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Da Lat

(Encyclopedia)Da Lat dä lät [key], city (1989 pop. 87,136), S Vietnam, in the central highlands, alt. c.5,000 ft (1,520 m). Developed by the French as a health resort and hunting center, it is a modern city surro...

sertão

(Encyclopedia)sertão sərˈtouN [key] [Port.,=backlands], semiarid hinterland of NE Brazil; c.250,000 sq mi (647,500 sq km). Its characteristic landscape is the caatinga, or thorny scrub forest. The chief occupati...

Gottfried von Strassburg

(Encyclopedia)Gottfried von Strassburg gôtˈfrēt fən shträsˈbo͝orkh [key], fl. 13th cent., German poet, also called Godfrey of Strasbourg. He is thought to have been official scribe of Strasbourg, but little ...

Montholon, Charles Tristan, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Montholon, Charles Tristan, marquis de shärl trēstäNˈ märkēˈ də môNtōlôNˈ [key], 1783–1853, French general in the Napoleonic Wars. He accompanied the former emperor, Napoleon I, to St. H...

Tristram and Isolde

(Encyclopedia)Tristram and Isolde trĭsˈtrəm, ĭsōlˈdə, ĭzōlˈ– [key], medieval romance. The earliest extant version (incomplete) was written (c.1185) by Thomas of Britain in Anglo-Norman French verse. Abo...

Desiderio da Settignano

(Encyclopedia)Desiderio da Settignano dāzēdĕˈrēō dä sĕtˌtēnyäˈnō [key], c.1429–64, Florentine sculptor, a follower of Donatello. His exquisitely delicate marble carving is best seen in his church dec...

Da Ponte, Lorenzo

(Encyclopedia)Da Ponte, Lorenzo lōrĕntˈsō dä pônˈtā [key], 1749–1838, Italian librettist and teacher, b. Ceneda as Emmanuele Conegliano. Born Jewish, he converted to Catholicism at 14, became (1773) a pri...

Costa, Isaäc da

(Encyclopedia)Costa, Isaäc da ēˈsä-äk dä kôˈstä [key], 1798–1860, Dutch poet and historian, b. Amsterdam, of an aristocratic Sephardic Jewish family. Deeply influenced by Bilderdijk, he entered (1822) th...

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