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jargon

(Encyclopedia)jargon, pejorative term applied to speech or writing that is considered meaningless, unintelligible, or ugly. In one sense the term is applied to the special language of a profession, which may be unn...

Aram

(Encyclopedia)Aram āˈrăm [key], ancient country and people centered in Damascus in S Syria between the 11th and 8th cent. b.c. The Bible records constant contacts between the Hebrews and Aram. The Aramaeans spok...

Čelakovsky, František

(Encyclopedia)Čelakovsky, František fränˈtĭshĕk chĕˈläkôfskĭ [key], 1799–1852, Czech folklorist and poet. A disciple of Herder and a romantic Pan-Slavist, he collected Slavic folk songs from 1822 to 18...

Oriya

(Encyclopedia)Oriya ôdēˈə [key], language belonging to the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. See Indo-Iranian. ...

hexameter

(Encyclopedia)hexameter hĕksămˈətər [key] [Gr.,=measure of six], in prosody, a line to be scanned in six feet (see versification). The most celebrated hexameter measure is dactylic, which was the meter for mos...

Akkadian

(Encyclopedia)Akkadian əkāˈdēən [key], extinct language belonging to the East Semitic subdivision of the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages (see Afroasiatic languages). Also called Assyro...

Ham, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Ham, in the Bible, son of Noah. In biblical ethnography, Ham is the father of the nations Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. In a story separate from the flood narrative, the legend related in the Book ...

Münster, Sebastian

(Encyclopedia)Münster, Sebastian sābäsˈtyänˌ münˈstər [key], 1489–1552, German scholar and geographer. He was a Franciscan monk but after the Reformation became a Protestant and taught at Heidelberg and ...

Burnes, Sir Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Burnes, Sir Alexander, 1805–41, British traveler in India. As an army officer in India, he studied Asian languages. In 1832 he left Lahore in Afghan dress and traveled by way of Peshawar and Kabul a...

Brugmann, Karl

(Encyclopedia)Brugmann, Karl kärl bro͝okˈmän [key], 1849–1919, German philologist. A professor at Leipzig, Brugmann believed that scientific rules of linguistics do not admit of exceptions. With the help of o...