Cool! I remember when I first learned the word serendipity–I was looking up some other word in the dictionary (or maybe I was just leafing through the dictionary) and I came upon it. Isn’t that as self-referential as you can get?

serendipity

noun

good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries.

serendipitous adj., serendipitously adv.

Origin

1754 (but rare before 20c.), coined by Horace Walpole (1717-92) in a letter to 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 Skt. Simhaladvipa “Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island.” Serendipitous formed c.1950.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper