Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Salmasius, Claudius

(Encyclopedia)Salmasius, Claudius klôdˈēəs sălmāˈshəs [key], 1588–1653, French humanist and philologist. Salmasius is known in French as Claude de Saumaise. After studying Latin and Greek with his father,...

Babel, Isaac Emmanuelovich

(Encyclopedia)Babel, Isaac Emmanuelovich ēˈsäk əmäno͞oāˈləvĭch bäˈbəl [key], 1894–1940, Russian writer, b. Odessa. Babel was quick to embrace the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, but in the end it was t...

Cape Dezhnev

(Encyclopedia)Cape Dezhnev dĕzhˈnəf, Russ. dyāshˈnyəf [key] or East Cape, northeasternmost point of Asia, Russian Far East, on Chukchi Peninsula and on the Bering Strait. It is named after Semyon Dezhnev, the...

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

(Encyclopedia)Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807–82, American poet, b. Portland, Maine, grad. Bowdoin College, 1825. He wrote some of the most popular poems in American literature, in which he created a new body o...

Berdyaev, Nicholas

(Encyclopedia)Berdyaev, Nicholas bĕrdyīˈəf [key], 1874–1948, Russian theologian and religious philosopher, b. Kiev. After an early period as a Marxist, Berdyaev became prominent in a brilliant circle of Russi...

Rashi

(Encyclopedia)Rashi räˈshē [key], 1040–1105, Jewish exegete, grammarian, and legal authority, b. Troyes, France. The name he is known by is an acronym of Rabbi Solomon bar Isaac. He studied in Worms and Mainz,...

Gesenius, Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Gesenius, Wilhelm vĭlˈhĕlm gāzāˈnyo͝os [key], 1786–1842, German Orientalist, one of the greatest Hebrew and biblical scholars. He is principally known for his Hebrew Grammar, which has been r...

Voiture, Vincent

(Encyclopedia)Voiture, Vincent văNsäNˈ vwätürˈ [key], 1597–1648, French man of letters and poet. He wrote in the precious manner of the salon of the Hôtel de Rambouillet, in which he was a leading figure. ...

Darwish, Mahmoud

(Encyclopedia)Darwish, Mahmoud, 1941–2008, widely considered the Palestinian national poet, b. Barwa, Palestine (now in Israel). He was born to middle-class Sunni Muslim farmers, who were displaced when soldiers ...

Ferreira, António

(Encyclopedia)Ferreira, António äntôˈnyo͝o fərēˈrə [key], c.1528–69, Portuguese dramatist and poet. Ferreira served as a privy councillor and a magistrate. Influenced by the Italian Renaissance, he wrote...