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Sino-Tibetan languages

(Encyclopedia)Sino-Tibetan languages, family of languages spoken by over a billion people in central and SE Asia. This linguistic family is second only to the Indo-European stock in the number of its speakers. It i...

Nabataea

(Encyclopedia)Nabataea năbˌətēˈə [key], ancient kingdom of Arabia, south of Edom, in present-day Jordan. It flourished from the 4th cent. b.c. to a.d. 106, when it was conquered by Rome. The history of Nabata...

MacGahan, Januarius Aloysius

(Encyclopedia)MacGahan, Januarius Aloysius məgănˈ [key], 1844–78, American newspaper correspondent. He reported the Franco-Prussian War for the New York Herald and in 1873 penetrated central Asia to join the R...

mangosteen

(Encyclopedia)mangosteen mangˈgəstēnˌ [key], the edible fruit of Garcinia mangostana, of the family Clusiaceae (Guttiferae), an evergreen tree native to SE Asia. The purple fruit is similar to an orange in size...

baluchitherium

(Encyclopedia)baluchitherium bəlo͞ochĭthērˈēəm [key], extinct primitive rhinoceros, belonging to the genus Baluchitherium, of the Oligocene epoch, fossilized bones of which were found in central Asia. It had...

Schimper, Karl Friedric

(Encyclopedia)Schimper, Karl Friedric shĭmˈpər [key], 1803–67, German botanist. He did important work in plant morphology and originated the theory, called phyllotaxis, that there is a fixed order to the arran...

Chishti, Muin ad-Din Hasan

(Encyclopedia)Chishti, Muin ad-Din Hasan mo͞oēnˈ äd-dĭn häsänˈ chĭshˈtē [key], 1142–1236, Indian Muslim saint, b. Sistan, Persia. He founded a Sufi mystic order responsible for spreading Islamic teachi...

Christopher, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Christopher, Saint krĭsˈtəfər [key] [Gr.,=Christ bearer], 3d cent.?, martyr of Asia Minor. His characteristic legend is that one day when he was carrying a little child over a river, he felt the c...

Turkmenbashi

(Encyclopedia)Turkmenbashi or Türkmenbaşy krəsnəvôtskˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 59,500), W Turkmenistan, on the Krasnovodsk Gulf of the Caspian Sea. It is the western terminus of oil and natural gas pipelines a...

Pudovkin, Vsevolod Ilarionovich

(Encyclopedia)Pudovkin, Vsevolod Ilarionovich fsyĕˈvələt ēləryônˈəvĭch po͞odôfˈkĭn [key], 1893–1953, Russian film director. He used new techniques of film editing, particularly intercutting, in his ...