Masterpiece

Masterpiece or chef d'œuvre in modern use refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill, or workmanship. Historically, the word refers to a work of a very high standard produced in order to obtain membership of a Guild or Academy.

Etymology

The word masterpiece probably derives from the Dutch "meesterstuk" or German "meisterstück", and the form "masterstik" is recorded in English in 1579 (or in Scots, since this was from some Aberdeen guild regulations), whereas "masterpiece" is first found in 1605, already outside a guild context, in a Ben Jonson play. "Masterprize" was another early variant in English.

In English, the term rapidly became used in a variety of contexts for an exceptionally good piece of creative work, and was "in early use, often applied to man as the 'masterpiece' of God or Nature".

In craftsmanship and art

Originally, the term masterpiece referred to a piece of work produced by an apprentice or journeyman aspiring to become a master craftsman in the old European guild system. His fitness to qualify for guild membership was judged partly by the masterpiece, and if he was successful, the piece was retained by the guild. Great care was therefore taken to produce a fine piece in whatever the craft was, whether confectionery, painting, goldsmithing, knifemaking, or many other trades.

Masterpiece (Nathan album)

"Masterpiece" is the debut album from British R&B singer Nathan. The album was released on 9 October 2006 in the UK. The album features four singles including "Round and Round", "Cold as Ice", the top 40 hit "Come into My Room" and the latest single "Do Without my Love".

Track listing

Chart performance

Release history

References

Masterpiece (Atlantic Starr song)

"Masterpiece" is a 1992 song written by Kenny Nolan and performed by Atlantic Starr. The single was the second release from the album, Love Crazy and peaked at number three on the Hot R&B Singles chart. "Masterpiece" also went to number three on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart.

Chart performance

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Trivia

Trivia refers to bits of information, often of little importance.

Latin meaning and etymology

The trivia (singular trivium) are three lower Artes Liberales, i.e. grammar, logic, and rhetoric. These were the topics of basic education, foundational to the quadrivia of higher education, and hence the material of basic education and an important building block for all undergraduates.

The ancient Romans used the word trivia to describe where one road split or forked into two roads. Trivia was formed from tri (three) and via (road) – literally meaning "three roads", and in transferred use "a public place" and hence the meaning "commonplace."

The pertaining adjective is triviālis. The adjective trivial was adopted in Early Modern English, while the noun trivium only appears in learned usage from the 19th century, in reference to the Artes Liberales and the plural trivia in the sense of "trivialities, trifles" only in the 20th century.

The Latin adjective triviālis in Classical Latin besides its literal meaning could have the meaning "appropriate to the street corner, commonplace, vulgar." In late Latin, it could also simply mean "triple." In medieval Latin, it came to refer to the lower division of the Artes Liberales, namely grammar, rhetoric, and logic. (The other four Liberal Arts were the quadrivium, namely arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, which were more challenging.) Hence, trivial in this sense would have meant "of interest only to an undergraduate."

Trivia (mythology)

Trivia in Roman mythology was the goddess who "haunted crossroads, graveyards, and was the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft, she wandered about at night and was seen only by the barking of dogs who told of her approach." She was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, the three-way crossroads and the harvest moon. She was an underworld Titan-goddess who assisted Jove in the Titanomachy and was therefore able to keep her powers. She was a friend of Ceres and helped her to find her daughter Proserpina. As a part of her role as an underworld goddess, she was known as the Queen of Ghosts. Although she helped Ceres to find her daughter, she was also known to steal young maidens to assist her in her powers. These women later became nymphs.

Her association for Romans of the first century BCE with Artemis was so thorough that Lucretius identifies the altar of the goddess at the sacrifice of Iphianassa (Iphigeneia) in Aulis as Triviai virginis aram.

Trivia (poem)

Trivia (1716) is a poem by John Gay. The full title of the poem is Trivia, or The Art of Walking the Streets of London, and it takes its name from the "goddess of crossroads", Trivia.

The poem is loosely based on the Satires of Juvenal, and is a poem in heroic couplets, and though based on Juvenal, attains a Horatian satirical manner.

The length of the entire poem is approximately 1000 lines, and it is in three books.

Content

The poem describes the perils of walking in London in the 1710s. It is a topographical poem, taking the form of a walk through a day and night. It pretends to utmost seriousness in advising the reader on:

He also describes the characters of the city, including its ballad singers, chairmen, footmen, and toughs.

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