Medicean
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From post-classical Latin Mediceus (16th century; from the family name Medici) + -an.
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]Medicean (comparative more Medicean, superlative most Medicean)
- (astronomy, now historical) Designating the four largest moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto), as named by Galileo in honour of his future patron Cosimo II de' Medici. [from 17th c.]
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, III.2.2.iv:
- Four Medicean stars dance about Jupiter, two Austrian about Saturn, etc., and all (belike) to the music of the spheres.
- 2015, David Wootton, The Invention of Science, Penguin, published 2016, page 296:
- Evelyn recorded a suggestion that the Society might take as its coat of arms a representation of a pair of crossed telescopes surmounted by the Medicean planets.
- Pertaining to the Medici family. [from 17th c.]