zyx guitar music An umbrella or parasol (sometimes colloquially, gamp, brolly, or bumbershoot) is a canopy designed to protect against precipitation or sunlight. The term parasol usually refers to an item designed to protect from the sun, and umbrella refers to a device more suited to protect from rain. Often the difference is the material; a parasol would sometimes not be waterproof. Parasols are often meant to be fixed to one point and often used with patio tables or other outdoor furniture, or on the beach for shelter from the sun. Umbrellas are almost exclusively hand-held portable devices; however, parasols can also be hand-held. The word umbrella is from the Latin word umbra, which in turn derives from the Ancient Greek ómvros (όμβρος). Its meaning is shade or shadow. Brolly is a slang word for umbrella, used often in Britain and Australia. Bumbershoot is a fanciful Americanism from the late 19th century Derivation Umbrella is another term for the parasol, which was first used as a protection against the scorching heat of the sun, "para" meaning stop or shield and "sol" meaning sun. The word "umbrella" has evolved from the Latin "umbella" (and "umbel" is a flat-topped rounded flower) or "umbra," meaning "shaded." In Britain, umbrellas are sometimes called "gamps" after the character Mrs Gamp in the Charles Dickens novel, Martin Chuzzlewit, who was known for often carrying an umbrella. History [edit] Middle East In the sculptures Nineveh the parasol appears frequently.[3] Austen Henry Layard gives a picture of a bas-relief representing a king in his chariot, with an attendant holding a parasol over his head.[3] It has a curtain hanging down behind, but is otherwise exactly like those in use today.[3] It is reserved exclusively for the monarch, and is never carried over any other person.[3] In Persia the parasol is repeatedly found in the carved work of Persepolis, and Sir John Malcolm has an article on the subject in his 1815 "History of Persia."[3] In some sculptures, the figure of a king appears attended by a slave, who carries over his head an umbrella, with stretchers and runner complete.[3] In other sculptures on the rock at Takht-i-Bostan, supposed to be not Ancient Egypt In Egypt again, the parasol is found in various shapes. In some instances it is depicted as a flaellum, a fan of palm-leaves or coloured feathers fixed on a long handle, resembling those now carried behind the Pope in processions.[3] Gardiner Wilkinson, in his work on Egypt, has an engraving of an Ethiopian princess travelling through Upper Egypt in a chariot; a kind of umbrella fastened to a stout pole rises in the centre, bearing a close affinity to what are now termed chaise umbrellas.[3] According to Wilkinson's account, the umbrella was generally used throughout Egypt, partly as a mark of distinction, but more on account of its useful than its ornamental qualities.[3] In some paintings on a temple wall, a parasol is held over the figure of a god carried in procession.[3] Ancient Greece In Greece, the parasol was an indispensable adjunct to a lady of fashion. It had also its religious signification. In the Scirophoria, the feast of Athene Sciras, a white parasol was borne by the priestesses of the goddess from the Acropolis to the Phalerus. In the feasts of Dionysius the Umbrella was used, and in an old bas-relief the same god is represented as descending ad inferos with a small Umbrella in his hand. In the Panathenæa, the daughters of the Metceci, or foreign residents, carried Parasols over the heads of Athenian women as a mark of inferiority. Its use seems to have been confined to women. In Pausanias, lib. vii., cap. 22, Section 6. there is a description of a tomb near Pharæ, a Greek city. On the tomb was the figure of a woman, "and by her stood a female slave, bearing a parasol". For a man to carry one was considered a mark of effeminacy (Anacreon, Athenaeus, lib. xii., cap. 46, Section 534.) In addition, Aristophanes seems to mention it among the common articles of female use (Thesmophoriazusae 821). Ancient Rome