I confess I was surprised that Arcadia is an actual place, as I’ve always associated it with a mythological place in poetry. One of peaceful utopianism.
It’s a stark contrast to the extreme tides and climate of Acadia.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Acadia | Arcadia |
|---|---|
 |
 — |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun, proper
Plural: Acadia |
Noun
Plural: Arcadia, arcadia, Arcady Alternate spelling: Arcady |
A former French colony established in 1604 in the territory that now includes Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island in Canada
|
[Use an initial capital letter] A mountainous district in the Peloponnese of southern Greece, traditionally known for the contented pastoral innocence of its people
A city in southwestern California, northeast of Los Angeles |
| Examples: | |
| Acadia was ceded to Britain, and many French Acadians were deported to other parts of North America, especially Louisiana.
The Acadians deported from Acadia to Louisiana came to be known as Cajuns. The ambassador from Acadia is here, m’lord. In the late eighteenth century, French-speaking immigrants arrived from Acadia in Nova Scotia, Canada and settled in southern Louisiana. Of the total irrigated area for rice of 387,580 acres in 1902, 310,670 acres were in the parishes of Calcasieu, Acadia, and Vermilion. Among the incidents of these troubled years was the arrival in Louisiana (after 1765) of some hundreds of French exiles from Acadia, who made their homes in the Attakapas country. |
“Paradise may be unattainable, but Arcadia posits that sympathetic company is necessary to a meaningful life” (Schama).
Tripoli is the current-day capital of Arcadia in Greece. Arcadia, as a beautiful, secluded area, was immortalized by Virgil’s Eclogues, and later by Jacopo Sannazaro in his pastoral masterpiece, Arcadia (1504). Although commonly thought of as being in line with Utopian ideals, Arcadia differs from that tradition in that it is more often specifically regarded as unattainable. Arcadia is seen as a lost, Edenic form of life, a utopia. The Santa Anita racetrack is in Arcadia, California. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: Acadian Proper Noun: Acadian |
Adjective: Arcadian Proper Noun: Arcadian |
| History of the Word: | |
| From Acadie, the French name for Nova Scotia and probably from Archadia, the name given by Verrazano (1524), after Arcadia meaning place of rural peace. | Late 16th century from the Latin Arcadius, which is from the Greek Arkadia (see Arcadia). |
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Resources for Acadia versus Arcadia
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Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: Arcadia
Schama, Chloë, Jacob Silverman, Wendy Smith, and Daniel Roberts. “Must Read New Fiction: ‘Arcadia’, ‘Men in Space’, ‘The O’Briens’, ‘Hot Pink’.” The Daily Beast. 22 March 2012. Web. n.d. <https://www.thedailybeast.com/must-read-new-fiction-arcadia-men-in-space-the-obriens-hot-pink?source=dictionary>.
Your Dictionary: Acadia
Pinterest Photo Credits:
After flipping The Course of Empire: The Arcadian or Pastoral State horizontally (an oil painting by Thomas Cole and in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons), I resized both images and then auto-blended the painting with Wetlands in Acadia, <https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1253447>, which is under the CC0 license, via Pxhere.
