• cornucopia •
Printable Version Pronunciation: kor-nyê-kop-i-yê • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. A horn of plenty, horn spilling fruit and nuts. 2. A surfeit, plethora, superfluity and great variety; a superabundance.
Notes: The original cornucopia was the horn of the goat, Amalthea, that suckled Zeus, chief of the Olympian gods in ancient Greek religion. The horn broke off and began to spill forth fruit. Today it is a common symbol for Thanksgiving in the US, since that day originally celebrated the first Harvest Home for the settlers of Plymouth, Massachusetts, a celebration shared with local native Americans whose food had saved the colony. The adjective, should you need it, is cornucopian.
In Play: Cornucopia today usually refers to anything available in superabundance and, usually, variety: "My neighbor has such a cornucopia of tools I find it more convenient to borrow them than buy my own." In its literal sense, it generally refers to holiday decoration: "The table was decorated with a cornucopia of plastic fruits and vegetables, some of which, judging by its taste, went into the meal."
Word History: Today's word is yet another Latin one, this one created from the phrase cornu copiae "horn of plenty." Latin cornu "horn" comes from the same PIE root as English horn and is related to Greek karoton "carrot", a horn-like vegetable. 
Another variant of the same root emerges as kranion "skull," which Latin converted to cranium before lending it to us. The rein in reindeer comes from Old Norse hreinn "reindeer" of the same origin. The same root, less the [n], underlies the sar in Hindi sardar "person of high rank" from Persian sar "head" + dar "holder." (All of us here at alphaDictionary wish all of our readers a cornucopia of warmth and happiness this Thanksgiving.)
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