serendipity
英語
[編輯]詞源
[編輯]源自Serendip (「錫蘭，斯里蘭卡」, Serendib的變體) + -ity。由英國的作家及政治家Horace Walpole在1754造出，基於波斯故事錫蘭三王子。據Walpole在給朋友寫的信，故事中的王子「總是因偶然和卓識發現新的東西，而這些東西並不是他們一開始所探求的。」
發音
[編輯]名詞
[編輯]serendipity (可數 和 不可數，複數 serendipities)
- 機緣巧合 （一系列偶然最終帶來好的結果）
- 1754, Horace Walpole, The Letters of Horace Walpole, vol. 2, Letter 90, To Sir Horace Mann, Arlington Street, Jan. 28, 1754. The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2
- The most random serendipity brought the two of us together, and now, we are happily married! If I was just 15 seconds slower, I'd have never met her!
- 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 they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right – now do you understand Serendipity? One of the most remarkable instances of this accidental Sagacity, (for you must observe that no discovery of a thing you are looking for comes under this description,) was of my Lord Shaftsbury, who, happening to dine at Lord Chancellor Clarendon's, found out the marriage of the Duke of York and Mrs. Hyde, by the respect with which her mother treated her at table.
- 2020年12月2日, Andy Byford talks to Paul Clifton, 「I enjoy really big challenges...」, 出自 Rail，第 54 頁:
- After I got here, in the first lockdown, my mum suddenly passed. It was the week of my final interview with the Mayor. It is serendipity that I am here when my dad really needs me.
- （請為本引文添加中文翻譯）
- 1754, Horace Walpole, The Letters of Horace Walpole, vol. 2, Letter 90, To Sir Horace Mann, Arlington Street, Jan. 28, 1754. The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2
- 碰巧的發現，意外的收穫
- 近義詞：chance、luck；亦參見Thesaurus:luck
- 2007, Erin McKean, speech at TED
- Serendipity is when you find things you weren't looking for because finding what you are looking for is so damn difficult.
- 碰巧的好結果
用法說明
[編輯]本詞有時候用來作luck的廣義同義詞。在較為嚴謹的用法，比如科學領域，主要強調「能夠發現其他東西的觀察能力」。
19世紀70年代前，本詞基本上不為人所知，而到了20世紀初葉才開始普及，到了中葉普及開來，現在得到廣泛使用。[1]
衍生詞彙
[編輯]參考資料
[編輯]- ↑ serendipity at Google Ngram Viewer
- Goodman, Leo A. Notes on the Etymology of Serendipity and Some Related Philological Observations, Modern Language Notes, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Vol. 76, No. 5 (May, 1961), pp. 454–457. (JSTOR)
- Merton, Robert K.; Barber, Elinor G. The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Historical Semantics and the Sociology of Science, Princeton University Press, December 2003, ISBN 978-0691117546
- Remer, Theodore G., ed. Serendipity and the Three Princes，源自the Peregrinaggio of 1557, University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. LCC 65-10112
延伸閱讀
[編輯]
serendipity在英語維基百科上的資料。維基百科 en
