• Siassi Islands (islands, Papua New Guinea)

    Oceanic music and dance: Musical style and cultural context: …were adopted from the off-coast Siassi Islands, including texts that were unintelligible to the Kate.

  • Šiauliai (Lithuania)

    Šiauliai, city, north-central Lithuania. The city, dating from at least the 13th century, may be identical with the “Saule” where a major military confrontation took place in 1236 between the Lithuanians and the Brothers of the Sword, an order of Christian knights bent on imposing Christianity on

  • sib (lineages)

    Germanic law: Tribal Germanic institutions: …institution was the “sib” (sippe), a term that meant both a clan—the extended family composed of all those related by blood, however remotely, and subject to a clan chief—and also a household or narrow family, whose members were under the mund (guardianship) of the family head. A boy remained…

  • Sīb, Agreement of Al- (Arabian history)

    Āl Bū Saʿīd dynasty: …a treaty, known as the Treaty of Al-Sib (September 25, 1920), was signed between Imam ʿĪsā ibn Ṣāliḥ and Sultan Taymūr ibn Fayṣal (reigned 1913–32), by virtue of which Sultan Taymūr ruled over the coastal provinces and Imam ʿĪsā over the interior. Opposition broke out again in 1954 when the…

  • Sib, Treaty of Al- (Arabian history)

    Āl Bū Saʿīd dynasty: …a treaty, known as the Treaty of Al-Sib (September 25, 1920), was signed between Imam ʿĪsā ibn Ṣāliḥ and Sultan Taymūr ibn Fayṣal (reigned 1913–32), by virtue of which Sultan Taymūr ruled over the coastal provinces and Imam ʿĪsā over the interior. Opposition broke out again in 1954 when the…

  • Sibal, Kapil (Indian lawyer and politician)

    Kapil Sibal is an Indian lawyer, politician, and government official who became a senior leader in the Indian National Congress (Congress Party). He was especially noted for his service as a cabinet minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government (2004–14). Sibal

  • Sibasa (South Africa)

    Sibasa, village, Limpopo province, South Africa. It was once the capital of the nonindependent Bantustan of Venda. A station was established there in 1872 by Carl Beuster of the Berlin Mission. The village is an industrial growth centre just northeast of Thohoyandou and about 4 miles (7 km) north

  • Sībawayh (Arab grammarian)

    Sībawayh was a celebrated grammarian of the Arabic language. After studying in Basra, Iraq, with a prominent grammarian, Sībawayh received recognition as a grammarian himself. Sībawayh is said to have left Iraq and retired to Shīrāz after losing a debate with a rival on Bedouin Arabic usage. His

  • Sibayak, Mount (mountain, Indonesia)

    North Sumatra: …than 400 years of dormancy, Mount Sibayak (6,870 feet [2,094 metres]), and Mount Sorikmarapi (7,037 feet [2,145 metres]). Near the centre of the plateau, at an elevation of 2,985 feet (910 metres), is Lake Toba, the remnant of an ancient and massive volcanic eruption. At the lake’s centre is Samosir…

  • Sibbald, Sir Robert (Scottish physician and antiquarian)

    Sir Robert Sibbald was a Scottish physician and antiquarian, who became the first professor of medicine at the University of Edinburgh (1685), which became thereafter, for more than a century, one of the greatest centres of medical research in Europe. Sibbald spent a considerable portion of his

  • Sibbaldus musculus (mammal)

    blue whale, (Balaenoptera musculus), the most massive animal ever to have lived, a species of baleen whale that weighs approximately 150 tons and may attain a length of more than 30 metres (98 feet). The largest accurately measured blue whale was a 29.5-metre female that weighed 180 metric tons

  • Sibe (breed of dog)

    Siberian Husky, breed of strong, graceful, and friendly working dog raised in Siberia by the Chukchi people, who valued it as a sled dog and companion. It was brought to Alaska in 1909 for sled dog races and soon became established as a consistent winner. In 1925 the breed gained widespread fame by

  • Sibelius, Jean (Finnish composer)

    Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer, the most noted symphonic composer of Scandinavia. Sibelius studied at the Finnish Normal School, the first Finnish-speaking school in Russian-held Finland, where he came into contact with Finnish literature and in particular with the Kalevala, the mythological

