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“French President Emmanuel Macron visited Notre Dame Cathedral on Friday, one year before its scheduled reopening in 2024. … During his visit, Macron paid homage to Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, who oversaw the reconstruction and died in August. Wearing a hardhat, Macron was given a tool to assist as Georgelin’s name was inscribed in the wood of the spire under the aegis of an artisan, memorializing the general’s contribution to the cathedral.” — Thomas Adamson and Sylvie Corbet, The Associated Press, 8 Dec. 2023

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English borrowed aegis from Latin, but the word ultimately comes from the Greek noun aigís, meaning “goatskin.” In ancient Greek mythology, an aegis was something that offered physical protection. It has been depicted in various ways, including as a magical protective cloak made from the skin of the goat that suckled Zeus as an infant, and as a shield fashioned by Hephaestus that bore the severed head of the Gorgon Medusa. The word first entered English in the 15th century as a noun referring to the shield or breastplate associated with Zeus or Athena. It later took on a more general sense of “protection” and, by the late-19th century, it had acquired the extended senses of “auspices” and “sponsorship.”