Speech is a unique gift to man from God. The diversity and richness of the narrator's speech speaks of his literacy and erudition. Such a monologue is interesting to listen to and easy to remember. To speak like that, you need to practice a lot, speaking in public. But not a single speech will be bright and memorable with a meager vocabulary.
To expand your vocabulary, you need to read a lot not only new and popular books, but also works of ancient Russian literature. After all, she is the progenitor of the modern Russian language.
Origin of the lexeme
Abundance is quite an ancient word. It came to us in dark and deaf times.
From the Proto-Slavic (formed in the first millennium BC, from which all Slavic languages originated) in Old Slavonic appears "abundance" (in Greek δαΨιλής, ἄφθονος), "abundance" (ἀφθονία). In the Proto-Slavic obil' is formed from the word form obvil, which in Old Slavonic means "curvature"means "abundance". Thus, the word "abundance" is a centuries-old history of the lexeme.
The meaning of the word "abundance"
Many lexicographers recorded "abundance" in their dictionaries. For example, it is in the sources of Brockhaus and Efron, V. I. Dahl, D. N. Ushakov, S. I. Ozhegov and A. P. Evgenyeva.
Let's consider the meaning of the word in the chronological order of the appearance of dictionaries "into the world".
"Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language", in other words "TSZhVYa" (1863-1866), Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl explained the word "abundance" in the literal sense - this is abundance, excess, contentment and multitude. Dahl cited in the dictionary entry an example of the use of the lexeme: “In that land, an abundance of fruits.”
The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (1907) was released, like "TSZhVYA", back in the Russian Empire. He interprets the meaning in a completely different way. The dictionary tells the reader that Abundance is the heroine of Greco-Roman mythology, represented as a woman who sprinkles various blessings from the cornucopia.
The next dictionary that we will look into is D. N. Ushakov's "Explanatory Dictionary". In his creation, Dmitry Nikolayevich interprets abundance and we alth as synonyms.
Next - S. I. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary, popular in the Soviet years, compiled by a domestic linguist in 1949. The dictionary of D. N. Ushakov was taken as the basis of his work. Therefore, many readers do not see much difference in the dictionary entries of these sources. So, Ozhegov explains the word we are interested in as complete abundance / abundance, andagain in the meaning of "many" and "we alth".
And the last source that we will consider is the "Small Academic Dictionary" (MAS) edited by Evgenyeva A. P. It was compiled by employees of the Institute of the Russian Language of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1957. The first edition of the dictionary in terms of volume resembled the works of Ushakov and Ozhegov. But domestic lexicographers did not stop there and added words there, starting from the time of A. S. Pushkin. Thus, the dictionary today consists of four volumes. So, the explanatory dictionary of the second half of the twentieth century explains the meaning of the word "abundance": 1) a large / huge amount of someone or something; 2) we alth or we alth (obsolete).
The myth of the cornucopia
In the encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron, the authors of the dictionary entry said that Abundance is a creature of late Greco-Roman mythology in the guise of a woman. Let's find out about her too!
In the ancient Greek pantheon of gods, Zeus is the main supreme god. The goat Am althea fed him with her milk in a cave on the island of Crete. Her name means "giver of we alth." Zeus survived and became a god, while the goat lost its horn. In gratitude to the goat, the supreme god made her horn a symbol of we alth. Thus, the horn of the goat Am althea signifies abundance and prosperity.
Later, the ancient Romans endowed the goddess Abundia, the companion of Ceres (fertility), with a cornucopia. From it she poured gold. Her image was imprinted on coins. It is surprising that the Romans did not erect temples and altars in her honor.
There are several other myths about the cornucopia. In the Middle Ages, the myth of the "Golden Horn" was renamed the legend of the "Golden Grail".
Conclusion
Abundance is a lot or a large number of someone/something; we alth and prosperity.
Synonyms: we alth, abundance, luxury, abundance, etc.
Antonyms: poverty, lack, scarcity, need.
Read books, enrich your vocabulary, then there will be an abundance of comparisons, metaphors and personifications in your speech!