  • Sibelius, Johan Julius Christian (Finnish composer)

    Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer, the most noted symphonic composer of Scandinavia. Sibelius studied at the Finnish Normal School, the first Finnish-speaking school in Russian-held Finland, where he came into contact with Finnish literature and in particular with the Kalevala, the mythological

  • Šibenik (Croatia)

    Šibenik, port in southern Croatia. It lies along the estuary of the Krka River a short distance east of the river’s mouth on the Adriatic Sea. Although first documented in 1066, Šibenik was probably founded earlier by Slav migrants. It was chartered in 1167 and until 1412 was fought over by Venice

  • Siberia (region, Asia)

    Siberia, vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan, constituting all of northern Asia. Siberia extends from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and the borders of Mongolia and China. All but

  • Siberia (paleocontinent)

    Paleozoic Era: Paleozoic geography: Siberia, essentially the large Asian portion of present-day Russia, was a separate continent during the early and middle Paleozoic, when it moved from equatorial to northern temperate latitudes. Baltica moved across the paleoequator from southern cool temperate latitudes into northern warm latitudes during the Paleozoic.…

  • Siberian anticyclone (meteorology)

    Siberian anticyclone, a semipermanent system of high atmospheric pressure centred in northeastern Siberia during the colder half of the year. The anticyclone forms because of the intense cooling of the surface layers of air over the continent during this season. It is usually quite shallow in

  • Siberian argali (mammal)

    argali: The horns of the larger Siberian argali are somewhat shorter but much more massive.

  • Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russian organization)

    Academy of Sciences, highest scientific society and principal coordinating body for research in natural and social sciences, technology, and production in Russia. The organization was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 8 (January 28, Old Style), 1724. Membership in the academy is by

  • Siberian brown bear (mammal)

    brown bear: …(300–550 pounds); the exceptionally large Siberian brown bear (U. arctos beringianus), weighing as much as 360 kg (800 pounds), approximates the size of the North American grizzly. Coat colour is highly variable, ranging from grayish white through bluish and brownish shades to almost black. Eurasian brown bears are commonly seen…

  • Siberian chipmunk (rodent)

    chipmunk: …Old World species is the Siberian chipmunk (T. sibiricus), which ranges from the White Sea of northwestern Russia eastward through Siberia to northern Japan and south to China.

  • Siberian Chronicles (Russian literature)

    Siberian Chronicles, a series of Russian chronicles dating from the late 16th through the 18th century and dealing with the history of Siberia. They individually go by such names as the Esipov, Kungur, Remezov, and Stroganov chronicles (about 40 in all) and collectively constitute the basic source

  • Siberian crabapple (tree)

    crabapple: Major species: spectabilis), Siberian crabapple (M. baccata), Toringo crabapple (M. sieboldii), and Japanese flowering crabapple (M. floribunda). Among notable American species are the garland, or sweet crab (M. coronaria), Oregon crabapple (M. fusca), prairie crabapple (M. ioensis), and

  • Siberian elm (tree)

    elm: Major species: The fast-growing Siberian elm (U. pumila), a brittle-twigged weak-wooded tree, is sometimes planted for quick shade and for windbreaks.

  • Siberian high (meteorology)

    Siberian anticyclone, a semipermanent system of high atmospheric pressure centred in northeastern Siberia during the colder half of the year. The anticyclone forms because of the intense cooling of the surface layers of air over the continent during this season. It is usually quite shallow in

  • Siberian Husky (breed of dog)

    Siberian Husky, breed of strong, graceful, and friendly working dog raised in Siberia by the Chukchi people, who valued it as a sled dog and companion. It was brought to Alaska in 1909 for sled dog races and soon became established as a consistent winner. In 1925 the breed gained widespread fame by

  • Siberian ibex (mammal)

    ibex: …the European ibex are the Siberian, or Asiatic, ibex (C. sibirica), which is larger and has a longer beard and horns, and the Nubian ibex (C. nubiana), which is smaller and has long, slender horns. Other ibexes include the Spanish ibex (C. pyrenaica) and the walia, or Abyssinian ibex (C.…

  • Siberian iris (plant)

    iris: Major species: The Siberian iris (I. sibirica), from grasslands in central and eastern Europe, has slender, straight stalks with clustered heads of violet-blue or white blooms. Similar but shorter and more sturdy, I. spuria has round falls, short standards, and rather lax foliage. The yellow, or water, flag…

