Fortunate
An English adjective meaning lucky or favoured by chance, derived from Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fortune who was identified with the Greek goddess Tyche
The Meaning of Fortunate
The word "fortunate" derives from Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck and chance, identified with the Greek goddess Tyche. Tyche was a daughter of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys (or of Zeus and Aphrodite in other traditions) who governed the random distribution of prosperity and misfortune among mortals. She was typically depicted holding a cornucopia of abundance in one hand and a rudder or ship's tiller in the other, symbolising her power to steer the course of human lives. Her most famous attribute was the wheel of fortune, which she turned constantly, raising some to heights and casting others down without regard for merit. Every Greek city had its own Tyche as a patron spirit, and statues of city Tyches wearing turreted crowns became standard in the Hellenistic period. The Latin Fortuna gave English an enormous vocabulary: fortune, fortunate, unfortunate, misfortune, and the fortune in fortune-telling, fortune cookie, and fortune hunter. The medieval concept of the Wheel of Fortune, which became a staple of literature and eventually a television game show, derives directly from Tyche's attribute.
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Fun Fact
The television game show Wheel of Fortune takes its name and central prop from the attribute of the Greek goddess Tyche, who randomly distributed prosperity and ruin
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Fortuna
⚡ godLuck, fate, chance, fortune
Roman goddess of fortune and chance, equivalent to the Greek Tyche
Tyche
⚡ godGoddess of fortune and chance
Tyche was the goddess of fortune and chance — embodying life's unpredictability.
Alea
💭 conceptfate, games
Chance, luck, or the randomness of dice — the unpredictable factor in human affairs that no skill or virtue could control.
Fate
💭 conceptLanguage and destiny
An English word meaning destiny or predetermined outcome, derived from the Moirai, the three Greek goddesses who spun, measured, and cut the thread of every mortal's life
Nemesis
💭 conceptGoddess of retribution and balance
The goddess who ensured that excessive good fortune, pride, or arrogance was balanced by corresponding misfortune. Nemesis maintained cosmic equilibrium.
Fates
💭 conceptThe inescapable power of destiny
The concept of fate — moira — was central to Greek thought. Not even the gods could escape what was fated, making destiny the ultimate force in the Greek universe.
Jovial
💭 conceptCheerfulness, good humour, warmth
Cheerful and good-humoured, from Jove (Jupiter/Zeus), whose planet was thought to bring happiness.
Judgment of Paris
💭 conceptfate
The beauty contest between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite judged by Paris of Troy that caused the Trojan War.
Ate
💭 conceptPersonification of ruinous delusion
The goddess of blind folly and ruin who walks among mortals, leading them to make the decisions that destroy them.
Prophecy of Achilles
💭 conceptprophecy, heroism
The dual fate offered to Achilles: a long peaceful life in obscurity or a short glorious life at Troy, establishing the Greek ideal of heroic choice.
Mercurial
💭 conceptChangeability, quicksilver temperament, volatility
Unpredictably changeable in mood or behaviour, from Mercury (Hermes), the swift and restless messenger god.
Elysian
💭 conceptLanguage and the afterlife
An English adjective meaning blissful, heavenly, or supremely happy, derived from the Elysian Fields, the paradise in the Greek underworld reserved for heroes and the virtuous