cornucopia
See also: cornucópia
English
WOTD – 25 May 2008
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cornūcōpia.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˌkɔː.njəˈkəʊ.pi.ə/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˌkɔɹ.nəˈkoʊ.pi.ə/, /ˌkɔɹ.njəˈkoʊ.pi.ə/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (Australia): (file)
Noun
cornucopia (countable and uncountable, plural cornucopias or cornucopiae or (archaic) cornucopiæ)
- (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.
- A hollow horn- or cone-shaped object, filled with edible or useful things.
- 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], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 October 2025:
- These days, thanks to the cornucopia of online dance classes and tutorials, you can almost imagine yourself to be a dancer.
- 2025 January 23, Ned Temko, “Is the West’s liberal template broken?”, in The Christian Science Monitor[2], Boston, Massachusetts: Christian Science Publishing Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2 September 2025:
- The bulk of the benefits were flowing to China, which became the low-cost producer for the developed world, and to consumers in advanced economies whose shops offered a cornucopia of cheaper goods.
- 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
- horn of plenty
- See also Thesaurus:cornucopia
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
mythical horn endlessly overflowing with food and drink
|
hollow horn- or cone-shaped object, filled with edible or useful things
|
abundance or plentiful supply
|
Italian
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin cornūcōpia.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kor.nuˈkɔ.pja/
- Rhymes: -ɔpja
- Hyphenation: cor‧nu‧cò‧pia
Noun
cornucopia f (plural cornucopie)
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology
From cornū (“horn”) + cōpia (“abundance”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [kɔr.nuːˈkoː.pi.a]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [kor.nuˈkɔː.pi.a]
Noun
cornūcōpia f (genitive cornūcōpiae); first declension
Declension
First-declension noun.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | cornūcōpia | cornūcōpiae |
| genitive | cornūcōpiae | cornūcōpiārum |
| dative | cornūcōpiae | cornūcōpiīs |
| accusative | cornūcōpiam | cornūcōpiās |
| ablative | cornūcōpiā | cornūcōpiīs |
| vocative | cornūcōpia | cornūcōpiae |
Descendants
All borrowings
- → English: cornucopia
- → Italian: cornucopia
- → Portuguese: cornucópia
- → Spanish: cornucopia
References
- “cornucopia”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Spanish
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin cornūcōpia.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /koɾnuˈkopja/ [koɾ.nuˈko.pja]
- Rhymes: -opja
- Syllabification: cor‧nu‧co‧pia
Noun
cornucopia f (plural cornucopias)
Further reading
- “cornucopia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026
Categories:
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *ḱe
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱer- (grow)
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱerh₂- (head)
- English terms derived from Old Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Italic
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃ep-
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *ḱóm
- English 5-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
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- English lemmas
- English nouns
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- English countable nouns
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- en:Greek mythology
- English terms with quotations
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- Italian terms borrowed from Latin
- Italian terms derived from Old Latin
- Italian terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *ḱe
- Italian terms derived from Proto-Italic
- Italian terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱerh₂- (head)
- Italian terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱer- (grow)
- Italian terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃ep-
- Italian terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Italian learned borrowings from Latin
- Italian terms derived from Latin
- Italian terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Italian terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *ḱóm
- Italian 4-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/ɔpja
- Rhymes:Italian/ɔpja/4 syllables
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian feminine nouns
- Latin terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱerh₂- (head)
- Latin terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *ḱóm
- Latin terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱer- (grow)
- Latin compound terms
- Latin terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃ep-
- Latin terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *ḱe
- Latin 5-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin nouns
- Latin first declension nouns
- Latin feminine nouns in the first declension
- Latin feminine nouns
- la:Greek mythology
- Spanish terms derived from Old Latin
- Spanish terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Spanish terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *ḱóm
- Spanish terms borrowed from Latin
- Spanish terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *ḱe
- Spanish terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱerh₂- (head)
- Spanish terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Spanish terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃ep-
- Spanish learned borrowings from Latin
- Spanish terms derived from Proto-Italic
- Spanish terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱer- (grow)
- Spanish terms derived from Latin
- Spanish 4-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/opja
- Rhymes:Spanish/opja/4 syllables
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish feminine nouns