Sir Philip Sidney. “Phil. Sid.” being a contraction of Philos
Sidus, and the Latin sidus being changed to the Greek astron, we get astron-philos (star-lover). The “star” that he loved
was Penelope Devereux, whom he called Stella (star), and to whom
he was betrothed. Edmund Spenser wrote a pastoral called Astrophel, to the memory of his friend and patron, who fell at the battle of
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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