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Origin and history of utopia

utopia(n.)

1551, name of an imaginary island enjoying the utmost perfection in legal, social, and political systems, coined by Thomas More (and used as title of his book, written in Latin, published 1516). Extended to any perfect place by 1610s. It is literally "nowhere," coined in Modern Latin from Greek elements: ou "not" (see below) + topos "place" (see topos).

The etymological explanation of Greek ou "not" derives the word from PIE root *aiw- "vital force, life; long life, eternity." Linguists presume a pre-Greek phrase *(ne) hoiu (kwid) "(not on your) life," with ne "not" + *kwid, an "emphasizing particle" [Watkins]. Beekes explains that *ne, the sentence negative, "lost its meaning to the second element" and notes other examples of the pattern.

Commonly, but incorrectly, taken as from Greek eu- "good" (see eu-) an error reinforced by the introduction of dystopia (by 1844). On the same model, Bentham had cacotopia (1818).

also from 1551

Entries linking to utopia

dystopia(n.)

"imaginary bad place," 1952, from dys- "bad, abnormal" + ending abstracted from utopia. Earlier in medical use, "displacement of an organ" (by 1844), with second element from Greek topos "place" (see topos). Dystopian was used in a non-medical sense in 1868 by J.S. Mill:

I may be permitted, as one who, in common with many of my betters, have been subjected to the charge of being Utopian, to congratulate the Government on having joined that goodly company. It is, perhaps, too complimentary to call them Utopians, they ought rather to be called dys-topians, cacotopians. What is commonly called Utopian is something too good to be practicable; but what they appear favour is too bad to be practicable. [speech, March 12, 1868]

He might have got cacotopia from Bentham.

topos(n.)

"traditional literary theme," 1948, from Greek topos, literally "place, region, space," also "subject of a speech," a word of uncertain origin. "The broad semantic range renders etymologizing difficult" [Beekes].

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suburbia
"the suburbs," 1874, British English, at first generally in reference to London; from suburb + -ia, perhaps on the model of utopia. THE NIGHT NOISES OF "SUBURBIA."—The night passes calmly until the crescent moon, rising over the housetops, sheds its light on a scene of tranquili
utopian
1550s, with reference to More's fictional country; 1610s as "extravagantly ideal, impossibly visionary," from utopia + -an. As a noun meaning "visionary idealist" it is recorded by 1832 (also in this sense was utopiast, 1845). Utopian socialism is from 1849, originally pejorative
ideology
It was only after the appearance of Karl Marx's long unpublished The German Ideology and Karl Mannheim's Ideology and Utopia...
taste
c. 1300, tasten, "perceive the flavor of" (something); "take a little food or drink; try the quality or flavor of;" from Old French taster "to taste, sample by mouth; enjoy" (13c.), earlier "to feel, touch, pat, stroke" (12c., Modern French tâter), from Vulgar Latin *tastare, whi
state
[mode or form of existence] c. 1200, stat, "circumstances, position in society, temporary attributes of a person or thing, conditions," from Old French estat "position, condition; status, stature, station," and directly from Latin status "a station, position, place; way of standi
fiction
early 15c., ficcioun, "that which is invented or imagined in the mind," from Old French ficcion "dissimulation, ruse; invention, fabrication" (13c.) and directly from Latin fictionem (nominative fictio) "a fashioning or feigning," noun of action from past participle stem of finge
obstreperous
"clamorous, noisy, boisterous, especially in opposition," c. 1600, from Latin obstreperus "clamorous," from obstrepere "drown with noise, make a noise against, oppose noisily," from ob "against" (see ob-) + strepere "make a noise," from PIE *strep-, said to be imitative (compare
onomatopoeia
"formation of words or names by imitation of natural sounds; the naming of something by a reproduction of the sound made by it or a sound associated with it," 1570s, from Late Latin onomatopoeia, from Greek onomatopoiia "the making of a name or word" (in imitation of a sound asso
dub
"give a name to," originally "make a knight," from late Old English dubbian "knight by ceremonially striking with a sword" (11c.), a word perhaps borrowed from Old French aduber "equip with arms, adorn" (11c.) which is of uncertain origin, probably Germanic, but there are phoneti
stadium
mid-14c., stadie, "a foot race, a racecourse;" early 15c., "ancient measure of distance," from Latin stadium (plural stadia) "a measure of length" (variously reckoned, commonly one-eighth of a Roman mile or a little over 600 standard English feet; translated in early English Bibl

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