Daniel writes:
<< I heard (a rumor Tina) that Utopia is derived from a word translated as
nowhere [. . . .] >>
It could be derived from eu-topos or ou-topos. Our pronunciation is
suggestive of the former, but I believe the spelling is suggestive of the
latter (probably some complex funniness in historical English phonology, but
ou- words might sometimes lose an 'o' while I'm not aware of any of our
abundant eu- words losing its 'e'). I believe Sir Thomas More suggested the
latter as well (right?), and he coined the word (right?).
Eutopia would be goodplace, but outopia would be noplace. I am compelled to
believe that the English coinage comes more strictly from the latter, but
you'll need to specify an initial vowel if you don't like the ambiguity.
-robbie
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Received on Wed Apr 9 22:44:39 2003
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