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Eliade, Mircea

(Encyclopedia)Eliade, Mircea mûrˈshə āˌlē-ädˈə [key], 1907–86, American philosopher and historian of comparative religion, b. Bucharest. He studied Indian philosophy and Sanskrit at the Univ. of Calcutta...

Coppola, Francis Ford

(Encyclopedia)Coppola, Francis Ford kōˈpəˌlə [key], 1939–, American film director, b. Detroit. Coppola began his career directing low-budget films and working on screenplays for other directors. He won his f...

Romanian literature

(Encyclopedia)Romanian literature, the literature of Romania. Until the 16th cent. most writing by Romanians was in Slavonic. In 1541 a catechism in Romanian was issued at Sibiu, and from 1560 liturgical works were...

mythology

(Encyclopedia)mythology [Greek,=the telling of stories], the entire body of myths in a given tradition, and the study of myths. Students of anthropology, folklore, and religion study myths in different ways, distin...

shaman

(Encyclopedia)shaman shäˈmən, shāˈ–, shăˈ– [key], religious practitioner in various, generally small-scale societies who is believed to be able to diagnose, cure, and sometimes cause illness because of a...

yoga

(Encyclopedia)yoga yōˈgə [key] [Skt.,=union], general term for spiritual disciplines in Hinduism, Buddhism, and throughout S Asia that are directed toward attaining higher consciousness and liberation from ignor...

Walachia

(Encyclopedia)Walachia or Wallachia both: wälāˈkēə, wə– [key], historic region (29,568 sq mi/76,581 sq km), S Romania. The Transylvanian Alps separate it in the NW from Transylvania and the Banat; the Danub...

religion

(Encyclopedia)religion, a system of thought, feeling, and action that is shared by a group and that gives the members an object of devotion; a code of behavior by which individuals may judge the personal and social...

Moldova

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Moldova məldōˈvə [key], officially Republic of Moldova, republic (2015 est. pop. 4,066,000), c.13,000 sq mi (33,670 sq km). Chişinău (formerly Kishinev) is the capital and largest city. ...

Romania

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Romania ro͞o– [key], republic (2015 est. pop. 19,877,000), 91,699 sq mi (237,500 sq km), SE Europe. It borders on Hungary in the northwest, on Serbia in the southwest, on Bulgaria in the sou...

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