CORNUCOPIA

(Lat. cornu, a horn, and copia, plenty.) In the Fine Arts, an ornament representing a horn, from wnich i ue flowers, fruits, leaves, and the like. The origin of the cornucopia has been variously given. Some authors have traced it to the infant days of Jupiter, whose nurse, A mal the a, when one of her goats had broken off a horn against a tree, presented it to the god wreathed wifh flowers and filled with fruit. Hence it became the emblem of Plenty among the ancients, in which light it is regarded also by many modern nations. The cornucopia is found very frequently in the types of ancient coins, particularly upon those of Sicily. (See the medal of Arsinoe.) [s. 296]