ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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What is the Daily Buzzword?
  museum  \myoo-ZEE-um\  noun

What does it mean?
  : a building or part of a building in which objects of 
interest in one or more of the arts or sciences are displayed

How do you use it?
  "Likewise, I have heard that in the museum of Manchester, in
New Hampshire, they have what the proprietors call the only
perfect specimen of a Greenland or River Whale in the United
States." (Herman Melville, _Moby Dick_)

Are you a word wiz?
  The origin of the word "museum" traces back to a mythological
name. Which of the following do you think had the name that
played a part in the formation of the word "museum"?

  A. a mythical storehouse of gold in Peru
  B. a goddess of the arts in Greek myth
  C. a hero of great wisdom in Cherokee legend
  D. a palace filled with treasures in Chinese folklore

Answer: 
  Answer B is the only authentic specimen in the collection.
"Museum" traces to the Latin word "Museum," meaning "place
for learned occupation." Speakers of Latin created "Museum"
from the Greek word "Mouseion," which means "seat of the
Muses" and which was itself created from "Mousa," the Greek
word for any of the nine sister goddesses of song and poetry
and the arts and sciences. (In English they are called "the
Muses.") Because of their association with the arts and
sciences, the goddesses' name was used to refer to ancient
centers of learning, in particular the Museum of Alexandria
in Egypt.

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