![]() ![]() The reconstructed form *montwa, the ancestor of Greek Mousa, also comes from this root and probably originally referred to "mental power" that enables poets to craft verses-the Muses were the Greek poets' divinized conceptions of the faculties that help them to create and recite poetry. Greek mnēmosunē is derived from the root *mnā-, an extended form of the Greek and Indo-European root *men-, "to think." This is the root from which English also gets the words amnesia (from Greek), mental (from Latin), and mind (from Germanic). Her name is simply the Greek noun mnēmosunē, "memory"-the faculty of memory was indeed the mother of invention for the ancient Greek professional poets and bards whose job it was to compose new poems in traditional styles on festive occasions, to recite the verses of Homer, and to improvise material whenever they had a memory lapse. 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. Collins Dictionary defines muse as any of the nine sister goddesses in Greek mythology, all of which presided over either some form of art, poetry, song, or science. ![]() ![]() Rare a poet Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the noun muse is simply a source of inspiration or rather a spirit that is thought to inspire an artist. In Greek dialects, this word is found in the variant forms mōsa and moisa, and together these indicate that the Greek word comes from an original *montwa. m- the spirit that is thought to inspire a poet or other artist source of genius or inspiration b. The word Muse comes from Latin Mūsa, which in turn is from Greek Mousa. Miller made a name for herself as a photographer, in particular as a war photographer for Vogue during World War II O’Keeffe made some of the most innovative contributions to American Modernism while Rodin’s muse and lover Camille Claudel is a sadly infamous example of a female artist whose work has been misappropriated by her well-known male counterpart.Īs such notion and bias still perdure today, calls for a renewed definition of ‘muse’ ring out across the art world and its players.Word History: Ever since Chaucer first mentions the Muses in a work from around 1390, English poets have invoked these goddesses like so many other versifiers since the days of Homer, who begins both The Iliad and The Odyssey with an invocation of his Muse. This narrative, persistent throughout history, has consequently led to forget that these women were, in many cases, artists in their own right, disregarding female artist’s accomplishments. She is the anima to his animus, the yin to his yang, except that, in a reversal of gender roles, she penetrates or inspires him and he gestates and brings forth, from the womb of the mind.” Feminist author Germaine Greer “The muse in her purest aspect is the feminine part of the male artist, with which he must have intercourse if he is to bring into being a new work. Untold narratives: a new definition of museĪn extremely romanticized figure in art history, the term ‘muse’ has come to be often gendered as feminine: on the one hand, the male creative genius the female model and source of creative revelation, on the other. From Renaissance figures such as Andrea del Sarto’s wife, Lucrezia, to the iconic muses of Surrealism – Dalì’s wife Gala and Man Ray’s muses Kiki de Montparnasse and Lee Miller – art history is a constellation of remarkable characters whose essence artists have tried to capture in their art. In modern English, in fact, while the term ‘muse’ is used implicitly in words such as ‘amuse’ and ‘museum’ (from the name of the place where the Muses were worshipped), it explicitly defines a person – most often a woman – who is a source of artistic inspiration.įor centuries, the greatest pieces of art have been inspired by spouses, lovers and friends, who did not merely pose but inspire, galvanize, and arouse to the point of developing tormented relationships. The cult of the Muses was also commonly connected to that of Apollo, and poets would ask Muses for help in composing the poem, seeking inspiration, skill, and knowledge, anticipating the long-lasting trope of the artist-muse relationship. In ancient Greek mythology, the Muses were nine sister goddesses who presided over literature, arts, and sciences. “Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story…” ancient poets used to write, but what is a muse and who were they invoking? ![]()
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