The story
- Proto-Indo-Iranian*sinȷ́ʰás
- Proto-Indo-Aryan*sinźʰás
- Sanskritसिंह (siṃha)
- Sanskritसिंहल (siṃhala)
- Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
- Proto-Indo-Iranian*dwáH
- Proto-Indo-Iranian*dwi-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂ep-
- Proto-Indo-Iranian*Hā́ps
- Proto-Indo-Iranian*dwi-Hp-ás
- Sanskritद्वीप (dvīpa)
- Sanskritसिंहलद्वीप (siṃhaladvīpa)
- Prakrit*𑀲𑀻𑀳𑀮𑀤𑀻𑀯 (*sīhaladīva)
- Persianسرندیپ (sarandip)
- Arabicسَرَنْدِيب (sarandīb)
- EnglishSerendip
- English todayserendipity
From Serendip (“variant of Serendib: Ceylon, Sri Lanka”) + -ity. Coined by English writer and politician Horace Walpole in 1754 based on the Persian story of the Three Princes of Serendip, who (Walpole wrote to a friend) were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.