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Liechtenstein

(Encyclopedia)Liechtenstein lĭkhˈtənshtīnˌ [key], officially Principality of Liechtenstein, principality (2015 est. pop. 37,000), 62 sq mi (160 sq km), W central Europe. It is situated in the Alps between Aust...

Jainism

(Encyclopedia)Jainism jīˈnĭzəm [key] [i.e., the religion of Jina], religious system of India practiced by about 5,000,000 persons. Jainism, Ajivika, and Buddhism arose in the 6th cent. b.c. as protests against ...

Serbo-Croatian

(Encyclopedia)Serbo-Croatian sûrˈbō-krōāˈshən [key], language belonging to the South Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages). Serbo-Croatian compr...

Pali canon

(Encyclopedia)Pali canon päˈlē [key], sacred literature of Buddhism. The texts in the Pali canon are the earliest Buddhist sources, and for Theravada Buddhists, who claim to conserve the original teachings of th...

Castile

(Encyclopedia)Castile kästēˈlyä [key], historic region and former kingdom, central and N Spain, traditionally divided into Old Castile and New Castile, and now divided among the autonomous communities of Castil...

Celtic languages

(Encyclopedia)Celtic languages, subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. At one time, during the Hellenistic period, Celtic speech extended all the way from Britain and the Iberian Peninsula in the west ...

Alsace

(Encyclopedia)Alsace älzäsˈ [key], Ger. Elsass, former province and former administrative region, E France. It is separated from Germany by a part of the Rhine River. It comprises the departments of Bas-Rhin, Ha...

Corsica

(Encyclopedia)Corsica kôrˈsĭkə [key], Fr. Corse, island, 3,352 sq mi (8,682 sq km), a region of metropo...

Swiss literature

(Encyclopedia)Swiss literature. The literature of Switzerland is written in German, French, Italian, and Romansh, with German predominating. The extensive literature in Romansh dialect (see Rhaeto-Romanic) is littl...

Spanish language

(Encyclopedia)CEE Spanish language, member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). The official language of Spain and 19 Latin American nati...