Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) plainsong or plainchant, the unharmonized chant of the medieval Christian liturgies in Europe and the Middle East; usually synonymous with Gregorian chant, the liturgical music of the Roman Catholic C...

(Encyclopedia) Akkadian əkāˈdēən [key], extinct language belonging to the East Semitic subdivision of the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic family of languages (see Afroasiatic languages). Also called Assyro...

(Encyclopedia) Pierre pēr [key], city (1990 pop. 12,906), state capital (since 1889) and seat of Hughes co., central S.Dak., on the east bank of the Missouri River, opposite Fort Pierre; inc. 1883. Its economy is c...

(Encyclopedia) Baghdad Railway, railroad of international importance linking Europe with Asia Minor and the Middle East. The line runs from İstanbul, Turkey, to Basra, Iraq; it connected what were distant regions o...

(Encyclopedia) Cyaxares sīăkˈsərēz [key], d. 585 b.c., king of Media (c.625–585 b.c.). His name also appears as Umakishtar and Huyakhshtara. In the course of his reign he raised the kingdom of the Medes to a ...

(Encyclopedia) kettledrum, in music, percussion instrument consisting of a hemispherical metal vessel over which a membrane is stretched, played with soft-headed wooden drumsticks. Of ancient origin, it appeared ear...

(Encyclopedia) snuff, preparation of pulverized tobacco used by sniffing it into the nostrils, chewing it, or placing it between the gums and the cheek. The blended tobacco from which it is made is often aged for tw...

(Encyclopedia) William of Tyre tīˈər [key], b. c.1130, d. before 1185, historian and churchman. Born in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and possibly of French extraction, he received his education at Antioch and i...

(Encyclopedia) Syriac sērˈēăkˌ [key], late dialect of Aramaic, which is a West Semitic language (see Afroasiatic languages). The early Christians of Mesopotamia and Syria gave the Greek name Syriac to the Arama...

(Encyclopedia) Podhoretz, Norman pŏdhôrˈəts [key], 1930–, American editor and essayist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., studied Columbia (B.A., 1950), Cambridge. As editor in chief (1960–95) of Commentary, he turned the ...