Cockaigne
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Old French cocagne, of obscure origin, but the many references to sweet delicacies in the 13th century poem that is the first record of the word suggest it may have come from a Germanic word for a cake, probably the ancestor of the modern German Kuchen.[1][2] See also Proto-Germanic *kōkô.
May also relate to or be influenced by Old Irish cucainn (“food ration, sweet pie”).[3]
Pronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /kɒˈkeɪn/, /kəˈkeɪn/[1]
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- Homophone: cocaine (one pronunciation)
Proper noun
editCockaigne
- (mediaeval folklore) A land of plenty, luxury and idleness.
- Synonyms: land of plenty, lubberland
- Hypernyms: utopia, paradise
- Coordinate term: Arcadia
- 2017, Rutger Bregman, chapter 1, in Elizabeth Manton, transl., Utopia for Realists, Kindle edition, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 3:
- In Cockaigne, the Land of Plenty, people never argued. Instead, they partied, they danced, they drank, and they slept around.
Translations
editmythical land
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See also
editReferences
edit- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Cockaigne”, in World Wide Words.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “Cockaigne”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ Emily K. Yoder, "The Monk’s Paradise in The Land of Cockaygne and the Navigatio Sancti Brendani, " Papers on Language and Literature, 19 (1983), 227—238.
Further reading
editCategories:
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Old Irish
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English proper nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- en:European folklore
- English terms with quotations
- en:Fictional locations