Recognized as one of the most beautiful words in the English language, serendipity is the moment when you stumble upon something truly wonderful and meaningful when you least expect it. It is an unexpected discovery made by being in the right place at the time. The moment comes when you are not seeking It. Some would call it fate, magic, divine intervention, kairos, or synergy. Others would say you got lucky, you were blessed, it was witchcraft, or that it was just meant to be. All of these theories are neither right, nor wrong. Subjectivity is the only logical response considering the varied belief dysrems we all have. Serendipity can’t be proven or measured. If we do capture this mystifying discovery, whatever universal forces aligned to put it in our path are ineffable, but what we can do is be pay it forward. But as a logophile, don’t you want to dig into the roots of the etymon tree? That’s where we can explore it from a causal perspective. Start at the South Pole in serendip or head up to the northern wasteland that helps to balance the forces of causality?
one of the most difficult words to translate duel to its whimsical and magical nature. Serendipity is an untranslatable word and that classification makes it one of a kind and a serendipitous word on it’s own. Or is it?
one of the most difficult words to translate duel to its whimsical and magical nature. Serendipity is an untranslatable word and that classification makes it one of a kind and a serendipitous word on it’s own. Or is it?
Is serendipity an “accidental” discovery or the intentional result of causality?
THE ETYMON TREE
Serendipity has been credited to author Horace Walpole in his 1754 Persian fairy tale “The Three Princes of Serendip.” In the story, three heroic princes always seemed to make discoveries of things in which they were not on a quest for..
Walpole never claimed he had invented the concept, but he is commonly credited for the word. Further inquiry however, shows an earlier reference to a compilation of stories published in 1557 by the Venetian archivist, Michele Tramezzino. It took two centuries before serendipity was used in a story featuring a missing camel. Tramezzino’s work was translated in 1964 as Serendipity and the Three Princes: From the Peregrinaggio in 1557.
Defining Serendipity
The definition of a “simple accidental discovery,” is less complex and metaphorical than the original meaning in Walpole’s story. His heroes were always “..making discoveries, by accident and sagacity of things they were not in quest of.” The OED simplifies the definition and adds “happy” to it.
Examples of Historic Serendipitous discoveries
Walpole never claimed he had invented the concept, but he is commonly credited for the word. Further inquiry however, shows an earlier reference to a compilation of stories published in 1557 by the Venetian archivist, Michele Tramezzino. It took two centuries before serendipity was used in a story featuring a missing camel. Tramezzino’s work was translated in 1964 as Serendipity and the Three Princes: From the Peregrinaggio in 1557.
Defining Serendipity
The definition of a “simple accidental discovery,” is less complex and metaphorical than the original meaning in Walpole’s story. His heroes were always “..making discoveries, by accident and sagacity of things they were not in quest of.” The OED simplifies the definition and adds “happy” to it.
Examples of Historic Serendipitous discoveries
- Columbus (America)
- Fleming (penicillin)
- Nobel (dynamite)