Word Finder - genii

definition

Someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill; especially somebody who has demonstrated this by a creative or original work in science, music, art etc.

example

I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius... and a very stable genius at that!

definition

Extraordinary mental capacity.

definition

Inspiration, a mental leap, an extraordinary creative process.

example

a work of genius.

definition

The tutelary deity or spirit of a place or person.

synonyms

• tutelary deity

The religion of Cambodia is Buddhism, and involves great respect towards the dead; the worship of spirits or local genii is also wide-spread, and Brahmanism is still maintained at the court.

Some of his early Mantuan works are in that apartment of the Castello which is termed the Camera degli Sposi - full compositions in fresco, including various portraits of the Gonzaga family, and some figures of genii, &c. In 1488 he went to Rome at the request of Pope Innocent VIII., to paint the frescoes in the chapel of the Belvedere in the Vatican; the marquis of Mantua (Federigo) created him a cavaliere before his departure.

Probably these were the original genii of the necropolis, and in fact the same lean animal figured passant is s;b " jackal" or "fox."

Next come the various kinds of inhumation graves, the most important of which are rock-hewn chambers, many of which contain well-preserved paintings of various periods; some show close kinship to archaic Greek art, while others are more recent, and one, the Grotta del Tifone (so called from the typhons, or winged genii of death, represented) in which Latin as well as Etruscan inscriptions appear, belongs perhaps to the middle of the 4th century B.C. Fine sarcophagi from these tombs, some showing traces of painting, are preserved in the municipal museum, and also numerous fine Greek vases, bronzes and other objects.

Another analogy is furnished by the winged genii represented as fertilizing the sacred tree - the date-palm (Tylor); here the body is human, though the face is sometimes that of an eagle.

Genoa is believed to derive its name from the fact that the shape of this portion of the coast resembles that of a knee (genii).

The Gandharvas figure already in the Veda, either as a single divinity, or as a class of genii, conceived of as the body-guard of Soma and as connected with the moon.

The legend of the mountain is that Solomon visited Hindostan to marry Balkis, and that as they were returning through the air, on a throne supported by genii, the bride implored the bridegroom to let her look back for a few moments on her beloved land.

He also peopled the planets with souls and genii.

Under the head of demons are classified only such spirits as are believed to enter into relations with the human race; the term therefore includes (I) human souls regarded as genii or familiars, (2) such as receive a cult (for which see Ancestor Worship), and (3) ghosts or other malevolent revenants; excluded are souls conceived as inhabiting another world.

Other places where the legends about fairies were passed down included Roman mythology with the modern-day "angels," or lares, genii and penates.

It banished the spirits and genii, to which even Kepler had assigned the guardianship of the planetary movements; and, if it supposes the globular particles of the envelope to be the active force in carrying the earth round the sun, we may remember that Newton himself assumed an aether for somewhat similar purposes.

The assignment of genii to buildings and gates is connected with an important class of sacrifices; in order to provide a tutelary spirit, or to appease chthonic deities, it was often the custom to sacrifice a human being or an animal at the foundation of a building; sometimes we find a similar guardian provided for the frontier of a country or of a tribe.

He is not alone in his doings and conflicts, but has in conjunction with himself a number of genii - for the most part personifications of ethical ideas.

Animistic in many of their features too are the temporary gods of fetishism, naguals or familiars, genii and even the dead who receive a cult.

Solomon directed the genii to scoop out a hollow for the throne on the summit of the mountain.