Gelasma

Coined by William Warren in 1893 from Ancient Greek γέλασμα (gélasma, “smile or laughter”)

Gelasma f

1. (archaic) A taxonomic genus within the family Geometridae – moths, now Maxates.

• (genus): Eukaryota – superkingdom; Animalia – kingdom; Bilateria – subkingdom; Protostomia – infrakingdom; Ecdysozoa – superphylum; Arthropoda – phylum; Hexapoda – subphylum; Insecta – class; Pterygota – subclass; Neoptera – infraclass; Lepidoptera – order; Glossata – suborder; Heteroneura – infraorder; Ditrysia – division; Cossina – section; Bombycina – subsection; Geometroidea – superfamily; Geometridae – family

• Gelasma on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Gelasma on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Gelasma on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• William Warren (1893) “On new Genera and Species of Moths in the Family Geometridae from India, in the Collection of H.J. Elwes”, in Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, page 352

gelasma

Gelasma

1. Laughter personified.
   • 1900, The Quarterly Review, volume 192:

     Charles Lamb worshipped, like the Spartans in Edgar Poe's story, at the mysterious shrine of the god Gelasma.

   • 1910, Francis Thompson, A Renegade Poet:

     ...the temple to the reigning goddess Gelasma, which mocks the name of theatre...

   • 1950, Philip Hughes, edited by George Andrew Beck, The English Catholics, 1850-1950:

     So was a generation bred, more and more incapable of serious reading, of serious reflection, even of a primitive kind. Francis Thompson, a shrewd observer of his age, noted and shuddered at the growing popularity of the new goddess, Gelasma.