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runes
runes ancient characters used in Teutonic, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian inscriptions . They were probably first used by the East Goths (c.300), who are thought to have derived them from Helleno-Italic writing. The runes were adapted to carving on wood and stone; they consisted of perpendicular, o...
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sign language
sign language gestural communication used as an alternative or replacement for speech. Sign languages resemble oral languages in every way other than their modality. As with oral languages, sign languages are acquired spontaneously and have highly intricate, rule-governed grammar and phonology ....
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Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), international organization established as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in 1973, during the cold war , to promote East-West cooperation. Headquarters are in Prague, Czech Republic. The CSCE's 1975 meeting in ...
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hex
hex witchcraft or one who works it. The word is of German origin, and beliefs connected with it spread from Europe to the United States, especially to the Pennsylvania Dutch country. The hex can be worked by either sex, but more commonly by a man, usually an amateur or professional hex "doctor." ...
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Yarkant
Yarkant or Yarkand , river, c.500 mi (800 km) long, rising in the Karakorum range, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, NW China, and flowing northeast to join with the Aksu to form the Tarim River. The city of Shache or Yarkant, forms an oasis at the western end of the Taklimakan desert; it is...
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Holy Alliance
Holy Alliance 1815, agreement among the emperors of Russia and Austria and the king of Prussia, signed on Sept. 26. It was quite distinct from the Quadruple Alliance (Quintuple, after the admission of France) of Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, arrived at first in 1814 and revived in 18...
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Warsaw Treaty Organization
Warsaw Treaty Organization or Warsaw Pact, alliance set up under a mutual defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, in 1955 by Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. The organization was the Soviet bloc's equivalent of the North Atlantic ...
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Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea , Lat. Mare Caspium or Mare Hyrcanium, salt lake, c.144,000 sq mi (373,000 sq km), between Europe and Asia; the largest lake in the world. It is bordered on the northeast by Kazakhstan, on the southeast by Turkmenistan, on the south by Iran, on the southwest by Azerbaijan, and on the...
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radical
radical in mathematics, symbol placed over a number or expression, called the radicand, to indicate a root of the radicand. When used without a sign or index number, it designates the positive square root of the radicand, i.e., 2. If both square roots are meant, the radical sign is preceded by &p...
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Treaty of San Stefano
Treaty of San Stefano , 1878, peace treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, at the conclusion of the last of the Russo-Turkish Wars ; it was signed at San Stefano (now Yeşilköy), a village W of Istanbul, Turkey. The Ottomans ceded to Russia parts of Armenia and the Dobruja ; agreed...
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