Enigma Device used by the German military to encode strategic mes¬ sages before and during World War II. The Enigma code was first broken
by the Poles in the early 1930s, so that German messages were eventu¬ ally intercepted and deciphered by Allied code-breakers during the war. (See also Ultra.)
Enkidu \'en-ke-,du\ Friend and companion of the Mesopotamian hero Gilgamesh. In the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu is a wild man cre¬ ated by the god Anu. After Gilgamesh defeats him, the two become friends (in some versions Enkidu becomes Gilgamesh’s servant). He aids Gil¬ gamesh in killing the divine bull sent by the goddess Ishtar to destroy them. The gods then kill Enkidu in revenge, prompting Gilgamesh to search for immortality.
Enlightenment European intellectual movement of the 17th—18th cen¬ tury in which ideas concerning God, reason, nature, and man were blended into a worldview that inspired revolutionary developments in art, philoso¬ phy, and politics. Central to Enlightenment thought were the use and cel¬ ebration of reason. For Enlightenment thinkers, received authority, whether in science or religion, was to be subject to the investigation of unfettered minds. In the sciences and mathematics, the logics of induc¬ tion and deduction made possible the creation of a sweeping new cos¬ mology. The search for a rational religion led to Deism; the more radical products of the application of reason to religion were skepticism, atheism, and materialism. The Enlightenment produced modern secularized theo¬ ries of psychology and ethics by men such as John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, and it also gave rise to radical political theories. Locke, Jeremy Bentham, J.-J. Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Thomas Jefferson all contributed to an evolving critique of the authoritarian state and to sketch¬ ing the outline of a higher form of social organization based on natural rights. One of the Enlightenment’s enduring legacies is the belief that human history is a record of general progress.
Ennin Ven-,nen\ (b. 794, Tsuga district, Shimotsuke province, Japan—d. Feb. 24, 864, Japan) Japanese Buddhist who founded the Sammon branch of the Tendai (Tiantai) sect. Educated in the Enryaku-ji monastery near Kyoto, he was a disciple of Saicho. He spent nine years studying Buddhism in China, returning home in ad 847 with 559 volumes of Chinese Bud¬ dhist texts and a system of musical notation for religious chants that is still used in Japan. He introduced to Japanese Buddhism the practice of chanting the name of Amida ( Amitabha) as a route to rebirth in Amida’s paradise. He also established Tendai esotericism. He became chief priest of his order in 854, and his teachings were influential in Japanese Bud¬ dhism for centuries.
Enniskillen X.e-ni-'ski-bnX or Inniskilling Town (pop., 1995 est.: 11,000), seat of Fermanagh district, southwestern Northern Ireland. Situ¬ ated on an island in the River Erne, it was a strategic crossing point of Lough Erne. Incorporated by English King James I, Enniskillen defeated a force sent by James II in 1689 and gained a reputation as a Protestant stronghold. Long a garrison town, it gave its name to the Royal Inniskil¬ ling Fusiliers and the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, both famous regiments of the British army. The town is an agricultural market.
Ennius Ve-ne-ssX, Quintus (b. 239, Rudiae, southern Italy—d. 169 bc) Roman poet, dramatist, and satirist. The most influential of the early Latin poets, he is considered the founder of Roman literature. His epic Annales , a narrative poem telling the story of Rome from the wanderings of Aeneas to the poet’s own day, was the national epic until it was eclipsed by Vir¬ gil’s Aeneid. He excelled in tragedy, adapting 19 plays from the Greek, of which only about 420 lines survive.
ensilage See silage
Ensor Ven-s6r\, Janies (Sidney), Baron (b. April 13, 1860, Ostend, Belg.—d. Nov. 19, 1949, Ostend) Belgian painter and printmaker. Trained in Brussels, he spent most of his life in his native Ostend. In 1883 he joined a group known as Les Vingt (“The Twenty”) and began depicting skeletons, phantoms, masks, and other images of grotesque fantasy as social commentary. His work from this period has often been described as Symbolist. His Entry of Christ into Brussels (1888), painted in smeared, garish colours, provoked outrage. Continuing negative criticism plunged him ever deeper into cynicism until he finally became a recluse. The exhi¬ bition of Entry of Christ in 1929 led to his being ennobled by King Albert of Belgium. He was one of the formative influences on Expressionism.
enstatite Venz-t9-,tlt\ Common silicate mineral in the pyroxene family. It is the stable form of magnesium silicate (MgSi0 3 , often with up to 10%
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624 I entablature ► enzyme
iron) in magnesium- and iron-rich igneous rock types. Enstatite crystal¬ lizes in the orthorhombic system (three unequal axes at right angles to each other).
entablature Assemblage of horizontal moldings and bands supported by the columns of Classical buildings. The entablature is usually divided into three main sections: the lowest band, or architrave, which originally took the form of a beam running from support to support; the central band, or frieze, consisting of an unmolded strip with or without ornament; and the top band, or cornice, constructed from a series of moldings that project from the edge of the frieze. Most entablatures correspond to or are derived from the Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian order.
entamoeba V.en-to-'me-boX Any protozoan of the genus Entamoeba. Most are parasites in the intestines of vertebrates, including humans. E. histolytica causes human amebic dysentery. Infection of the large intes¬ tine with E. histolytica often causes no symptoms; however, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever may result from invasion and ulceration of intestinal walls. In the worst cases, the liver, lungs, brain, and spleen may be affected. Cysts of E. histolytica are transmitted through food and water, often by fly and cockroach droppings. E. gingivalis, found especially in unhealthy mouths, has not been shown to cause disease.
entasis \'en-td-S9s\ Convex curve given to a column, spire, or similar upright member to avoid the optical illusion of hollowness or weakness that would arise from normal tapering. Exaggerated in Greek work of the Doric order, it grew more and more subtle in the 5th-4th century bc. Entasis is also occasionally found in Gothic spires and in smaller Romanesque columns.
Entebbe \en-'te-be\ raid (July 3—4, 1976) Israeli rescue of 103 hos¬ tages from a French airliner hijacked by members of the Palestine Libera¬ tion Organization. The plane, en route from Israel to France, was hijacked on June 27 and flown to Entebbe, Ugan. There the hijackers released 258 non-Israeli passengers and held the rest, demanding that Israel release 53 imprisoned PLO members. In response, Israel airlifted to Uganda 100- 200 soldiers in cargo planes escorted by fighter planes; in a brilliantly executed raid, seven hijackers, one soldier, and three hostages were killed.
Entente, Little See Little Entente
Entente Cordiale \a n -'ta n t-k6rd-'yal\ French "Cordial Under¬ standing" (April 8, 1904) Anglo-French agreement that settled numer¬ ous colonial disputes and ended antagonisms between Britain and France. It granted freedom of action to Britain in Egypt and to France in Morocco and resolved several other imperial disputes. The agreement reduced the virtual isolation of each country and was consequently upsetting to Ger¬ many, which had benefited from their antagonism. The Entente paved the way for Anglo-French diplomatic cooperation against Germany before World War I and for later military alliances.
enthalpy Ven-thol-peV Sum of the internal energy E and the product of the pressure P and volume V of a thermodynamic system (see thermody¬ namics). So, enthalpy H = E + PV. Its value is determined by the tem¬ perature, pressure, and composition of the system at any given time. According to the law of conservation of energy (see conservation law), the change in internal energy is equal to the heat transferred to the sys¬ tem minus the work done by the system. If the only work done is a change of volume at constant pressure, the enthalpy change is exactly equal to the heat transferred to the system.