  • Siberian mammoth (extinct mammal)

    woolly mammoth, (Mammuthus primigenius), extinct species of elephant found in fossil deposits of the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs (from about 2.6 million years ago to the present) in Europe, northern Asia, and North America. The woolly mammoth was known for its large size, fur, and imposing

  • Siberian mink (mammal)

    kolinsky, any of several species of Asian weasels. See

  • Siberian moose (mammal)

    moose: alces alces); the Siberian, or Yakut, moose (A. alces pfizenmayeri); the west Siberian, or Ussuri, moose (A. alces cameloides); and the east Siberian, or Kolyma, moose (A. alces buturlini). In addition to differences in geographical distribution, the different subspecies of moose are further distinguished by features such as…

  • Siberian peoples

    Siberian peoples, any of a large number of small ethnic groups living in Siberia. Most engage either in reindeer herding or fishing, while some also hunt furbearing animals or farm and raise horses or cattle. In the past, many had both summer and winter dwellings, their winter homes sometimes being

  • Siberian roe deer (mammal)

    roe deer: … (Capreolus capreolus) and the larger Siberian roe deer (C. pygargus). Despite their Old World distribution, roe deer are more closely related to New World deer than to Old World deer. They are well adapted to cold environments, and they range from northern Europe and Asia into the high mountains of…

  • Siberian Sea (sea, Arctic Ocean)

    Laptev Sea, marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Northern Siberia (Russia), bounded by the Taymyr Peninsula (Poluostrov) and the islands of Severnaya Zemlya on the west and by the New Siberian Islands and Kotelny Island on the east. It is connected in the west with the Kara Sea and in

  • Siberian squill (plant)

    squill: Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) has escaped cultivation and is considered an invasive species in areas outside its native range.

  • Siberian tiger (mammal)

    Siberian tiger, (subspecies Panthera tigris altaica), subspecies of tiger (Pantheria tigris) inhabiting the cold-climate forests of the Primorye and Khabarovsk territories of far-eastern Russia as well as northeastern China. In appearance, the Siberian tiger is distinguished from other tiger

  • Siberian Traps (geologic region, Siberia, Russia)

    Permian extinction: Alteration of the carbon cycle: …Siberian flood basalts (the so-called Siberian Traps), which probably led to higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Clouds of volcanic ash may have worsened the situation by restricting the amount of sunlight available for photosynthesis, thereby inhibiting the process of carbon fixation by plants and lowering the extraction…

  • Siberian Turkic languages

    Turkic languages: Classification: …a southeastern (SE), and a northeastern (NE) branch. Chuvash and Khalaj form separate branches.

  • Siberian weasel (mammal)

    kolinsky, any of several species of Asian weasels. See

  • Siberoet Island (island, Indonesia)

    Siberut Island, largest island in the Mentawai group of islands, Sumatera Barat provinsi (province), Indonesia. Siberut lies off the western coast of Sumatra, about 90 miles (145 km) west-southwest of and across the Mentawai Strait from Padang city. The island is 25 miles (40 km) wide and 70 miles

  • Siberut Island (island, Indonesia)

    Siberut Island, largest island in the Mentawai group of islands, Sumatera Barat provinsi (province), Indonesia. Siberut lies off the western coast of Sumatra, about 90 miles (145 km) west-southwest of and across the Mentawai Strait from Padang city. The island is 25 miles (40 km) wide and 70 miles

  • Śibi (people)

    India: Oligarchies and kingdoms: The Shibis also migrated from the Punjab to Rajasthan and settled at Madhyamika (near Chitor, now Chittaurgarh). (See Shaivism.)

  • Sibila, A (work by Bessa Luís)

    Agustina Bessa-Luís: …of Bessa-Luís’s early novels is A Sibila (1954; “The Sibyl”), which won the Eça de Queirós prize and in which the boundary between physical, psychological, and ironic reality is tenuous and the characters gain an almost mythic quality. In Bessa-Luís’s fiction, notions of time and space become vague, and planes…

  • sibilant (phonetics)

    sibilant, in phonetics, a fricative consonant sound, in which the tip, or blade, of the tongue is brought near the roof of the mouth and air is pushed past the tongue to make a hissing sound. In English s, z, sh, and zh (the sound of the s in “pleasure”) are sibilants. Sometimes the affricates ch

  • Sibilla, Battle of (Arabian history)

    Ibn Saud: The Ikhwān and the expansion of the third Saudi state: …Ibn Saud himself at the Battle of Sibilla.

