647: serendipity Sep 15, 2016

Words are arbitrary; there is nothing that necessarily connects the sound of a word to its meaning except what is given to it. It can be therefore thought that in one way or another, words were just made up. This would in truth be an unfair generalization as words change and progress over time, influencing other languages and ideas along the way, however, sometimes words are very simply fabricated. In 1754 Horace Walpole came out with, The Three Princes of Serendip. In his fairy tale, the protagonists, “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of”. We get 'serendipity' from this newly created word.