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Evil_God -> RE: VGhlIGFybXkgaXMgZm9ybWluZyB0aGUgYXJteSBvZiB0aGUgZmFjZWxlc3M= (9/29/2006 20:24:46)
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Muse: –verb (used without object) 1. to think or meditate in silence, as on some subject.
2. Archaic. to gaze meditatively or wonderingly.
–verb (used with object)
3. to meditate on.
4. to comment thoughtfully or ruminate upon.
cogitate, ruminate, think; dream. 1, 3. ponder, contemplate, deliberate.
any of a number of sister goddesses, originally given as Aoede (song), Melete (meditation), and Mneme (memory), but latterly and more commonly as the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who presided over various arts: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (lyric poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (religious music), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy); identified by the Romans with the Camenae.
b. any goddess presiding over a particular art.
2. (sometimes lowercase) the goddess or the power regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or the like.
3. (lowercase) the genius or powers characteristic of a poet.
Word History: The Muse has inspired English poetry since Chaucer invoked her in 1374. Muse comes from Latin Msa, from Greek Mousa. There are Greek dialect forms msa and moisa, and all three come from an original *montya. As to the further origins of this form, a clue is provided by the name of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory and mother of the Muses. Her name is the Greek noun mnmosun “memory,” which comes from *mn-, an extended form of the Greek and Indo-European root *men-, “to think.” This is the root from which we derive amnesia (from Greek), mental (from Latin), and mind (from Germanic). The reconstructed form *montya that is the ancestor of Greek Mousa could then mean something like “having mental power.”
Enjoy some light reading.
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