  • Sibiloi National Park (national park, Kenya)

    Kenya: Cultural institutions: Sibiloi National Park, in the far northern part of the country, contains sites where scientists from the University of Nairobi (including Richard Leakey) have excavated hominid remains since 1968.

  • Sibir (region, Asia)

    Siberia, vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan, constituting all of northern Asia. Siberia extends from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and the borders of Mongolia and China. All but

  • Sibiriakov, Aleksandr Mikhaylovich (Russian explorer)

    Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Sibiryakov was a Russian gold-mine proprietor, who was noted for both his financing of explorations in Siberia and for his own expeditions in the area. Sibiryakov was a graduate of a polytechnic school in Zürich. A wealthy man, he financed the scientific expeditions of the

  • Sibiryakov (ship)

    Arctic: Conquest of the Northeast Passage: The ice-breaking steamer Sibiryakov (originally the Newfoundland sealing steamer Bellaventure) attempted the passage from west to east; after rounding the northern tip of Severnaya Zemlya and calling at Tiksi and the mouth of the Kolyma, it lost its propeller in ice just prior to reaching the Bering Strait…

  • Sibiryakov’s Route to the North (route, Siberia)

    Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Sibiryakov: …much traveled, became known as Sibiryakov’s Route to the North.

  • Sibiryakov, Aleksandr Mikhaylovich (Russian explorer)

    Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Sibiryakov was a Russian gold-mine proprietor, who was noted for both his financing of explorations in Siberia and for his own expeditions in the area. Sibiryakov was a graduate of a polytechnic school in Zürich. A wealthy man, he financed the scientific expeditions of the

  • Sibituane (African king)

    Sebetwane was a Southern African king who reigned from around 1820 to 1851. He established the large and powerful Kololo nation in what is now southwestern Zambia after an arduous migration from his original home in what is now the Free State province in South Africa. Sebetwane was a chief of the

  • Sibiu (Romania)

    Sibiu, city, central Romania. It lies along the Cibin River at an elevation of 1,350–1,400 feet (410–425 metres) above sea level. Sibiu is situated on the north side of the Turnu Roșu (“Red Tower”) Pass, which links Transylvania to southern Romania across the Transylvanian Alps (Southern

  • Sibiu (county, Romania)

    Sibiu, judeƫ (county), central Romania. The Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathians), including the Sebeş, Lotru, and Făgăraş ranges, rise in the southern portion of the county. Settlement areas are in intermontane valleys. Sibiu city, a cultural and industrial centre, is the county capital. Metal

  • Sibley Provincial Park (park, Ontario, Canada)

    Sibley Provincial Park, park, southwestern Ontario, Canada, on Sibley Peninsula on the northern shore of Lake Superior, 20 miles (32 km) east of Thunder Bay. Established in 1950, the park has an area of 94 square miles (243 square km). It is the site of the 19th-century village of Silver Islet

  • Sibley, Charles (American ornithologist)

    bird: Critical appraisal: Beginning in the 1980s, Charles Sibley proposed radically different listings of the nonpasserine orders on the basis of his pioneering DNA analyses.

  • Sibley, Frank N. (philosopher)

    aesthetics: Taste, criticism, and judgment: Frank N. Sibley, for example, argued that such terms are used in aesthetic judgment in a peculiar way, without conditions (i.e., without a reasoned basis), and in order to describe aesthetic properties that are discernible only by the exercise of taste. This sophisticated reminder of…

  • Sibley, Henry (Confederate general)

    American Civil War: Trans-Mississippi theatre and Missouri: Led by Henry Sibley, a Confederate force of some 2,600 invaded the Union’s Department of New Mexico, where the Federal commander, Edward Canby, had but 3,810 men to defend the entire vast territory. Although plagued by pneumonia and smallpox, Sibley battered a Federal force at Valverde on…

  • Sibley, Hiram (American businessman)

