Margaret Mikulska <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>"Gnossienne" has nothing to do with gnosis - the word is derived from the
>name of the city of Knossos on the island of Crete

I think everyone is right, and nobody.  Satie made the word up himself to
incorporate a variety of suggestions.  I can't remember the source, but I
seem to remember reading somewhere that he only wanted to convey the sense
of something eastern, classical and remote.

Christopher Webber,  Blackheath, London,  UK.
http://www.nashwan.demon.co.uk/zarzuela.htm
"ZARZUELA!"