuttenberg, city (1991 pop. 24,561), central Czech Republic, in Bohemia. Now an agricultural center, it was an important silver-mining center in the Middle...

klezmer

(Encyclopedia)klezmer klĕzˈmər [key], form of instrumental folk music developed in the Eastern European Jewish community. The style had its beginnings in the Middle Ages; its name is a Yiddishized version of the...