Titania

See also: titania

English

Etymology

A style of Diana in Ovid, fem. of titanius, from Titan. As faeries were identified with Classical nymphs, the queen of the faeries was equated with Diana.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɪˈtɑːni.ə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Ti‧ta‧ni‧a

Proper noun

Titania

1. From Shakespeare's play A Midsummer-Night's Dream, the queen of the fairies.
   • 1842 May 7, L'Etudiant, “The Rhine”, in The Mirror, volume 1, number 19, page 293:

     As it is impossible to believe that this huge mountain can produce such an effect, at the expiration of a few minutes we become dupes of illusion, and the most grave thinker is ready to swear that there is in those shades, under some fantastic thicket, a solitary— a supernatural being—a sort of fairy—a Titania, who amuses herself by delicately parodying the music of mortals, and throwing down the half of a mountain every time she hears the report of a gun.

   • 1859, “Fairy Knowe”, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, page 428:

     For all this Magical Mansion were vain With all its dominions so fair; Its splendor and riches no happiness gain Without a Titania to share!

   • 1871 January, Daisy Ventnor, “Prince Charming Comes to Town”, in The Peterson magazine, volume 59, number 1, page 39:

     "Take breath," said Teresa, unable to help laughing. "Why, kitten, you're as good as a fairy-tale." "Inspired by Titania herself." said a gallant voice at her elbow; and Kate disappeared with a sly grimace, as Russell Wayne shook hands with Miss Amesford. "You never saw a dusky queen of the fairies, did you? A species of Brownie would be more like me, Mr. Wayne; you must wait until Alma comes home for a Titania."

   • 2009, Jan S. Cronin, Simone Drichel, Frameworks: Contemporary Criticism on Janet Frame, page 30:

     But something is awry; the fairy-stories, the mythologies, are mixed up. Tom is less a masculine Pygmalion caressing his dream-statue into flesh than a feminine Galatea waking to see her lover's face blotting out the sun; less an Oberon than a Titania, falling in love with “the first person he had seen on waking from his drugged sleep”.

2. (astronomy): The largest satellite of the planet Uranus.

Derived terms

• Titanian

Translations

character

• Finnish: Titania (fi)
• Russian: Тита́ния f (Titánija)

moon of Uranus

• Finnish: Titania (fi)
• French: Titania (fr)
• German: Titania f
• Italian: Titania m
• Japanese: チタニア (ja) (Chitania)
• Portuguese: Titânia f
• Russian: Тита́ния f (Titánija)
• Spanish: Titania

Turkish

Proper noun

Titania

1. (astronomy) Titania