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Prakrit

(Encyclopedia)Prakrit präˈkrĭt [key], any of a number of languages belonging to the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Indo-Iranian). The Prakrits are usually...

slang

(Encyclopedia)slang, vernacular vocabulary not generally acceptable in formal usage. It is notable for its liveliness, humor, emphasis, brevity, novelty, and exaggeration. Most slang is faddish and ephemeral, but s...

Collier, John Payne

(Encyclopedia)Collier, John Payne, 1789–1883, English critic, editor, and forger. The marginal notes and signatures supposedly discovered by him on original documents, especially those concerned with Shakespeare,...

Gollancz, Sir Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Gollancz, Sir Hermann gŏlˈənts [key], 1852–1930, English rabbi and authority on Hebrew language and literature. He was professor of Hebrew (1902–24) at University College, London. In 1902 he ed...

King Horn

(Encyclopedia)King Horn, probably the earliest English-language romance, written c.1250 and containing about 1,500 lines. It is by an anonymous author and is based on an earlier work in French. Emphasizing action a...

Vulgar Latin

(Encyclopedia)Vulgar Latin, vernacular form of the Latin language spoken in ancient Rome and the Roman Empire, as distinguished from classical or literary Latin. Vulgar Latin, rather than classical Latin, is the tr...

Bingham, Hiram, 1789–1869, American Congregationalist missionary

(Encyclopedia)Bingham, Hiram, 1789–1869, American Congregationalist missionary, b. Bennington, Vt. In 1819 the American Board of Missions sent him, with others, to found the first Protestant mission in the Hawaii...

Tilak, Bal Gangadhar

(Encyclopedia)Tilak, Bal Gangadhar bäl gŭngˈgədär tēˈläk [key], 1856–1920, Indian nationalist leader. He was a journalist in Pune, and in his newspapers, the Marathi-language Kesari [lion] and the English...

Indus

(Encyclopedia)Indus ĭnˈdəs [key], chief river of Pakistan, c.1,900 mi (3,060 km) long, rising in the Kailas range in the Tibetan Himalayas, and flowing NW across Ladakh, India, then SW through Pakistan to the Ar...

Littré, Maximilien Paul Émile

(Encyclopedia)Littré, Maximilien Paul Émile mäksēmēlyăNˈ pōl āmēlˈ lētrāˈ [key], 1801–81, French lexicographer. Known as a positivist philosopher and as professor of history and geography at the Éc...