Panchaea

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A mythical island in the ancient Greek imagination, said to lie in the Indian Ocean and to be rich in fragrant incense and spices
2. The name of a fabled land of incense and aromatic riches that ancient writers placed somewhere beyond the Arabian Sea
3. An imaginary paradise island, described by Greek writers as a source of precious incense and spices in a distant southern sea

Etymology: Panchaea is the alternative spelling of Panchaia, the name of a mythical island in ancient Greek writing. Euhemerus, a Greek writer of the late fourth century BCE, described it as a paradise of perpetual spring lying beyond the Arabian coast, where the gods were said to have been worshipped and where incense and myrrh grew in abundance. The name is tied to the myth of Pan, the rustic god whose name it contains, and its sense of an idyllic, far-off land remains in the word. Because Panchaia was a fabled place rather than a real one, the name became a byword for a remote, unspoiled paradise. Writers in English have used "panchaea" in the same sense, so the word now refers to any imagined land of plenty and gentle climate.