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Afroasiatic languages

(Encyclopedia)Afroasiatic languages hămˈĭtō-səmĭtˈĭk [key], family of languages spoken by more than 250 million people in N Africa; much of the Sahara; parts of E, central, and W Africa; and W Asia (especia...

Arab League

(Encyclopedia)Arab League, popular name for the League of Arab States, formed in 1945 in an attempt to give political expression to the Arab nations. The original charter members were Egypt, Iraq, Jordan (then know...

Arafat, Yasir

(Encyclopedia)Arafat, Yasir or Yasser yäsērˈ ärˈäfät; –sər [key], 1929–2004, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the coordinating body for Palestinian organizations, and head of Al Fa...

yak

(Encyclopedia)yak, bovine mammal, Bos grunniens, of the Tibet region of China and adjacent areas. It is oxlike in build, with short, thick legs, humped shoulders, large upcurved horns, and a thick coat that hangs d...

monsoon

(Encyclopedia)monsoon mŏnso͞on [key] [Arab., mausium=season], wind that changes direction with change of season, notably in India and SE Asia. To a lesser degree, monsoonal winds also develop in portions of all o...

Amasis I

(Encyclopedia)Amasis I əmāˈsĭs [key], d. c.1545 b.c., king of ancient Egypt (c.1570–1545 b.c.), founder of the XVIII dynasty. He drove the Hyksos out of the Nile delta and pursued them into Palestine. His nam...

Medeba

(Encyclopedia)Medeba mĕdˈĭbə, mēˈ– [key], town, Jordan, the modern Madaba, E of the Dead Sea. An ancient Moabite town, it changed hands between Moab and Israel several times. In early Christian times it was...

Zebulun

(Encyclopedia)Zebulun zĕbˈyo͞olən [key], in the Bible, son of Jacob and Leah, eponymous ancestor of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Its allotment was in N Palestine W of Mt. Carmel. The judge Elon was from this...

Tanner, Henry Ossawa

(Encyclopedia)Tanner, Henry Ossawa, 1859–1937, American painter, b. Pittsburgh; son of a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He studied with Eakins in Philadelphia and in Paris. Tanner made many tri...

Pseudo-Philo

(Encyclopedia)Pseudo-Philo, early Jewish work extant in Latin, probably written originally in Hebrew and emanating from Palestine. It was attributed to Philo (c.20 b.c.–a.d. 50) because it circulated with his wri...