    Hiram Sibley was a founder and president of the Western Union Telegraph Company. Sibley first ran a machine shop and a wool-carding business. In a visit to Washington, D.C., he met Samuel F.B. Morse, the telegraph inventor, and helped get congressional backing for the construction of the first

  • sibling (sociology)

    sibling, typically, a brother or a sister. Many societies choose not to differentiate children who have both parents in common from those who share only one parent; all are known simply as siblings. In those societies that do differentiate children on this basis, the former are known as full

  • sibling rivalry (psychology)

    sibling rivalry, intense competition among siblings for recognition and the attention of their parents. Sibling rivalry normally begins when a baby is introduced to a family and the older sibling fears the baby will replace him or her. The older child may become extremely jealous and display

  • sibling species (biology)

    species: Speciation: …selection separates incipient species into sibling species, which do not mate at all but which in morphology, or structure and form, are nearly indistinguishable. Sibling species then evolve into morphologically (and taxonomically) different species. Because it is often difficult to distinguish between subspecies and stable species, another criterion has been…

  • Sibneft (Russian company)

    Boris Berezovsky: …in the Russian oil company Sibneft. At the time, the multibillion-dollar legal battle was the biggest private court case in British history, and it offered observers an insight into the inner workings of the oligarchs in the post-Soviet era. In August 2012 Berezovsky’s case was dismissed with a judgment that…

  • Sibo language

    Manchu language: Several thousand people, however, speak Sibo (Pinyin: Xibe), a closely related language found in the Yili region of Xinjiang.

  • siboglinid (polychaete)

    beard worm, (family Siboglinidae), any of a group of polychaetes (marine worms) constituting the family Siboglinidae. Beard worms live sedentary lives in long protective tubes on the seafloor throughout the world. The common name beard worm refers to the beardlike mass of pinnate (featherlike)

  • Siboglinidae (polychaete)

    beard worm, (family Siboglinidae), any of a group of polychaetes (marine worms) constituting the family Siboglinidae. Beard worms live sedentary lives in long protective tubes on the seafloor throughout the world. The common name beard worm refers to the beardlike mass of pinnate (featherlike)

  • Siboglinum (polychaete genus)

    beard worm: …1955 a close affinity between Siboglinum and Lamellisabella was proved, and the members were placed in the phylum Pogonophora. However, beard worms were reexamined using DNA sequencing techniques in the late 1990s, and by 2001 the pognophorans, as well as the species of the phylum Vestimentifera, were placed back in…

  • Siboglinum weberi (polychaete)

    beard worm: The first species, Siboglinum weberi, described in 1914 by French biologist Maurice Caullery and placed in the family Siboglinidae, came from the seas of the Malay Archipelago, and the second species, Lamellisabella zachsi, which came from the Sea of Okhotsk, was described in 1933. In 1937 a class…

  • Sibolga (Indonesia)

    Sibolga, kota (city), western North Sumatra (Sumatera Utara) propinsi (or provinsi; province), Indonesia. It is located on Sumatra’s western coast about 130 miles (210 km) south of Medan, the provincial capital. Sibolga is a port on Sibolga Bay of the Indian Ocean and is linked by road with the

  • Siboney (people)

    Ciboney, Indian people of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. By the time of European contact, they had been driven by their more powerful Taino neighbours to a few isolated locales on western Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and Cuba. The name Ciboney comes from the Arawak term

  • Sibpur (India)

    Howrah: Sibpur, a southern suburb of Howrah, contains light industry and railway workshops, as well as a botanical garden founded in 1786. Constituted a municipality in 1862, Howrah has several colleges. The city is situated in a deltaic alluvial tract intersected by numerous rivers, which flood…

  • Sibsagar (India)

    Sivasagar, town, eastern Assam state, northeastern India. Sivasagar lies on the Dikhu River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra River, about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Jorhat. The Tai-speaking Ahom people came to the area from Yunnan province, China, in the 13th century. Sivasagar was the capital of

  • Sibu (Malaysia)

    Sibu, city, Sarawak state, East Malaysia. It is situated at the confluence of the Rajang and Igan rivers, about 50 miles (80 km) from the South China Sea coast. As a river port, it serves small oceangoing vessels and exports timber, rubber, and pepper. Sibu has an airport and a technical nautical

