Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) niello nēĕlˈō [key] [Ital. from Latin nigellus=blackish], black metallic alloy of sulfur, copper, silver, and usually lead, used as an inlay on engraved metal. The metal surface is brushed with a ...

(Encyclopedia) Orosius, Paulus ōrōˈshēəs [key], c.385–420, Iberian priest, theologian, and historian, b. Tarragona, Spain or Braga, Portugal. He went to see St. Augustine (c.413) and wrote, on request, a summ...

(Encyclopedia) Percheron horse pûrˈchərŏnˌ [key], breed of draft horse developed in NW France, originally of Flemish origin, but also containing some Arabian blood (see Arabian horse). For a heavy horse, it has...

(Encyclopedia) Deventer, city, Overijssel prov., E central Netherlands, on the IJssel River. It is an industrial center with machine shops and foundries; important man...

(Encyclopedia) Dithmarschen dĭtˈmärshən [key], region, SW Schleswig-Holstein, N Germany, between the Elbe and Eider rivers. It is chiefly an agricultural region, with extensive cattle raising in the west. The ea...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Colonnade colonnade kŏlənādˈ [key], a row of columns usually supporting a roof. Colonnades were popular with the Greeks and Romans, who employed them in the stoa and the portico; they have...

(Encyclopedia) Bogomils bōˈgōmĭlz [key], members of Europe's first great dualist church, which flourished in Bulgaria and the Balkans from the 10th to the 15th cent. Their creed, adapted from the Paulicians and ...

(Encyclopedia) Bradford, city and metropolitan borough, N central England, on a small tributary of the Aire River. It is a center of the worsted industry, which dates ...

(Encyclopedia) Al-Battani ălˌbətēˈnēəs [key], b. before 858, d. 929, Arab astronomer and mathematician. He is best known in astronomy for his improvements and corrections of the Ptolemaic tradition. His Kitab...

(Encyclopedia) filigree fĭlˈĭgrē [key], ornamental work of fine gold or silver wire, often wrought into an openwork design and joined with matching solder and borax under the flame of the blowpipe. Filigree is u...