Mechanical Music Digest  Archives
You Are Not Logged In Login/Get New Account
Please Log In. Accounts are free!
Logged In users are granted additional features including a more current version of the Archives and a simplified process for submitting articles.
Home Archives Calendar Gallery Store Links Info
MMD > Archives > January 1998 > 1998.01.26 > 06Prev  Next


Kalliope
By Jan Kijlstra

Robbie Rhodes was writing about the meaning of the name Kalliope
(or Calliope, but I'm an old-fashioned man).  He wrote: "The Greek word
Kalliope is literally "the beautiful-voiced".

It is with great hesitation that I'm writing this, knowing how
sensitive some MMD-friends sometimes tend to react.

However, anyway: My dear friend Robbie, I'm very, very sorry, but
I have to disagree with your translation of the name "Kalliope".

Kalli (Calli) is translated by "beautiful" (as in Kalligraphy, which
means "the art of writing beautiful(ly)".  So the first part is okay.

But, let's look at the second part: "optho" is the base of it, and
this is not related to any sound-related subject, at least not in
continental Europe, but has anything to do with viewing and eyes.

An optical disk should not produce any sound at all, an opthometric
report will not tell you anything about sound but may cause you to buy
new glasses, and not any opto-coupling device will operate when using
(not even mechanical music) sounds for input.  And how about the
Cyclops: (a.o: Homer "Ilias": the "round-eyed" (cyclop) Polyphemos..

Calliope is best translated (as far as I'm able to translate, using my
knowledge of the King's English, and I'm not a "perfesser" at all) as:
"the muse with the beautiful eyes".

By the way: Joe Roesch is writing "somebody else can give us the names
of Calliope's eight sisters - not hard to find".  I doubt, like Joe (I
think) if many MMD-fellows are interested, but here they are:

The Muses were the nine daughters of Mnemosyne ("the memory" --
remember "mnemonics" in Assembler Programming) and Zeus, begat in
nine successive nights (Well, Zeus was a powerful creature, a
presidential type, nowadays, may-be?  Potent, potentate, potentic....
Freud and Jung, remember, did study the old myths very well).

Hesiodos is the first author who is giving us the sisters
names: Kalliope, Kleio, Euterpe, Thaleia, Melpomene, Terpsichore,
Erato, Polymnia (later: Polyhymnia) and Ourania.

Kalliope, the epic muse, who also is seen as the muse of philosophy,
rhetorics, and in general of science, is first in rank.

If allowed, I would like to suppose that the name-giving of the musical
instrument "Kalliope" was inspired by this "being the first ranked".

Marketing is all we need, Bill Gates is the living prove.

Jan Kijlstra

 [ Thanks for the additional information, Jan.  My reference book,
 [ Merriam-Webster 1928, says that Kalliope is "kallos" (beauty) +
 [ "ov, ovos" (voice).  ... "It's Greek to me !"  ;)
 [
 [ Legend says that it was P. T. Barnum, the great showman, who bestowed
 [ the name "Calliope" upon the steam organ, because it has such a
 [ beautiful voice (he said).  That's marketing, for sure! -- Robbie


(Message sent Tue 27 Jan 1998, 00:39:32 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.)

Key Words in Subject:  Kalliope

Home    Archives    Calendar    Gallery    Store    Links    Info   


Enter text below to search the MMD Website with Google



CONTACT FORM: Click HERE to write to the editor, or to post a message about Mechanical Musical Instruments to the MMD

Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are those of the individual authors and may not represent those of the editors. Compilation copyright 1995-2024 by Jody Kravitz.

Please read our Republication Policy before copying information from or creating links to this web site.

Click HERE to contact the webmaster regarding problems with the website.

Please support publication of the MMD by donating online

Please Support Publication of the MMD with your Generous Donation

Pay via PayPal

No PayPal account required

                                     
Translate This Page