Meaning
A bound collection of maps - the book that takes the Titan's name for the burden of holding up the whole world, or at least the picture of it. The anatomical atlas (the top vertebra, bearing the skull) and the architect's atlas (a supporting figure) keep the same lesson. Everyday word, forgotten Titan; the anatomical and architectural senses reward knowing, and the sky-versus-globe correction is the standard pub-quiz point. Regional use: General English; classical origin, Renaissance book sense.
Origin
After the Titans fell, Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of the earth and hold up the sky - classical art shows him bearing the celestial spheres, though modern memory, helped by a thousand statues and Ayn Rand, gives him the globe. When Heracles needed the apples of the Hesperides, Atlas's daughters, the Titan offered to fetch them if the hero would hold the heavens, then tried to leave him there; Heracles asked only to adjust his cloak as padding, took the load back moment by moment never, and walked off with the fruit. The Atlas Mountains of Mauretania took his name, and the Atlantic is the Sea of Atlas. The book arrived in the Renaissance: Antonio Lafreri put the Titan on a map-collection title page in 1572 without using the word, and Gerardus Mercator coined the usage in his 1585-95 work, honouring Atlas as a learned king of Mauretania famed in astronomy. Anatomy followed - the first cervical vertebra bears the skull as he bore the sky, cited in 1734 - and the Arabic satin sense is a false relative.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- anatomical atlas
- road atlas
- the weight of the world on one's shoulders
Usage Examples
- The surveyor's 1898 atlas of the valley shows every millrace and most of the grudges.
- The new road atlas, spiral-bound and coffee-proof, survived the summer holiday intact.
- As chair of the timetable committee, she carried the atlas's burden without complaint.