核心畫面

A curved animal horn lying on its side, so full of fruit, flowers and grain that the load keeps tumbling out of the open end. Nothing in the picture is being counted or rationed. The whole point of the image is that there is more than enough, and more than anyone could get through.

可以想成一隻橫躺的彎角,開口那端塞滿水果、花和穀物,還一直往外掉。畫面裡沒有人在數、也沒有人在省。這個畫面的重點不在更多收起可以想成一隻橫躺的彎角,開口那端塞滿水果、花和穀物,還一直往外掉。畫面裡沒有人在數、也沒有人在省。這個畫面的重點不在那隻角,而在「裝不下」——東西多到滿出來,怎麼拿都拿不完。這也是為什麼它同時可以指真正的那隻角,也可以拿來形容一整個好東西多到誇張的地方。

From the word’s history

The word was borrowed whole from Latin cornūcōpia, which is cornū (horn) joined to cōpia (plenty). The two halves of the modern picture — the horn, and the overflow — are already the two halves of the word.

這個字是整個從拉丁文 cornūcōpia 借來的,由 cornū(角)加上 cōpia(豐足)組成。今天畫面裡的兩件事——那隻角,還有滿出來的豐盛——在字的兩半裡本來就都在了。

Wiktionary entry for cornucopia (packet source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:459142627:37217): “Borrowed from Latin cornūcōpia”, tree Latin cornū + Latin cōpia.

Two branches

那隻角本身

這一支就是畫面本身:真的有一個角形的容器,或是畫裡、雕刻裡的那個圖案。

noun · C2

A container shaped like an animal's horn, shown full of fruit, flowers and grain that spill out of the open end, used as a picture of a time when there is plenty of food and plenty of everything else.

豐饒角

滿出來的豐盛

把角拿掉,只留下「滿到掉出來」的感覺,貼到任何東西上。這是個比喻,不是字的另一個歷史來源。

noun · C2

A very large and very mixed supply of good things, all in one place and more than anyone could use or get through.

豐富多樣