Caïssa

English

Etymology

Invented in 1763 by William Jones for his poem Caïssa.

Proper noun

Caïssa

1. A Thracian dryad who is portrayed as the goddess of chess
   • 1860, Paul Charles Morphy, Johann Löwenthal, Morphy's Games of Chess:

     The Birmingham Meeting would take place shortly after his arrival — the prospect exhibited an opportunity of contest with players of great fame, but above all he looked forward to a struggle with the representative of English Chess, whose name was known and whose reputation was established wherever the votaries of Caïssa dwelt.

   • 1882, John Augustus Miles, Poems and Chess Problems, page 53:

     MIRON AND PHANIA, on your bridal day, In joyful strains Caïssa's votaries sing.

   • 2010, Dalia Judovitz, Marcel Duchamp, Drawing on Art: Duchamp and Company, →ISBN, page 138:

     Bringing together the artistry of chess and the gamesmanship of art, Homage to Caïssa represents the tradition as a set of determinations that come to inform any creative move the chess player or artist subsequently makes. As the reference to the muse Caïssa suggests, creativity is now an index not of subjective expression but, rather, of the poetic redeployment of prior determinations.

Anagrams

• Isaacs, cassia