Editing Serendipity (section)

==Etymology==
The first noted use of "serendipity" was by [[Horace Walpole]] on 28 January 1754.<ref>
{{cite book |last=Walpole |first=Horace |author-link1=Horace Walpole |date=1833 |title=Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, to Sir Horace Mann, British Envoy at the Court of Tuscany |volume=II |editor-last1=Agar-Ellis |editor-first1=George |editor-link1=George Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/lettershoracewa00manngoog/page/n231/mode/1up |location=New York |publisher=George Dearborn |pages=222–225 |chapter=Letter CCLI. Arlington-Street, Jan. 28, 1754. |access-date=2025-04-05}}</ref> In a letter he wrote to his friend [[Sir Horace Mann, 1st Baronet|Horace Mann]], Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made about a painting of [[Bianca Cappello]], which he recently received by Mann as a gift. The finding regarded the coat of arms of the Cappello family and was categorised by reference to a Persian fairy tale, ''[[The Three Princes of Serendip]]''.<ref>{{cite web |author=Silvia Davoli |title=The creation of the word 'serendipity' |url=https://www.strawberryhillhouse.org.uk/the-creation-of-serendipity/ |publisher=Strawberry Hill House & Garden |date=2 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706091429/http://www.strawberryhillhouse.org.uk/the-creation-of-serendipity/ |archive-date=2018-07-06 |url-status=live}} Strawberry Hill Treasure Hunt.</ref> The princes, he told his correspondent, were "always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of."<ref>{{Cite book |editor-first=Theodore G. |editor-last=Remer |title=Serendipity and the Three Princes, from the Peregrinaggio of 1557 |page=6 |others=Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by Theodore G. Remer. Preface by W. S. Lewis |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |year=1965}} {{LCCN|6510112}}</ref> The name comes from ''[[Names of Sri Lanka#Serendip|Serendip]]'', an old Persian name for [[Sri Lanka]] (Ceylon), hence ''Sarandib'' by Arab traders.<ref>{{cite book |last=Barber |first=Robert K. Merton, Elinor |title=The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Sociological Semantics and the Sociology of Science |year=2006 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ |isbn=978-0691126302 |pages=1–3 |edition=Paperback}}</ref> It is derived from the Sanskrit ''Siṃhaladvīpaḥ'' (Siṃhalaḥ, Sinhalese + dvīpaḥ, island), meaning Isle of the [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalas]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/serendipity |title=serendipity |via=The Free Dictionary |access-date=2017-06-10 |archive-date=2018-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013192621/https://www.thefreedictionary.com/serendipity |url-status=live}}</ref>

The word has been exported into many other languages, with the general meaning of "unexpected discovery" or "fortunate chance".<ref>For example: [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] ''[[:pt:serendipidade|serendipidade]]'' or ''serendipismo''; [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''[[:es:serendipia|serendipia]]''; [[German language|German]] ''[[:de:Serendipität|Serendipität]]''; [[French language|French]] ''[[:fr:sérendipité|sérendipité]]'' or also ''heureux hasard'' (fortunate chance); [[Italian language|Italian]] ''serendipità'' ([http://www.grandidizionari.it/Dizionario_Italiano/parola/s/serendipità.aspx Italian Dictionary Hoepli by Aldo Gabrielli, cfr.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205150744/https://www.grandidizionari.it/Dizionario_Italiano/parola/s/serendipit%C3%A0.aspx |date=2020-12-05 }}); [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ''[[:nl:Serendipiteit|serendipiteit]]''; [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Danish language|Danish]] and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] ''[[:no:Serendipitet|serendipitet]]''; [[Romanian language|Romanian]] ''[[:ro:Serendipitate|serendipitate]]''; [[Finnish language|Finnish]] ''[[:fi:Serendipisyys|serendipisyys]]'' or ''serendipiteetti''; [[Russian language|Russian]] ''[[:ru:Серендипность|sieriendipnost]]'' (Серендипность); [[Japanese language|Japanese]] ''[[:ja:セレンディピティ|serendipiti]]'' (セレンディピティ); [[Chinese language|Chinese]] ''[[:zh:意外发现|yìwài fāxiàn]]'' (意外发现  that is "unexpected discovery").<br />
Others use directly the term ''serendipity'', like [[Polish language|Polish]].</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Collins Chinese Dictionary |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |place=New York |date=2005 |pages=90, 391 |isbn=0-00-720432-9}}</ref>