Heliconn.
/ˈhɛlɪkɒn/ 1. Name of a mountain in Bœotia, sacred to the Muses, in which rose the fountains of Aganippe and Hippocrene; by 16th and 17th century writers often confused with these. Hence used allusively in reference to poetic inspiration.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > [noun] > poetic inspiration
muse?a1425
caballine fountain1430
Helicona1529
Castalia1591
enthusiasm1593
fire1656
duende1956
a1529 J. Skelton Poems against Garnesche in Poet Wks. (1843) I. 129 I yaue hym drynke of the sugryd welle Of Eliconys waters crystallyne.
1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) To Rdr. sig. Biv Eloquence haue I none, I neuer was acquaynted with the muses, I neuer tasted of Helycon.
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Apr. 42 You Virgins, that on Parnasse dwell, Whence floweth Helicon, the learned well.
1600 (title) England's Helicon [(ed. 2) ..or the Muses Harmony.]
1645 J. Milton Epit. Marchioness of Winchester in Poems 25 Here be tears of perfect moan Weept for thee in Helicon.
1651 T. Randolph et al. Hey for Honesty v. i. 43/1 Poor shallow scundrels..that never drank any Helicon above a penny a quart.
1892 Bookman Nov. 57/1 Any question of his precise place in England's Helicon.
2.
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a. An ancient acoustical instrument consisting of strings stretched over a resonance-box and capable of being adjusted to different lengths.
b. A large brass wind-instrument of a spiral form.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > wind instrument > brass instruments > [noun] > helicon or sousaphone
Helicon1875
sousaphone1925
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Helicon, a form of wind-instrument of metal, resembling a French-horn, but having keys and valves.
1961 J. Richardson tr. ‘Ilf’ & ‘Petrov’ Twelve Chairs (1965) 257 The most powerful machine in the band was the helicon, encircled three times by a brass serpent.
3. In various technical senses (see quots.).
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1961 P. Aigrain in Proc. Internat. Conf. Semiconductor Physics (Prague 1960) 225 Le temps d'atténuation des ondes basse fréquence..que nous proposons d'appeler ‘hélicon’.]
1962 Electronics 9 Feb. 26/1 He'll talk about active homogenous semiconductor developments including the Ecole [Normale Supérieure, Paris]'s helicon. Defined as devices without p-n junctions that amplify or oscillate by an action similar to that of a traveling~wave tube, these devices are expected to have a bright future.
1966 New Scientist 20 Jan. 155/3 The type of plasma-wave currently exciting most attention is called a helicon. It is transverse and circularly polarized..and moves along the direction of a magnetic field.
1968 New Scientist 17 Oct. 13/2 One might also single out for their promise the intriguing ‘helicon waves’ which result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and a ‘gas’ of electrons within a solid.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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