terpsichorean

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The Word of the Day for September 26 is:

terpsichorean   \terp-sih-kuh-REE-un\   adjective 
     : of or relating to dancing

Example sentence:
     "Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet headed south to Los Angeles Sunday 
afternoon after infecting this town with six days of ... 
terpsichorean frenzy...." (Allan Ulrich, _The San Francisco 
Examiner_, August 10, 1987)

Did you know?
     In Greek and Roman mythology, Terpsichore (\terp-SIH-kuh-
ree\) was one of the nine muses, those graceful sister-goddesses 
who presided over learning and the arts. Terpsichore was the 
patron of dance and choral song (and later lyric poetry), and in 
artistic representations she is often shown dancing and holding 
a lyre. Her name, which earned an enduring place in English 
through the adjective "terpsichorean," literally means "dance-
enjoying," from "terpsis," meaning "enjoyment," and "choros," 
meaning "dance." "Choros" is also the source of "choreography" 
and "chorus" (those "choruses" in Athenian drama consisted of 
dancers as well as singers). The only other word we know that 
incorporates "terpsis" is "terpodion," an obsolete term for a 
piano-like musical instrument that was invented in 1816 but 
never really caught on.