cornucopia

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See also: cornucópia

English

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WOTD – 25 May 2008
A cornucopia motif.
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin cornūcōpia (“mythical horn of plenty”), from cornū (“horn”) + cōpia (“abundance”).

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˌkɔː.njəˈkəʊ.pi.ə/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˌkɔɹ.nəˈkoʊ.pi.ə/, /ˌkɔɹ.njəˈkoʊ.pi.ə/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Noun

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cornucopia (countable and uncountable, plural cornucopias or cornucopiae or (archaic) cornucopiæ)

  1. (Greek mythology) A goat's horn endlessly overflowing with fruit, flowers and grain; or full of whatever its owner wanted: or, an image of a such a horn, either in two or three dimensions.
    • 1786, Typographical Antiquities: or An Historical Account of the Origin and Progress of Printing in Great Britain and Ireland: […], volume II, London: […] [F]or the Editor, and sold by Mr. T. Payne and Son, […], page 1163:
      Device, an anchor held by a hand from the clouds: behind the anchor are a kind of brackets, in the form of cornucopiæ, croſſed; […]
    • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Fête”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 59:
      It soon came: as they were on their way to a transparency of their majesties, not a little larger than life—with Bellona, in a very handsome helmet, on one side, and Peace, with a cornucopia and a full blown wreath of roses, on the other—the path was interrupted by a little knot of gentlemen.
    • 1849, Elihu Rich, A Biographical Sketch of Emanuel Swedenborg: With an Account of His Works, London: E. Rich, […], page 139:
      So far as Swedenborg’s elucidation extends, it is comprised in seven groupings of this family; and, possibly, the Hebraic forms of the several names which are included in them, may at some future period, like so many cornucopiæ of wisdom, yield abundance of precious fruit to the Biblical student.
    • 1851, B[ram] Hertz, Catalogue of the Collection of Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Indian, Peruvian and Mexican Antiquities, London: […], page 46:
      A head of Trajan, between two cornucopiæ, under which is a winged foot, with a caduceus and a dolphin.
    • 1975, Yaʻaḳov Meshorer, Nabataean Coins, Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, page 25:
      On these the details of the cornucopiae resemble those familiar in the Hellenistic world: from the horn, filleted and filled to overflowing with bunches of grapes, […]
    • 1981, Charles Avery, Studies in European Sculpture, Christie’s, →ISBN, page 66:
      The three cornucopiae which branch out to hold the candles are apparently unparalleled and this in itself offers some encouragement for regarding the pieces as by Giuseppe, for the majority of his designs seem to have been cast once only (counting for this purpose a pair as a unique item, as with the lower parts of the Victoria and Albert Museum firedogs).
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 105:
      There are other mysteries expressed by the bison horn, the Paleolithic original of which the classical cornucopia is a copy: the horn of plenty is the universal vulva from which emerge all the creatures of life, plants, animals, and humans.
    • 2021, Stephanie Pearson, “[The Lure of Egyptian Treasures] Egyptian Gods as Lamp Stands”, in The Triumph and Trade of Egyptian Objects in Rome: Collecting Art in the Ancient Mediterranean, De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 69:
      The two cornucopiae carried by the figure likely identify her as Isis, but they also make clear her inanimate status.
  2. A hollow horn- or cone-shaped object, filled with edible or useful things.
  3. An abundance or plentiful supply.
    The store provided a veritable cornucopia of modern gadgets.
    • 2020 April 21, Marina Harss, “Twist, Bend, Reach, Step: A Merce Cunningham Solo Anyone Can Try”, in The New York Times‎[1]:
      These days, thanks to the cornucopia of online dance classes and tutorials, you can almost imagine yourself to be a dancer.
    • Despite its sparse syntax, the expressiveness and flexibility of the λ-calculus make it a cornucopia of logic and mathematics. The Lambda Calculus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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hollow horn- or cone-shaped object, filled with edible or useful things

Italian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /kor.nuˈkɔ.pja/
  • Rhymes: -ɔpja
  • Hyphenation: cor‧nu‧cò‧pia

Noun

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cornucopia f (plural cornucopie)

  1. cornucopia

Anagrams

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Latin

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Etymology

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From cornū (“horn”) + cōpia (“abundance”)

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cornūcōpia f (genitive cornūcōpiae); first declension

  1. (Greek mythology) cornucopia

Declension

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First-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative cornūcōpia cornūcōpiae
Genitive cornūcōpiae cornūcōpiārum
Dative cornūcōpiae cornūcōpiīs
Accusative cornūcōpiam cornūcōpiās
Ablative cornūcōpiā cornūcōpiīs
Vocative cornūcōpia cornūcōpiae

Descendants

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All borrowings

  • → English: cornucopia
  • → Italian: cornucopia
  • → Portuguese: cornucópia
  • → Spanish: cornucopia

References

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  • cornucopia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Spanish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /koɾnuˈkopja/ [koɾ.nuˈko.pja]
  • Rhymes: -opja
  • Syllabification: cor‧nu‧co‧pia

Noun

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cornucopia f (plural cornucopias)

  1. cornucopia

Further reading

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