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Cockaigne
(1,037 words)

The idea of the Land of Cockaigne (French p​ays de Cocagne, Spanish país de Cucaña, Italian paese della Cuccagna, Dutch lant van Cockaengen; German Schlaraffenland from late medieval slûraffen lantSchlauraffenlant, from slûraffe, “lazybones,” “idler”) as a land of plenty and idleness is found in most European traditions, and emerged in the first phase of the early modern period. Except in Sweden, however, the Cockaigne motif has not yet been shown to have appeared in Scandinavian or Eastern European narrative traditions [1. 803].

Utopian depictions of lovely pl…

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Voltmer, Rita, “Cockaigne”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_027109>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170206



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