North Germanic Languages, Morphology

Old Scandinavian had a declensional system with four cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) and two numbers. The actual form of the inflections depended on the stem class of the noun or the adjective. Verbs were inflected for tense and mood, person and number. This system is preserved in Icelandic. In Faroese, the declensions have been simplified, and only three

La Fontaine, Jean De

The Fables unquestionably represent the peak of La Fontaine's achievement. The first six books, known as the premier recueil (�first collection�), were published in 1668 and were followed by five more books (the second recueil) in 1678 - 79 and a twelfth book in 1694. The Fables in the second collection show even greater technical skill than those in the first and are longer, more reflective,

Kazakstan, Drainage

Kazakstan's east and southeast possess extensive watercourses: most of the country's 7,000 streams form part of the inland drainage systems of the Aral and Caspian seas and Lakes Balkhash and Tengiz. The major exceptions are the great Irtysh, Ishim (Esil), and Tobol rivers, which run northwest from the highlands in the southeast and, crossing Russia, ultimately drain into

Utrecht, State University Of

The largest Netherlands state university, Utrecht has faculties of theology, law, medicine, science,

Mcneill, William H(ardy)

McNeill attended the University of Chicago (B.A., 1938; M.A., 1939) and Cornell University (Ph.D., 1947). During World War II he served in the U.S. Army (1941 - 46); part of that time he was the assistant military attach� to Greece (1944 - 46). McNeill taught history

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Also called �Indian Turnip, Bog Onion, Brown Dragon, or Starchwort� (species Arisaema triphyllum), a North American plant of the arum family (Araceae), noted for the unusual shape of its flower. The plant is native to wet woodlands and thickets from Nova Scotia to Minnesota and southward to Florida and Texas. It is a stoutish perennial, 1 to 2.5 feet (0.3 to 0.8 m) high, and usually bears two long-stalked, three-parted leaves that overshadow the flower. The

Darling, Grace

The daughter of a lighthouse keeper, Darling grew up on Longstone in the Farne Islands. Intensely shy and private, she become the focus of national attention after the steamship Forfarshire sank during a severe storm in September

Ercker, Lazarus

Ercker studied at the University of Wittenberg (1547 - 48) and in 1554 was appointed assayer at Dresden, the first of many such positions he held in the state bureaucracy of Saxony. After 1567 he became control tester of coins at Kutn� Hora, near Prague. In his great work, Beschreibung

Chou Tun-i

Chou was born into a highly influential official

Baden-baden

City, Baden-W�rttemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies along the middle Oos River in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). Baden-Baden is one of the world's great spas. Its Roman baths (parts of which survive) were built in the reign of Caracalla (AD 211 - 217) for the garrison of Strasbourg. The town fell into ruins but reappeared in 1112 as the seat (until 1705) of the margravate of Baden. Almost

Anderssen, Adolf

In full �Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen � chess master considered the world's strongest player from his victory in the first modern international tournament (London, 1851) until his defeat (1858) by the American Paul Morphy in match play and, again, after Morphy's retirement (c. 1861) until his defeat by the Austrian Wilhelm Steinitz (1866). Anderssen was noted for his ability

Bulge, Battle Of The

Also called �Battle Of The Ardennes� (Dec. 16, 1944 - Jan. 16, 1945), the last German offensive on the Western Front during World War II; an unsuccessful attempt to push the Allies back from German home territory. The name Battle of the Bulge was appropriated from Winston Churchill's optimistic description, in May 1940, of the resistance that he mistakenly supposed was being offered to the Germans' breakthrough in that area just

Tie-dyeing

Method of dyeing by hand in which coloured patterns are produced in the fabric by gathering together many small portions of material and tying them tightly with string before immersing the cloth in the dyebath. The dye fails to penetrate the tied sections. After drying, the fabric is untied to reveal irregular circles, dots, and stripes. Varicoloured patterns may

Frederick William Ii

The son of Frederick the Great's brother Augustus William, he became heir presumptive on his father's death in 1758. He was intellectually receptive and devoted to the

Volsci

Knowledge of the Volsci depends largely upon Roman accounts of their mutual

Land Crab

Any crab of the family Gecarcinidae (order Decapoda of the class Crustacea), typically terrestrial, square-bodied crabs that only occasionally, as adults, return to the sea. They occur in tropical America, West Africa, and the Indo-Pacific region. All species feed on both animal and plant tissue. Cardisoma guanhumi, a land crab of Bermuda, the West Indies, and the southern

Felicitas

Roman goddess of good luck to whom a temple was first built in the mid-2nd century BC. She became the special protector of successful commanders. Caesar planned to erect another temple to her, and it was built by the triumvir M. Aemilius Lepidus. The emperors made her prominent as symbolizing the blessings of the imperial regime.

