Monday, April 18, 2011
Serendipity!
Today I learned the origin of the word “serendipity” in geography class. Yes, geography class, because it turn out to have a geographical origin: prior to being known as Sri Lanka, said country was known as Ceylon. And prior to that, it was known as (I kid you not) Serendip. In the 1700's a guy named Horace Walpole created the word from the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Seredip. Apparently the heroes of said fairy tale possessed a remarkable aptitude for good fortune, thus, “serendipitous”!
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Interesting! Perhaps that's why Arthur C. Clarke decided to spend the rest of his life in Sri Lanka...
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