Odoric

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Odoric of Pordenone was a 14th-century Franciscan friar who travelled across Asia and wrote an account of his journeys
2. The name belongs to a medieval Italian Franciscan missionary best known for his travel narrative describing China and India
3. A 14th-century Franciscan monk from Friuli who journeyed to the East and recorded his experiences in a famous travelogue

Etymology: The adjective comes from the name of Odoric of Pordenone (c. 1286–1331), an Italian Franciscan friar who travelled through Persia, India, Tibet and China in the 1320s. After returning to Italy, he dictated an account of his journeys to a fellow friar, and it became one of the most widely read travel books of the Middle Ages. Its descriptions of distant lands, including tales of wonders and marvels, were copied and expanded by later writers, most famously by the author of the "Travels of Sir John Mandeville," who drew heavily on Odoric's text. Odoric's name is Germanic in origin, a form of "Audoric" built from elements meaning roughly "wealth" or "estate" and "ruler." The adjective is therefore a name-derived formation, tied to the friar and his travel account rather than to any older English word.