Seward's Folly
- noun
- /ˈsuːərdz ˈfɑːli/
:
la locura de Seward
- 1867, Seward's Folly.
Examples
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The term 'Seward's Folly' refers to the controversial purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867.
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Many critics mocked the decision, calling it 'Seward's Folly', but the acquisition proved valuable in the long run.
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Students of history often discuss 'Seward's Folly' as a pivotal moment in American expansionism.
Synonyms
An 1867 deal in which the United States bought Alaska from Russia
Surface Forms
Morphology
Seward's + folly
The phrase is literally the possessive name + 'folly', so a learner who knows the constituents can infer it means 'something foolish associated with Seward' — the compositional relation is clear. However, the MWE specifically denotes the 1867 Alaska purchase and requires cultural-historical knowledge of William Seward to recover the precise referent, so the meaning is not fully predictable from the parts alone.
Etymology
Seward's Folly comes from 1867 when William H. Seward, a U.S. leader, bought Alaska and many people thought he had bought a useless, icy place and called it a 'folly' (a 'foolish' idea). That's why Seward's Folly now names the Alaska purchase and can mean a decision once called 'foolish'.
