3: November 2002 Archives

I woke up this morning with the word, "cornutableia," in my mind. I dreamed it somehow. (I didn't dream how it was spelled, though. It sounds much more impressive than it looks.) Don't bother looking it up -- it doesn't actually exist.

My groggy first-thing-in-the-morning analysis was that it meant something like a cornucopia, but on paper. It didn't take long for me to realize that "cornu" actually means "horn," and a bit of research revealed that the root for "tablet" is actually "tabula." So did I mispronounce the word in my dream? Maybe it should be, "cornutablula" instead. But does "horn-tablet" really mean anything at all?

I'm inclined to keep the original word, even if it doesn't have a real meaning. It was presented to me in my dream -- the challenge is to figure out why.