Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tillamook

(Encyclopedia)Tillamook, Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Salishan branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the early 19th cent. they lived on Tilla...

Pryor, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Pryor, Richard, 1940–2005, American comedian, b. Peoria, Ill. His iconoclastic, wildly inventive, and racially explosive comic style was expressed in language that was often crude and frequently bri...

Ribeiro, Bernardim

(Encyclopedia)Ribeiro, Bernardim bərnərdēmˈ rēbāˈro͝o [key], 1482?–1552?, Portuguese poet. Ribeiro was a figure at the Lisbon court and is said to have gone mad after an unhappy love affair. Saudades, or ...

Norwich University

(Encyclopedia)Norwich University, at Northfield and Montpelier, Vt.; coeducational; founded 1819 as a private military college, opened 1820 at Norwich, Vt.; chartered under present name 1834, moved to Northfield 18...

Villani, Giovanni

(Encyclopedia)Villani, Giovanni jōvänˈnē vēl-läˈnē [key], c.1275–1348, Italian historian of Florence. As a Florentine government functionary, he participated in some of the events he narrates. His 12-volu...

Walpi

(Encyclopedia)Walpi wälˈpē [key] [Hopi,=place of the gap], pueblo, NE Ariz., on a mesa NE of Flagstaff; founded c.1700. Its inhabitants are Pueblo who speak the Hopi language (Uto-Aztecan linguistic family). One...

Canarsee

(Encyclopedia)Canarsee kənärˈsē [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They occupied the western part of Long Island, N...

Bessenyei, György

(Encyclopedia)Bessenyei, György dyörˈdyə bĕˈshĕnyā [key], 1747–1811, Hungarian dramatist and writer. In Vienna he came in contact with French rationalism and was an ardent follower of Voltaire and the Enc...

Celt

(Encyclopedia)Celt kĕlt [key]. 1 One who speaks a Celtic language or who derives ancestry from an area where a Celtic language was spoken; i.e., one from Ireland, the Scottish Hebrides and Highlands, the Isle of M...

Kyzyl

(Encyclopedia)Kyzyl or Kizil both: kĭzĭlˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 85,000), capital of Tuva Republic, S Siberian Russia, on the Yenisei River. It services motor transport and has brickyards, sawmills, furniture fa...

Browse by Subject