English · Idiom Historical

Arabia Felix

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Felix is a mistranslation by Ptolemy of Yemen, which means to the "right*' — i.e. of Mecca.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Sai dịch của Ptolemy về Yemen, có nghĩa là bên phải so với Mecca

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “Arabia Felix” mean?

Felix is a mistranslation by Ptolemy of Yemen, which means to the "right*' — i.e. of Mecca.

Is “Arabia Felix” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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