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Mensa

//ˈmɛnsə// name, noun

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
Mensa International, an organization for people with very high IQs.
2
A summer constellation of the southern sky, originally named after Table Mountain in South Africa. It lies between the constellations of Hydrus and Volans.

Noun

1
In planetary geology, a large mesa-like area of raised land.
2
The upper surface of an altar.
"Some churches also have an altar stone, a separate stone set into the mensa containing a relic of a saint, although this is becoming extremely rare."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Latin mensa (“table”). The organization promotes itself as a "round-table" society in which differences in the backgrounds of its members are considered irrelevant.

Etymology 2

From Mons Mensae (mensa (“table”)), from Montagne de la Table. Originally named Montagne de la Table after Table Mountain in South Africa in 1756 by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. By 1763 this had been Latinised as Mons Mensae. In 1922 the International Astronomical Union shortened this to Mensa.

Etymology 3

Learned borrowing from Latin mēnsa (“table, altar”). Doublet of mesa.

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