Friday, May 12, 2006

Serendipity

Διαβάζοντας το "Big Bang" του Simon Singh, έπεσα πάνω στην εξής πληροφοριακή παράγραφο για την πολύ μοδάτη λέξη serendipity:

"The word "serendipity" was coined in 1754 by the politician and writer Sir Horace Walpole who used it in a letter in which he recounted an accidental but fortunate discovery about an acquaintance:

This discovery indeed is almost of that kind which I call serendipity, a very expressive word which, as I have nothing better to tell you, I shall endeavour to explain to you: you will understand it better by the derivation than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip:  as their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which the were not in quest of."

4 comments:

J. said...

Τον όρο "serendipity" τον αναλύω, δεν τον πολυκατάλαβα ακόμη. Πάντως κάνω μία επίσκεψη γνωριμίας, μου αρέσει η φρεσκάδα και το δημιουργικό πνεύμα του blog.

Unknown said...

φρεσκάδα; τι φρεσκάδα; πως φρεσκάδα; που φρεσκάδα; τι εννοείς; τι φάση; (που θα έλεγε και ο κώστας)

Anonymous said...

Τα παιδάκια στην Αμερική,για να δώσουν το SAT τους,μαθαίνουν αυτά για τον όρο:serendipity(noun),the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for(ETYMOLOGY:from its possession by the heroes of the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip)
serendipitous,adj

Unknown said...

ε, εγώ τι έγγραψα;