The Man & Fairytale Behind The Word "Serendipity"

Serendipity.

It's a famous restaurant in New York City. It's a great romantic comedy. It's a fun word to say.

Serendipity is not only one of my favorite movies that I watch every year at Christmas time, but it's also my favorite word. I love it because of its meaning. I also love saying it. It's just a fun word to say, isn't it?

If you don't know, Serendipity (n.) is when you find something good without looking for it.

This wonderful word has many interpretations and definitions, all with the same idea.

• Dictionary.com has the definitons of: "an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident" and "good fortune; luck".

• The definition of Merriam-Webster is: "the phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for".
• Vocabulary.com has the definition: "if you find good things without looking for them, serendipity--unexpected good luck--has brought them to you."
• Cambridge Dictionary's definition is: "the fact of finding interesting or valuable things by chance."

Simply put, Serendipity is a happy accident. It's the universe bringing you good things unexpectedly. Some people believe it's good luck. Some believe it's fate.

Serendipity is similar to Fate and Destiny in the sense that it is an occurrence controlled by some unforeseen force. Except Serendipity is always a happy, fortunate, good finding. A "happy accident". It is never a negative occurrence like Fate and Destiny can be. It can also be seen as a coincidence because it's an unexpected and accidental occurrence.

Other interpretations include "divine intervention" and "pleasant surprise".

Whether you believe Serendipity is just a lucky person or fate/destiny doing its powerful magic, I think we can all agree it's a positive and great thing to experience no matter how small the discovery is.

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Multiple instances of Serendipity happen in the movie (of course), but I'll give you two examples.

1. A man and woman meet in a clothing department store by grabbing the last pair of black gloves at the same time. They end up chatting and there's clearly a connection. They go to Serendipity, the restaurant in N.Y.C, (I know, so cute and fitting!) to talk. Then they go their separate ways because they both have significant others. But they both end up forgetting something at the restaurant. She left her shopping bag with the black gloves (that he let her keep), and he left his scarf. She gets back to the restaurant first and notices that he left his scarf, and that's when he comes back finding her there holding his scarf. Ugh, I love this movie!
2. Because of the previous instance of Serendipity, they do a little test. They go into the same hotel and enter elevators at the same time. If they choose the same floor number, then it's fate for them to be together. Spoiler-they pick the same floor number!

Now, what happens in the movie is multiple instances of Serendipity happening to these two people separately, bringing them together. Multiple cases of "happy accidents" happening around the same time or involving the same person are considered fate working its power to bring, say, a new job opportunity to someone, or to bring two people together.

Personally, I do like to believe there's a greater unforeseen power doing work in these situations where there are multiple instances of Serendipity. It's not like finding a pen at the bottom of your bag when you suddenly need one. Serendipity happening again and again, whether it's bringing two people together, or making a new job opportunity work, is incredible, and dare I say, a magical thing.

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The man and fairytale behind the creation of Serendipity.

I absolutely love this word! Now, who came up with it? How words are created fascinates me, so I had to look this up. It turns out the creation of the word Serendipity was inspired by an old fairytale.

Serendipity was coined by British man Horace Walpole. Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, was an English writer who wrote the first gothic novel in the English language, The Castle of Otranto. This novel was also considered one of the earliest horror stories. To keep in the gothic theme, he built the famous Strawberry Hill, a gothic revival mansion.

He didn't stop there. He explained his creation of the word Serendipity in a letter written January 28th, 1754:

• "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 endeavor to explain to you…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…now do you understand Serendipity?"

That's right! The word we know of as 'Serendipity' today was inspired by an ancient Persian fairytale, The Princes of Serendip. The Princes of Serendip, written in 1557, is about three spoiled princes exploring life outside of their castle.

• "The meaning of the word, good luck in finding valuable things unintentionally, refers to the fairy tale characters who were always making discoveries through chance."--Vocabulary.com

How crazy is that? A writer back in 1754 was inspired to create a word due to a fairytale book he read. I definitely didn't expect that to be the origin story for my favorite word. I guess I was expecting it to come from some other word in Greek or Latin or something. I definitely wasn't expecting it to come from an ancient fairytale.

Then again, since the word Serendipity can be interpreted as fate working its magic, it makes sense that it originates from an old fairytale. Because fate working in our favor is the thing of fairytales.

Serendipity.

It may be good luck. It may be fate or destiny working in our favor. It may be a positive experience created by an unforeseen force.

It's a thing in fairytales coming true in real life.