Z
zadruga. A community household found in the lowlands of the Pannonian plains of Yugoslavia. It is an agricultural community which communally owns land and other property. It consists of a group of unrelated families voluntarily associated. Men and women enjoy equal status. A male and a female manager direct the work of the zadruga.
zak. A water craft, found in India, consisting of a number of inflated goat skins fastened to a square wooden framework.
zappetta. See MATTOCK.
zariba. A cattle enclosure of West Africa.
zebu. Humped cattle, originally domesticated in India, kept by Africans.
zemi. An idol carved of stone or wood and worshipped by the Taino Indians of the Greater Antilles.
Zend. The earliest form of Indic. It was the sacred language of the Zoroastrians.
zero. A cipher; a number corresponding to naught; a constant less than any quantity; the number defined by the equation x + 0 = x. It was developed by the Hindus ca. 1,300 years ago, by the Maya ca. third century B.C., and in Mesopotamia ca. fifth century B.C.
zeugma. A grammatical structure in which one word serves a double purpose, relating to one word specifically and to the other one in a supplementary sense.
ziggurat. A brick terraced tower, probably originally Sumerian. The ziggurat stood on its own platform. The Ur ziggurat was 70 feet high and 200 by 150 feet at the base.
zinc. A blue-white crystalline element. It is brittle when cold, malleable at 110-210° C, brittle at 260° C. It tarnishes slightly in moist air in usual temperatures. Zinc is seldom found in a metallic form. One of the few such instances is in basalt in the Melbourne area. Zinc is hard to smelt, which also contributed to the delay in its discovery. It can be extracted from its ore only by a very high temperature, along with powdered coal, and the end product must be condensed.
zither. A musical instrument consisting of a frame with strings that are either struck or plucked. They are primarily melody instruments, often used at religious ceremonies. The frame may be a flat board, a shallow body, or a box resonator. The strings are generally parallel with the resonator surface and are accurately tuned.
zoanthropy. The delusion that a person has been turned into an animal. Daniel 4 contains a description of Nebuchadnezzar’s zoanthropic delusion.
zodiac. A division of the route of celestial bodies into 12 parts, each named after a star cluster. The zodiac probably originated in Babylonia. It probably arose from observation of the sun and moon traveling similar paths among the stars, as they made their circuit of the sky. The center of the zodiac and its constellations is the sun’s annual path and is a belt about 16° broad. The connection with the sun’s movements was made by observing heliacal risings (q.v.) and heliacal settings (q.v.).
zombie. In the vodun belief, a human whose soul has been stolen through evil magic. The magician can do as he likes with the body. Some believe that a zombie can be changed to an animal.
zone, life. An altitudinal and latitudinal belt characterized by specific flora and fauna.
zone, periglacial. An area in which tjaele (q.v.) prevailed in a given glacial phase.
zoolatry. See WORSHIP, ANIMAL.
zoomorph. An animal represented in decorative art.
zoophorus. The representation of men and animals in relief on a frieze.
zya. The Buriat designation for one’s profile drawn so as to work magic against him. The picture is hidden near the home of the victim, who will die unless he counteracts the magic.
zygion. On the zygomatic arch, the most lateral point.
zygomatic arch. See ARCH, ZYGOMATIC.