terra incognita

English

Etymology

Latin: terra, land; incognita, unknown.

Noun

terra incognita

1. Land that has never been explored or mapped; uncharted territory.
2. By extension, ideas or concepts that have not yet been tried or explored.
   • 2009, Gary Clark, Quadrant, November 2009, No. 461 (Volume LIII, Number 11), Quadrant Magazine Limited, page 9:

     The concept of the unconscious or an inner terra incognita, an unknown country of the psyche that precedes and predicates the Cartesian subject, the focal point of rational consciousness, was a revolutionary idea.

Translations

unknown land

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 未知領域, 未知领域 (wèizhī lǐngyù)

• Dutch: terra incognita
• Finnish: terra incognita (fi), tuntematon maa
• French: terra incognita (fr) f, terre inconnue f

• German: Terra incognita (de) f, unbekanntes Land n
• Greek: άγνωστη γη f (ágnosti gi)
• Japanese: 未知の国 (みちのくに, michi no kuni)
• Latin: terra incognita f
• Russian: те́рра инко́гнита f (tɛ́rra inkógnita), неизве́стная земля́ f (neizvéstnaja zemljá)

unexplored ideas

• Dutch: terra incognita

• Finnish: terra incognita (fi), tuntematon alue

Related terms

• incognition
• virgin territory