serendipityyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
serendipity: [18] Serendipity – the ‘faculty of making lucky discoveries’ – was coined in 1754 by the British writer Horace Walpole (1717–97). He took it from The Three Princes of Serendip, the title of a fairy tale whose leading characters, in Walpole’s words, ‘were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of’. (Serendip is an old name for Sri Lanka.)
heart-rending (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
also heartrending, 1680s, from heart (n.) + present participle of rend (v.). Related: Heart-rendingly.
rendition (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
c. 1600, "surrender of a place or possession," from obsolete French rendition "a rendering," noun of action from Old French rendre "to deliver, to yield" (see render (v.)). Meaning "translation" first recorded 1650s; that of "an acting, a performing" first recorded 1858, American English.
serendipitous (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1914; see serendipity + -ous. Related: Serendipitously.
serendipity (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1754 (but rare before 20c.), coined by Horace Walpole (1717-92) in a letter to Horace Mann (dated Jan. 28); he said he formed it from the Persian fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip," whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of." The name is from Serendip, an old name for Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), from Arabic Sarandib, from Sanskrit Simhaladvipa "Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island."