WORD FOR THE DAY: PHILOMUSE

Your word for today is: philomuse, n. and adj.

philomuse, n. and adj.

[‘ A lover of the Muses, a poetry lover. Obs.’]

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈfɪlə(ʊ)mjuːz/,  U.S. /ˈfɪloʊˌmjuz/

Etymology: <  post-classical Latin philomusus a lover of the Muses, a lover of literature (a1536 in Erasmus; in classical Latin (Martial) as a personal name) or its etymon ancient Greek ϕιλόμουσος loving music and the arts <  ϕιλο- philo- comb. form + μοῦσα muse n.¹ Compare Italian †philomuso (1611 in Florio, glossed as ‘a louer of the Muses’).

 rare.

†A. n.

  A lover of the Muses, a poetry lover. Obs.

1654  M. Stevenson Occasions Off-spring 98  (title) To a Philomuse from whom I received a Paper upon the same Subject and by the same Post.

a1743  J. Relph Misc. of Poems (1747) 103 Poor Philomuse! you're disinherited.

 B. adj.

  Fond of or devoted to the arts or literature.

1833  T. De Quincey Revol. Greece in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Apr. 488 The original (or Philomuse society)..adopted literature for its ostensible object.

1961 Jrnl. Mod. Hist. 33 170/1 The Philomuse Society, like any organizational effort by the Greeks at that time, was looked on as a cover for political action.

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