And discoveries they did make, finding what they did not seek, the Three Princes of Serendip

From www.dictionary.com: Horace Walpole coined the term in a letter of January 28, 1754. Walpole wrote:“this discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word.” It comes from an old word for Sri Lanka and a fairy tale called, "The Three Princes of Serendip. The Princes traveled far & wide, and as they traveled, "they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of....

Also: http://livingheritage.org/three_princes.htm
Check this out. It's a great link about the history of the word. Turns out, the history of the word serendipity finds a completely unexpected modern meaning of the word. Yea bastardization of language! We get cool words from it sometimes.