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gloss

(Encyclopedia)gloss [Gr.,=tongue], explanatory note on a word or words of a text, usually written between the lines or in a margin of a manuscript. In copying a manuscript, a copyist sometimes incorporated a gloss ...

Ptah

(Encyclopedia)Ptah ptä [key], in Egyptian religion, great god of Memphis. He was one of the important gods of ancient Egypt and, according to Memphite theology, created the universe through the thought of his hear...

Basque language

(Encyclopedia)Basque language, tongue of uncertain relationship spoken by close to a million people, most of whom live in NE Spain and some of whom reside in SW France. The language has eight dialects. Speakers of ...

Whipple, Henry Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Whipple, Henry Benjamin, 1822–1901, American Episcopal bishop, b. Adams, N.Y. He was ordained a priest in 1850, and in 1859 he was consecrated the first bishop of Minnesota. With James Lloyd Breck h...

Kittredge, George Lyman

(Encyclopedia)Kittredge, George Lyman kĭˈtrĭj [key], 1860–1941, American scholar, b. Boston. A member of the Harvard faculty (1888–1936), Kittredge was a noted authority on the English language, Shakespeare ...

canker

(Encyclopedia)canker, small sore on the inside of the mouth. A canker appears as a shallow, whitish ulcer surrounded by a thin, red area. It is tender, sometimes painful, and may occur singly or as one of a group o...

Athabascan

(Encyclopedia)Athabascan both: –păsˈ– [key], group of related Native American languages forming a branch of the Nadene linguistic family or stock. In the preconquest period, Athabascan was a large and extensi...

Changes in English Pronunciation (table)

(Encyclopedia)Changes in English Pronunciation ...

Indo-Iranian

(Encyclopedia)Indo-Iranian, subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages, spoken by more than a billion people, chiefly in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka (see The Indo-Eu...

Philomela and Procne

(Encyclopedia)Philomela and Procne fĭlōmēˈlə, prŏkˈnē [key], in Greek mythology, daughters of King Pandion of Attica. Procne married Tereus, king of Thrace, and bore him a son, Itys (or Itylus). Tereus late...