  • Sibyl (Greek legendary figure)

    Sibyl, prophetess in Greek legend and literature. Tradition represented her as a woman of prodigious old age uttering predictions in ecstatic frenzy, but she was always a figure of the mythical past, and her prophecies, in Greek hexameters, were handed down in writing. In the 5th and early 4th

  • Sibyl (queen of Jerusalem)

    Sibyl was the queen of the crusader state of Jerusalem (1186–90). The daughter of Amalric I, Sibyl succeeded to the throne upon the death of her brother, Baldwin IV (1185). Baldwin had intended for the throne to pass directly to Sibyl’s son Baldwin V, but Sibyl and her husband, Guy de Lusignan,

  • Sibyl of the Rhine (German mystic)

    St. Hildegard ; canonized May 10, 2012; feast day September 17) was a German abbess, visionary mystic, and composer. In 2012 she was proclaimed a doctor of the church, one of only four women to have been so named. She is revered as a patron saint of musicians and writers. (Read Britannica’s essay

  • Sibylla, Anna Maria (German-born naturalist and artist)

    Maria Sibylla Merian was a German-born naturalist and nature artist known for her illustrations of insects and plants. Her works on insect development and the transformation of insects through the process of metamorphosis contributed to the advance of entomology in the late 17th and early 18th

  • Sibylline Books (Greek mythology)

    Roman religion: The divinities of the Republic: …bce) was prescribed by the Sibylline Books at a time when Rome, as on earlier occasions, had requested Cumae for help with grain. The Cumaean Apollo, however, was primarily prophetic, whereas the Roman cult, introduced at a time of epidemic, was concerned principally with his gifts as a healer. This…

  • Sibylline Oracles (prophecies)

    Sibylline Oracles, collection of oracular prophecies in which Jewish or Christian doctrines were allegedly confirmed by a sibyl (legendary Greek prophetess); the prophecies were actually the work of certain Jewish and Christian writers from about 150 bc to about ad 180 and are not to be confused

  • sic bo (gambling game)

    sic bo, gambling game played with dice that is widely popular in Asia. During the 1980s and ’90s, it spread to American and European casinos, partially in an effort to appeal to gamblers from the East. The name sic bo means “dice pair” in Chinese. The game is closely related to grand hazard. Sic bo

  • Sic et non (work by Abelard)

    Peter Abelard: Career as a monk: …findings in a compilation entitled Sic et non (“Yes and No”); and for it he wrote a preface in which, as a logician and as a keen student of language, he formulated basic rules with which students might reconcile apparent contradictions of meaning and distinguish the various senses in which…

  • Sica, Vittorio De (Italian director)

    Vittorio De Sica was a film director and actor who first found fame as a matinee idol and who later was a major figure in the Italian Neorealist movement. He directed four masterpieces of the genre, including Ladri di biciclette (1948; The Bicycle Thief), which earned an Academy Award for best

  • Sicana odorifera (plant)

    musk cucumber, (Sicana odorifera), perennial vine of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), native to the New World tropics and grown for its sweet-smelling edible fruit. The fruit can be eaten raw and is commonly used in jams and preserves; immature fruits are sometimes cooked as a vegetable. In

  • Sicangu Lakota Band (people)

    The Difference Between a Tribe and a Band: …such as the Sisseton (Dakota), Sicangu (Lakota), and Yankton (Nakota), came to be called bands.

  • Sicani (people)

    Sicani, according to ancient Greek writers, the aboriginal inhabitants of central Sicily, as distinguished from the Siculi of eastern Sicily and the Elymi of western Sicily. Archaeologically there is no substantial difference between Sicani and Siculi (Sicels) in historical times; but the Greek

  • Sicard, Roch-Ambroise Cucurron, Abbé (French abbot)

    Roch-Ambroise Cucurron, Abbé Sicard was a French educator who was a pioneer in the teaching of the deaf. From 1786 to 1789, Sicard, an abbé, was principal of a Bordeaux school for the deaf. He then succeeded Abbé de l’Epée in Paris. Although he long supported teaching deaf persons through sign

  • Sicarii (Jewish sect)

