serendipity

Anglais

Étymologie

(1754) De Serendip, ancien nom du Sri Lanka, d’après un conte traditionnel persan Les Trois Princes de Serendip de Horace Walpole (1754) dans lequel les héros étaient tout le temps en train de trouver par accident ce qu’ils ne recherchaient pas.

Nom commun

serendipity \ˌsɛɹ.ənˈdɪp.ɪ.ti\, \ˌsɛɹ.ɛnˈdɪp.ɪ.ti\

1. Sérendipité.
   • I wanted to show how a number of ideas that today we consider false actually changed the world (sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse) and how, in the best instances, false beliefs and discoveries totally without credibility could then lead to the discovery of something true (or at least something we consider true today). In the field of the sciences, this mechanism is known as serendipity. An excellent example of it is given us by Columbus, who — believing he could reach the Indies by sailing westward — actually discovered America, which he had not intended to discover. — (Umberto Eco, Serendipities. Language and lunacy, Orion Books, 1999, pp. IX-X.)

Dérivés

• serendipitous

Prononciation

• \ˌsɛɹ.ənˈdɪp.ɪ.ti\, \ˌsɛɹ.ɛnˈdɪp.ɪ.ti\
  • (États-Unis) : écouter « serendipity [ˌsɛɹ.ənˈdɪp.ɪ.t̬i] »
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