Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) zero, that number which, when added to any number, leaves the latter unchanged; its symbol is 0. The introduction of zero into the decimal system was the most significant achievement in the developmen...

(Encyclopedia) Suffolk, county (1991 pop. 629,900), 1,466 sq mi (3,798 sq km), E England. The county seat is Ipswich. The county is divided into seven administrative districts: Waveney, Suffolk Coastal, Ipswich, Mid...

(Encyclopedia) benefit of clergy, term originally applied to the exemption of Christian clerics from criminal prosecution in the secular courts. The privilege was established by the 12th cent., and it extended only ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Valerian, Valeriana officinalis valerian, common name for some members of the Valerianaceae, a family chiefly of herbs and shrubs of temperate and colder regions of the Northern Hemisphere; a ...

(Encyclopedia) Valla, Lorenzo lōrānˈtsō välˈlä [key], c.1407–57, Italian humanist. Valla knew Greek and Latin well and was chosen by Pope Nicholas V to translate Herodotus and Thucydides into Latin. From hi...

(Encyclopedia) Tunis to͞onĭs [key], city (1994 pop. 674,100), capital of Tunisia, NE Tunisia, on the Lake of Tunis. Access to the Gulf of Tunis (an arm of the Mediterranean) is by a canal terminating at a subsidia...

(Encyclopedia) table, article of furniture employed for household or ecclesiastical purposes. Elaborately decorated tables of wood or metal were known in ancient Egypt and Assyria, and the Greeks used small tables o...

(Encyclopedia) tempera tĕmˈpərə [key], painting method in which finely ground pigment is mixed with a solidifying base such as albumen, fig sap, or thin glue. When used in mural painting it is also known as fres...

(Encyclopedia) Podolia pōdōˈlyə [key], region, SW Ukraine, separated in the south from Moldova by the Dniester and in the west from W Galicia by the Southern Buh. It borders on Volhynia in the north. Kamyanets-P...

(Encyclopedia) relics, part of the body of a saint or a thing closely connected with the saint in life. In traditional Christian belief they have had great importance, and miracles have often been associated with th...