Sunburn

Acute cutaneous inflammation caused by overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation of the so-called UVB wavelength band (290 - 320 nanometre; a nanometre is 10-9 metre), which originates from sunlight or artificial sources. Reactions to overexposure range in severity from mild redness and tenderness to intense pain, edema (swelling), and blistering; systemic symptoms include

Khoisan Languages, Phonology

Most characteristic of the Khoisan languages are the click sounds, which form a subsystem of the consonants. Clicks are produced by simultaneous closure of the tongue with two areas in the mouth, one at the soft palate (the velum), and the other at such prevelar locations as the teeth, alveolar ridge, or palate. After the closures are made, the body of the tongue is moved

Semitic Languages

Group of languages spoken in northern Africa and the Middle East that constitutes one of the branches of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) language family. (The other branches are Egyptian, Berber, Cushitic, and Chadic.) The Semitic languages are divided into four groups: (1) Northern Peripheral, or Northeastern, with only one language, ancient Akkadian; (2) Northern

Ibn Al-'arabi

A.M. Palacios, El Islam cristianizado; estudio del �sufismo� a trav�s de las obras de Abenarabi de Murcia (1931); R.A. Nicholson, Studies in Islamic Mysticism (1921); A.E. Affifi, The Mystical Philosophy of Muhyid-Din Ibnul 'Arabi (1939); S.H. Nasr, Three Muslim Sages (1963); M.M. Sharif (ed.), A History of Muslim Philosophy, vol. 2 (1963); Henry Corbin, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi (Eng. trans. 1969); Osman Yahya, Histoire et classification de l'oeuvre d'Ibn 'Arabi, 2 vol. (1964); T. Izutsu, A Comparative Study of the Key Philosophical Concepts in Sufism and Taoism: Ibn 'Arab� and Lao Tz�, Chuang Tz�, 2 vol. (1966 - 67). See especially the works of Palacios, Nasr, and Corbin for biographical information.

Visconti, Gian Galeazzo

The son of Galeazzo II Visconti, who shared the rule of Milan with his brother Bernab�, Gian Galeazzo was married in 1360 to Isabella of Valois, daughter of the king of France. After his father's death

Epiphyte

Any plant that grows upon or is in some manner attached to another plant or object merely for physical support. Epiphytes are primarily tropical in distribution and are often known as air plants because they have no attachment to the ground or other obvious nutrient source. They obtain water and minerals from rain

Arabia, History Of, Arabian and Islamic expansion

In the 6th century Quraysh - the noble and holy house of the confederation of the Hejaz controlling the sacred enclave (haram) of Mecca - contrived a chain of agreements with the northern and southern tribes that opened the highways of Arabia to commerce. Under Quraysh aegis, caravans moved freely from the southern Yemen coast to Mecca and thence northward to Byzantium

Moral Theology

Also called �Christian ethics� Christian theological discipline concerned with identifying and elucidating the principles that determine the quality of human behaviour in the light of Christian revelation. It is distinguished from the philosophical discipline of ethics, which relies upon the authority of reason and which can only call upon rational sanctions for moral failure. Moral

France, History Of, Colonial independence movements

A less fortunate aspect of the national urge to reassert France's stature in the world was the Fourth Republic's costly effort to hold the colonial empire. France's colonies had provided de Gaulle with his first important base of support as leader of Free France, and as the war continued they had furnished valuable resources and manpower. The colonial peoples, therefore,

Mountain, Mid-ocean ridges and rises

Where two lithospheric plates diverge, new material is intruded into the gap between the plates and accreted to each of them as they diverge. The vast majority of volcanic rocks ejected onto the surface of the Earth is erupted at the mid-ocean ridges and rises where this process occurs. Thus, such submarine landforms comprise very long, narrow volcanic centres. Although

Thoburn, Isabella

Thoburn attended local schools and the Wheeling Female Seminary in Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia). In 1866, after she had taught for several years, Thoburn was invited by her brother

Abbott, Bud; And Costello, Lou

Abbott was born into a circus

Saarbr�

City, capital (1959) of Saarland Land (state), southwestern Germany, on the Saar River at the mouth of the Sulz River, a frontier station opposite Forbach, Fr. There were Celtic and Roman settlements in the vicinity, but the name is derived from the Frankish royal castle of Sarrabrucca, referring to a bridge across the river dating from Roman times. Its early rulers were the bishops