Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Tiw tür [key], ancient Germanic god. Originally a highly revered sky god, he was later worshiped as a god of war and of athletic events. He was identified with the Roman war god Mars, and among Germa...

(Encyclopedia) Normandy campaign, June to Aug., 1944, in World War II. The Allied invasion of the European continent through Normandy began about 12:15 a.m. on June 6, 1944 (D-day). The plan, known as Operation Over...

(Encyclopedia) Massey, Vincent, 1887–1967, Canadian statesman, b. Toronto; brother of actor Raymond Massey. After a brief career as a professor he served (1918–19) as a government official before joining his fam...

(Encyclopedia) Mississauga mĭsĭsawˈgə [key], city (1991 pop. 463,388), S Ont., Canada, 12 mi (20 km) W of Toronto on Lake Ontario. A residential suburb of Toronto and a growing transportation and industrial cent...

(Encyclopedia) Grand-Pré grăn-prā, Fr. gräN-prā [key] [Fr.,=large field], village, W central N.S., Canada, on an arm of the Bay of Fundy. The area is famous for having been an early settlement of the Acadians, ...

(Encyclopedia) sidereal time (ST), time measured relative to the fixed stars; thus, the sidereal day is the period during which the earth completes one rotation on its axis so that some chosen star appears twice on ...

(Encyclopedia) White, Ellen Gould (Harmon), 1827–1915, leader of the Seventh-day Adventists, b. Gorham, Maine. Converted at the age of 15 to the beliefs of the Adventists, she began to receive visions accepted as ...

(Encyclopedia) Epiphany ĭpĭfˈənē [key] [Gr.,=showing], a prime Christian feast, celebrated Jan. 6, called also Twelfth Day or Little Christmas. Its eve is Twelfth Night. It commemorates three events—the bapti...

(Encyclopedia) Durham, John George Lambton, 1st earl of dûrˈ əm [key], 1792–1840, British statesman. A stormy liberal career in Parliament (1813–32), which earned him the nickname Radical Jack, culminated in ...

(Encyclopedia) Swithin or Swithun, Saint both: swĭᵺˈən [key], fl. 860, English bishop of Winchester. He was buried, according to his wishes, outside his church, but his relics were later removed to the new cath...