serendipity

英语

词源

源自Serendip (“锡兰，斯里兰卡”, Serendib的变体) +‎ -ity。由英国的作家及政治家Horace Walpole在1754造出，基于波斯故事锡兰三王子。据Walpole在给朋友写的信，故事中的王子“总是因偶然和卓识发现新的东西，而这些东西并不是他们一开始所探求的。”

发音

• 国际音标^(帮助): /ˌsɛɹ.ənˈdɪp.ɪ.ti/, /ˌsɛɹ.ɛnˈdɪp.ɪ.ti/

• （美国）音频：

  (档案)

• （澳洲）音频：

  (档案)

名词

serendipity (可数 和 不可数，复数 serendipities)

1. 机缘巧合 （一系列偶然最终带来好的结果）

   反义词：Murphy's law、perfect storm

   • 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 页:

     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.

     （请为本引文添加中文翻译）

2. 碰巧的发现，意外的收获

   近义词：chance、luck；亦参见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.

3. 碰巧的好结果

用法说明

本词有时候用来作luck的广义同义词。在较为严谨的用法，比如科学领域，主要强调“能够发现其他东西的观察能力”。

19世纪70年代前，本词基本上不为人所知，而到了20世纪初叶才开始普及，到了中叶普及开来，现在得到广泛使用。

衍生词汇

• serendipitous
• serendipitously
• serendipity berry

参考资料

• 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

延伸阅读

• serendipity在英语维基百科上的资料。维基百科 ^en