There are many hypotheses about the term Picardy Third, why is it called Picardy? Since I don’t deal with hypotheses and I prefer to deal with musical facts I can say that the name derives from the Picardy region in France.
Picardy Third or as it’s known in French (Tierce de Picardie) occurs in the minor keys. The third refers to the raised third of the tonic chord, transforming the chord to a major chord, which gives some kind of uplifting ending feeling to the music. The Picardy Third typically occurs at an authentic cadence at the end of the piece.
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