Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Edda

(Encyclopedia)Edda ĕdˈə [key], title applied to two distinct works in Old Icelandic. The Poetic Edda, or Elder Edda, is a collection (late 13th cent.) of 34 mythological and heroic lays, most of which were compo...

scaldic poetry

(Encyclopedia)scaldic or Skaldic poetry: see Old Norse literature. ...

Yiddish language

(Encyclopedia)Yiddish language yĭdˈĭsh [key], a member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages; German language). Although it is not ...

Comstock, Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Comstock, Anthony kŏmˈstŏk [key], 1844–1915, American morals crusader, b. New Canaan, Conn. He served with the Union army in the Civil War and was later active as an antiabortionist and in advoca...

Erskine, John, American educator, author, and musician

(Encyclopedia)Erskine, John, 1879–1951, American educator, author, and musician, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1900; Ph.D., 1903). He taught first at Amherst (1903–9) and then at Columbia, becoming pr...

Mistral, Frédéric

(Encyclopedia)Mistral, Frédéric frādārēkˈ mēsträlˈ [key], 1830–1914, French Provençal poet. With Théodore Aubanel he was one of the seven founders (1854) of the Félibrige, an organization to promote P...

Nicolson, Marjorie Hope

(Encyclopedia)Nicolson, Marjorie Hope, 1894–1981, American educator, b. Yonkers, N.Y., grad. Univ. of Michigan (B.A., 1914; M.A., 1918) and Yale (Ph.D., 1920). She was dean and professor at Smith from 1929 to 194...

Panchatantra

(Encyclopedia)Panchatantra pŭnˌchətŭnˈtrə [key] [Sanskrit,=five treatises], anonymous collection of animal fables in Sanskrit literature, probably compiled before a.d. 500 (see Bidpai). The work, derived from...

Poole, William Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Poole, William Frederick, 1821–94, American librarian, bibliographer, and historian, b. Essex co., Mass. Poole was librarian of the Boston Athenæum (1856–69), of the public libraries of Cincinnat...

Browse by Subject