What is "maia"

Maia \Ma"i*a\, n. [From L. Maia, a goddess.] (Zo["o]l.)

1. A genus of spider crabs, including the common European species ( Maia squinado).

2. A beautiful American bombycid moth ( Eucronia maia).

Roman goddess of fertility, Latin Maia, literally "she who brings increase," related to magnus "great" (see magnate). Maia, one of the Pleiades, is from Greek Maia, daughter of Atlas, mother of Hermes, literally "mother, good mother, dame; foster-mother, nurse, midwife," said by Watkins to be from infant babbling (see mamma).

Maïa is a variant of Maia. It may refer to:

• Maïa (singer), Canadian singer, earlier part of Canadian band Ladies of the Canyon
• Maïa Simon (1939–2007), French film and television actress
• Maïa Vidal (born 1988), American composer, songwriter, musician, and visual artist

Maia ( or ; ; ), in ancient Greek religion, is one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes.

Maia is the daughter of Atlas and Pleione the Oceanid, and is the eldest of the seven Pleiades. They were born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, and are sometimes called mountain nymphs, oreads; Simonides of Ceos sang of "mountain Maia" (Maiados oureias) "of the lovely black eyes." Because they were daughters of Atlas, they were also called the Atlantides.

Maia, designated 20 Tauri (abbreviated 20 Tau), is a star in the constellation of Taurus. It is the fourth brightest star in the Pleiades open star cluster ( M45), after Alcyone, Atlas and Electra, in that order. Maia is a blue giant of spectral type B8 III, and a mercury-manganese star.

Maia's visual magnitude is 3.871, requiring darker skies to be seen. Its total bolometric luminosity is 660 times solar, mostly in the ultraviolet, thus suggesting a radius that is 5.5 times that of the Sun and a mass that is slightly more than 4 times solar. It was thought to be a variable star by astronomer Otto Struve. A class of stars known as Maia variables was proposed, which included Gamma Ursae Minoris, but Maia and some others in the class have since been found to be stable.

Maia is one of the stars in the Maia Nebula (also known as NGC 1432), a bright emission or reflection nebula within the Pleiades star cluster.

Maia is a fantasy novel by Richard Adams, published in 1984.

Maia is a civil parish in the municipality of Ribeira Grande in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. The population in 2011 was 1,900, in an area of 21.97 km². Maia is the largest parish by area in Ribeira Grande.

The Maiar (singular: Maia) are beings from J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy legendarium. They are lesser Ainur who entered Eä in the beginning of time. The name Maiar is in the Quenya tongue and comes from the Elvish root maya- "excellent, admirable". Maiar refers in Quenya to all the Ainur who entered Eä, the " Creation", and more often to the lesser power among them: "Maia is the name of the Kin of the Valar, but especially of those of lesser power than the 9 great rulers" wrote Tolkien.

In the Valaquenta, Tolkien wrote that the Maiar are "spirits whose being also began before the world, of the same order as the Valar but of less degree". In the Valaquenta, it is also written that many Maiar associated themselves with a Vala; for example, Ossë and Uinen, who ruled the Seas, acted under Ulmo, while Curumo, who came to be known in Middle-earth as Saruman, was with Aulë the Smith. Sauron also was with Aulë before being corrupted by Melkor.

Being of divine origin and possessing great power, the Maiar can wander the world unseen or shape themselves in fashion of Elves or other creatures; these "veils", called fanar in Quenya, could be destroyed, but their true-being could not. Rarely did the Maiar adopt their visible forms to elves and man, and for that reason, very few of the Maiar have names in their tongues, and the elves do not know how many of the Maiar exist.

The Maia Eönwë is the herald of Manwë. He led the hosts of the West in the War of Wrath in which Morgoth was finally overthrown and Thangorodrim destroyed.

Melkor (known in Sindarin as Morgoth), the evil Vala, corrupted many Maiar into his service. These included Sauron, the main antagonist of The Lord of the Rings, and the Balrogs, his demons of flame and shadow. These are called in Quenya Úmaiar.

In about , the Valar sent several Maiar to Middle-earth to help contest the evil of Sauron. They had great skills of hand and mind but were cloaked in the guise of men, seemingly old but of great vigour. Their mission was to guide elves and men by gaining trust and spreading knowledge, not by ruling them with fear and force. They were known as the Istari, or Wizards, and included Gandalf the Grey (Olórin or Mithrandir; later Gandalf the White), Saruman the White (Curumo or Curunír; he later called himself Saruman of Many Colours), Radagast the Brown (Aiwendil), and two Blue Wizards (Alatar and Pallando) who are mentioned in passing but do not appear in Tolkien's narratives.

Mónica Andrea Vives Orozco, more commonly known as Maía (born 1982 in Barranquilla, Colombia) is a Colombian singer-songwriter.

Maia (sometimes written Matia), was the wet-nurse of the Ancient Egyptian king Tutankhamun. She is known from her rock-cut tomb found at Saqqara. Her tomb was discovered in 1996 by the French Egyptologist Alain Zivie. Maia bears the titles wet nurse of the king, educator of the god's body and great one of the harim. Nothing is known about Maia's parents and nothing else is known about Maia other than the information in the tomb. In the tomb Tutankhamun is shown sitting on Maia's lap and the king is mentioned several times in the tomb's inscriptions.

The tomb consists of the cult chambers with three decorated rooms and the underground, mostly undecorated, burial chambers. The first room of the cult chapel of her tomb is dedicated to the life of Maia. This includes a scene showing Tutankamun sitting on the lap of Maia and there is a badly damaged scene showing Maia in front of the king. The second room is dedicated to the burial rites associated with Maia. Maia is shown in front of offering bearers. She is depicted as a mummy in relation to the opening of the mouth ritual and she is standing before the underworld god Osiris. The third room is the biggest and has four pillars. The pillars are decorated with the image of Maia. The back of the room shows a stela carved into the rock with Maia in front of Osiris. In this room there is also a staircase leading down to the burial chambers. Most other walls of this room are undecorated.

The tomb was in later times heavily reused.

Maia is both a feminine given name from the Greek language and a surname. It is also a popular Māori name meaning "brave or confident."

Notable people with the name include:

Given name:

• Maia (singer), Colombian singer
• Maia Brewton (born 1977), American actress
• Maia Campbell (born 1976), American film and television actress
• Maia Chiburdanidze (born 1961), Georgian chess grandmaster
• Maia Lewis, New Zealand women's cricketer
• Maia Mitchell (born 1993), Australian actress
• Maia Morgenstern (born 1962), Romanian film and stage actress

Surname:

• César Maia (born 1945), mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Demian Maia (born 1977), Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts fighter
• Luizão Maia (1949–2005), Brazilian musician
• Miguel Maia (born 1971), Portuguese beach volleyball player
• Salgueiro Maia (1944–1992), Portuguese captain during the Carnation Revolution
• Tim Maia (1942–1998), Brazilian musician
• Deidson Araújo Maia, aka Veloso, (born 1983), Brazilian footballer

Maia is an upcoming sci-fi strategy simulation game by Simon Roth. The game has been described by Roth as " Dungeon Keeper meets Dwarf Fortress on a primordial alien world". Roth also cites Theme Hospital, The Sims, Black & White and Space Station 13 amongst its influences.