Napery
NAY-puh-ree
Household linen; especially:
table linen. Napery has been used as a fancy word for our household linens,
especially those used to cover a table, since the 14th century. The word
derives via Middle English from Anglo-French nape, meaning
"tablecloth," and ultimately from Latin mappa, "napkin."
You can see part of the word napkin in that root; another, much less obvious
relative is apron, which was once spelled as napron in Middle English but
gradually evolved to its current spelling by way of English speakers habitually
misdividing the phrase a napron as an apron.
Magnanimous
1: showing or suggesting a lofty
and courageous spirit 2: showing or
suggesting nobility of feeling and generosity of mind
The Latin word animus means
"soul" or "spirit." In magnanimous, that animus is joined
by Latin magnus, meaning "great." Basically meaning "greatness
of spirit," magnanimity is the opposite of pettiness. A truly magnanimous
person can lose without complaining and win without gloating. Angry disputes
can sometimes be resolved when one side makes a magnanimous gesture toward
another.
Muse
(myooz)
A source of inspiration, verb
intr.: To be absorbed in thought. To think or say something thoughtfully.
In Greek mythology, the Muses
were nine goddesses, each of whom presided over an art or science. A museum is,
literally speaking, a shrine to the Muses.
The Muses were the Greek
goddesses of inspiration in literature, science and the arts. They were the
daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (the personification of memory), and they were
also considered water nymphs. Some scholars believed that the Muses were
primordial goddesses, daughters of the Titans Uranus and Gaea. Personifications
of knowledge and art, some of the arts of the Muses included Music, Science,
Geography, Mathematics, Art, and Drama. They were usually invoked at the
beginning of various lyrical poems, such as in the Homeric epics; this happened
so that the Muses give inspiration or speak through the poet's words.
There were nine Muses according
to Hesiod, protecting a different art and being symbolised with a different
item; Calliope (epic poetry - writing tablet), Clio (history - scroll), Euterpe
(lyric poetry - aulos, a Greek flute), Thalia (comedy and pastoral poetry -
comic mask), Melpomene (tragedy - tragic mask), Terpsichore (dance - lyre),
Erato (love poetry - cithara, a Greek type of lyre), Polyhymnia (sacred poetry
- veil), and Urania (astronomy - globe and compass). On the other hand, Varro
mentions that only three Muses exist: Melete (practice), Mneme (memory) and
Aoide (song).
According to a myth, King Pierus
of Macedon named his nine daughters after the Muses, thinking that they were
better skilled than the goddesses themselves. As a result, his daughters, the
Pierides, were transformed into magpies.