    Zealot: …assassination and became known as Sicarii (Greek sikarioi, “dagger men”). They frequented public places with hidden daggers to strike down persons friendly to Rome. In the first revolt against Rome (ad 66–70) the Zealots played a leading role, and at Masada in 73 they committed suicide rather than surrender the…

  • Sicariidae (arachnid)

    spider: Annotated classification: Family Sicariidae (six-eyed crab spiders) About 130 species of Southern Hemisphere deserts; includes genus Loxosceles (recluse spiders). Large, 6 eyes, low carapace; legs extended toward sides; burrow in sand. Family Theridiosomatidae (ray spiders) More than 100 species. Globular abdomen; high

  • Sicario (film by Villeneuve [2015])

    Denis Villeneuve: …won critical praise, as did Sicario, a tense and brutal foray into the stalemated War on Drugs. The latter was also a popular hit. Villeneuve ventured into science fiction for his next feature, Arrival. The thoughtful and insightful movie, based on the short story “Story of Your Life” by Ted…

  • Sicario: Day of the Soldado (film by Sollima [2018])

    Josh Brolin: Sicario and The Avengers series: …actor appeared in the sequel Sicario: Day of the Soldado. His other credits from 2018 include a starring role alongside Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 2 (2018), a hugely popular action film. During this time Brolin also played the villain Thanos in a series of blockbuster movies in the Marvel Cinematic…

  • SICC (Somali organization)

    al-Shabaab: …a militia affiliated with the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), a federation of local and clan-based Islamic courts that had been founded in southern Somalia in 2004 to combat the lawlessness and banditry afflicting the area since the collapse of the government of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. From about 2004…

  • Sicca (Roman province, North Africa)

    North Africa: Roman Cyrenaica: …or Pentapolis (capital Ptolemais), and Libya Inferior, or Sicca (capital Paraetonium [Marsā Maṭrūḥ, Egypt]). A regular force was stationed there for the first time under a dux Libyarum. At the end of the 4th century, the Austuriani, a nomad tribe that had earlier raided Tripolitania, caused much damage, and Cyrenaica…

  • sicca syndrome (pathology)

    Sjögren syndrome, chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by severe dryness of the eyes and mouth that results from a diminution in secretion of tears and saliva. Dryness may also involve the nose, pharynx, larynx, and tracheobronchial tree. Approximately half the persons affected also have

  • Siccardi law (Italian law)

    Massimo Taparelli, marquis d’Azeglio: …important piece of legislation, the Siccardi laws of 1851, abolished ecclesiastical courts and immunities. He also invited Camillo Benso, Count di Cavour, then a rising young politician, to enter the ministry in 1850. D’Azeglio resigned on Oct. 30, 1852, because of a disagreement with Cavour, who had become his finance…

  • siccità, La (work by Bilenchi)

    Italian literature: Other writings: …such as Romano Bilenchi (La siccità [1941; “The Drought”]) and Nicola Lisi (Diario di un parroco di campagna [1942; “Diary of a Country Priest”]) or in some respects back to Federigo Tozzi. Especially typical of Cassola’s works are Il taglio del bosco (1953; The Felling of the Forest), Un…

  • Siccone, Giovanni (pope [1003])

    John (XVII) was the pope from June to December 1003. Chosen by the patrician John Crescentius III, he succeeded Pope Sylvester II. John was merely a puppet of his relatives the Crescentii, then the most influential family in Rome. He approved an evangelical mission to the

  • Sicel language

    Sicel language, language spoken by the ancient Siculi (Sicels) in Italy and Sicily. The language is known from four inscriptions dating from the 3rd century bc and from several coins dating from the 6th and 5th centuries bc. After the Greek settlements in Sicily, the Siculi became Hellenized and

  • Sicels (people)

    Siculi, ancient Sicilian tribe that occupied the eastern part of Sicily. Old tales related that the Siculi once lived in central Italy but were driven out and finally crossed to Sicily, leaving remnants behind—e.g., at Locri. They are hard to identify archaeologically, although some words of their

  • Sichel, Sebastián (Chilean politician)

    Chile: The presidency of Gabriel Boric (2022– ): …of the centre-left; and independent Sebastián Sichel, who served briefly in the Bachelet and Piñera administrations but had yet to hold elective office. Kast emerged as the winner of the first round of balloting with 28 percent of the vote, well shy of the 50 percent plus necessary to preclude…