word of the day

[Chayil_Ishshah]

Anthem

Originally this was the same word and had the same meaning as antiphon, a response, sung or chanted. Introduced into Christian worship, the Greek antiphon, in the speech of the priests, became Old English antefne. Then and for many centuries thereafter it referred to a composition of two voices or two choirs sung or chanted alternately. The Old English word gradually altered to the present anthem. Later, when the meaning of anthem was extended to embrace sacred music generally, whether for solo, duet, or choral singing, the Greek term antiphon was reintroduced to provide for the original meaning.
Source: Thereby Hangs a Tale; Charles Earle Funk c. 1950


O.E. ontemn, antefn, "a composition (in prose or verse) sung antiphonally," from L.L. antefana, from Gk. antiphona "verse response" (see antiphon). Sense evolved to "a composition set to sacred music" (c.1386), then "song of praise or gladness" (1591). Used in ref. to the English national song (technically a hymn) and extended to those of other nations.
Source: Click here


Question: What is the "national anthem" then????

[Chayil_Ishshah]

Hymn
c.1000, from O.Fr. ymne and O.E. ymen, both from L. hymnus "song of praise," from Gk. hymnos "song or ode in praise of gods or heroes," used in Septuagint for various Heb. words meaning "song praising God." Possibly a var. of hymenaios "wedding song," from Hymen, Gk. god of marriage (see hymen). Evidence for the silent -n- dates from at least 1530.
Etymology Dictionary

Hymen
1615, from Fr. hymen (16c.), ult. from Gk. hymen "virginal membrane, thin skin." Originally any membrane; present specific meaning begins with Vesalius, 1550. Hymeneal "wedding hymn" is 1717, from L. hymenaeus, from Gk. hymenaios "belonging to wedlock, wedding, wedding song," from Hymen, Gk. god of marriage, represented as a youth carrying a torch and a veil.
Etymology Dictionary

Hymeneal
There is an ancient Greeek legend of a youth of such delicate beauty that he might have been taken for a maid. His name was Hymen or Hymenaeus. The girl with whom he fell in love spurned him, but in the disguise of a girl he followed her into the country to a festival. On the way he and all the real maidens in the gathering were carried off by a group of brigands to a foreign shore. But upon landing, the weary robbers fell asleep, wehreupon Hymen, throwing off his disguise, seized a weapon and slew all of them. Then, leaving the maidens, he returned to Athens. There he got the promise of the citizens that his own beloved should be given to him in marriage if he were to bring the maidens back to Athens. The request was granted gladly, and he soon restored the girls safely to their homes. From that time onward Hymen was praised in the bridal or marriage songs of the nation, thenceforward described as hymeneal songs in honor of his exploit.
"Thereby Hangs a Tale", Charles Earle Funk, page 150-151, c. 1950

In Greek mythology, Hymenaios (also Hymenaeus, Hymenaues, or Hymen; Ancient Greek: Ὑμέναιος) was a god of marriage ceremonies, inspiring feasts and song. A hymenaios is also a genre of Greek lyric poetry sung during the procession of the bride to the groom's house in which the god is addressed, in contrast to the Epithalamium, which was sung at the nuptial threshold.

Hymenaios was supposed to attend every wedding. If he didn't, then the marriage would supposedly prove disastrous, so the Greeks would run about calling his name aloud. He presided over many of the weddings in Greek mythology, for all the deities and their children.

Hymenaios was celebrated in the ancient marriage song of unknown origin Hymen o Hymenae, Hymen delivered by G. Valerius Catullus. Both the term hymn and hymen are derived from this celebration.
Source

"Let us turn in our hymnals......"

[Chayil_Ishshah]

Museum

Today it seems rather far-fetched to associate this word with the nine Muses of ancient Greece, for we do not usually think of these beautiful nymphs in connection with collections of paintings, furniture, insects, curios, or the like. Nor do we connect the term with any one of them, nor with the art over which each presided - Clio - history; Calliope, epic poetry; Polyhymnia, sacred music; Euterpe, the music of the flute; Terpsichore, the dance; Erato, lover poetry; Melpomene, tragedy; Thalia, comedy; Urania, astronomy.

But the shrines to the Muses were common among the cities influenced by Hellenic culture. Such a shrine was known as a mouseion or, in Latin, a museum. Hence about 285 b.c., when Ptolemy Soter erected his widely famed temple of learning at Alexandria, which was dedicated to the Muses, it became properly known as the Museum at Alexandria. Under that name it flourished for about seven hundred years and was the forerunner of our present universities. When it was destroyed by fire in the fourth century; however, the name became merely a memory and the word dropped almost completely out of use.

Then about three hundred years ago some scholar dug the word out of the dusty past and thought that museum would apply to any room or building which provided a "home for the Muses," such as the library or study of a learned man. From this careless use, museum came to be thought of as a home for anything pertaining to learning; hence, to collections of scientific curios or of antiquities. The first of these latter museums was the Ashmolean Museum, a collection of scientific material presented by Elias Ashmole to Oxford University in 1683. It is thus seen that the Muses do preside over our modern museums.
"Thereby Hangs a Tale, Charles Earle Funk, pages 198-199, c 1950

1615, "the university building in Alexandria," from L. museum "library, study," from Gk. mouseion "place of study, library or museum," originally "a seat or shrine of the Muses," from Mousa "Muse." Earliest use in ref. to Eng. institutions was of libraries (e.g. the British Museum); sense of "building to display objects" first recorded 1683.
Etymology Dictionary