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Trnava

(Encyclopedia)Trnava tûrˈnävä [key], Ger. Tyrnau, Hung. Nagyszombat, city (1991 pop. 71,783), W central Slovakia. The market for a fertile agricultural region, it produces motor vehicles, refined sugar, agricul...

Solingen

(Encyclopedia)Solingen zōˈlĭng-ən [key], city (1994 pop. 166,064), North Rhine–Westphalia, W Germany, on the Wupper River opposite Remscheid. It is a major center of the German cutlery industry. Solingen stee...

Benha

(Encyclopedia)Benha bänˈ– [key], city (1986 pop. 115,701), capital of Qalyubiyah governate, N Egypt, in the Nile River delta. A rail junction and trade center, Benha has cotton-ginning, rug-weaving, and food-pr...

Priscian

(Encyclopedia)Priscian (Priscianus Caesariensis) prĭshˈən [key], fl. 500, Latin grammarian, b. Caesarea in Mauretania. Priscian taught grammar at Constantinople. His Commentarii grammatici, in 18 books, was long...

plainsong

(Encyclopedia)plainsong or plainchant, the unharmonized chant of the medieval Christian liturgies in Europe and the Middle East; usually synonymous with Gregorian chant, the liturgical music of the Roman Catholic C...

umbrella

(Encyclopedia)umbrella, a small canopy used as a protection against the sun in China, Egypt, and elsewhere in remote antiquity. It was often an emblem of rank. During the Middle Ages the umbrella became almost exti...

incubus

(Encyclopedia)incubus ĭngˈkyo͝obəs [key], lascivious male demon said to possess mortal women as they sleep and to be responsible for the birth of demons, witches, and deformed children. According to one legend ...

abracadabra

(Encyclopedia)abracadabra ăbˌrəkədăbˈrə [key], magical formula used by the Gnostics (see Gnosticism) to invoke the aid of benevolent spirits to ward off disease and affliction. It is supposed to be derived f...

Anne, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Anne, Saint, in tradition, mother of the Virgin and wife of St. Joachim. She is not mentioned in Scripture, but her cult is very old. In the West she has been especially popular since the Middle Ages....

Gurney, A. R.

(Encyclopedia)Gurney, A. R. (Albert Ramsdell Gurney, Jr.), 1930–2017, American dramatist, b. Buffalo, N.Y., B.A. Williams College, 1952, M.F.A. Yale School of Drama, 1958. He is best known for often humorous anal...