Sir Thomas More may have had two derivations from the Greek. The first syllable, "U", could represent the Greek "ou", meaning "not", or the Greek "eu", meaning "good". In English, the compound word derived either way will sound the same. He may thus have been suggesting that an ideal place is impossible in practice. The "eu" derivation is consistent with the generally accepted word "dystopia", meaning "bad place".

Outopia and Eutopia are only homonyms in English. In both Classical and Modern Greek they have distinct pronunciations. A friend of More's, Erasmus, also had a punning title in his Moriae encomium "In Praise of Folly", with The Latinized Greek Moria standing in for Sir Thomas' surname. It was published a few years before More's Utopia.

Pretty off-topic, but the thing that amazes me about AWAD's utopia is the portrait of Thomas More: http://wordsmith.org/words/images/utopia_large.jpg

This was painted in 1527 (MDXXVII under More's elbow) by a guy I never even heard of (Hans Holbein the Younger), but the photo-realistic quality is incredible. Just 50 years earlier, the standard of portrait/face painting was so much poorer.

a guy I never even heard of (Hans Holbein the Younger)

That painting of More is in the Frick Museum in Central Park, Manhattan, NY.Yes, HH the Younger was quite the artist.

Here's a treat of more Holbein The Younger:
Images
He wasn't Henry XIII's Royal portrettist for nothing.

Today's painting by Breugel the Old, here named The Land of Cockaigne is called Luilekkerland (Lazy-Yummy land) in these parts and seen as a critisism on the sins of gluttony and sloth.

Henry XIII

Henry VIII. There was a Henry IX, who was one of the Stuart pretenders and a Roman catholic cardinal. He left the kingdoms of England, Ireland, and France to the House of Savoy.

So who was Henry XIII?

England's Bluebeard King 1491-1547 Look him up for some nice costume movies. Charles Laughton
Link

Outopia and Eutopia are only homonyms in English. They are?? Gosh, I would say the first one as oo-topia and the second as yew-topia. Oops.

the man said "English", J, not Kentuck.

the man said "English", J, not Kentuck.

That would be Eeee-yeew-topia in tuckspeak

That's "Kaintuck", Mr. Yankeeboy.

Gosh, I would say the first one as oo-topia and the second as yew-topia.

Oh, dear. But you also say it as two syllables.

Thanks, I guess I did not know the Henry's went to XIII.

If there was a IX there must have been an XIII. (maybe more that never made it to a public post)(the hidden Henries)

are you folks really that confused by the difference between viii and xiii? (that would be v.) or are you just teasing each other?!
-joe (I'm Henery the VIII, I Am) friday

tuckspeak I love it!

Oh, dear. But you also say it as two syllables. Well, I personally don't; not usually anyway. Ee-yuht is pretty much mountainspeak. Louisville's on the northern border, in the Ohio River valley*. We're practically Yankees. (Oh my heavens, what have I said?!)
*Lovely for one's sinuses. Not.

Nice site - but wish they were full movies, not just blurbs.

Good question. I guess I made my pledge to Henry but my heart was for Louis.

First: This is in the AWADmail issue 441.
Second: Only now I saw it was me who startet the confusion with the Henrys by numbers. I will delatinize my numbers and the future only speak of Henry the Fifth and Louis Treize.

Not to worry. We have problems with the Bushes 1 and 2,
George F. W. and just plain Dubya. The numbers business has
got to be a hassle. Especially when even the pretenders get
numbered.

George F. W.

George H W Bush?

Might as well have numbers after their names as well.
I'd claim typo, but naw. I just got it wrong. Thanks.

He was always just George Bush before we had any reason to differentiate.

True,that!