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The gates of horn and ivory are a literary image used to distinguish true dreams (corresponding to factual occurrences) from false. The phrase originated in the Greek language, in which the word for "horn" is similar to that for "fulfil" and the word for "ivory" is similar to that for "deceive". On the basis of that play on words, true dreams are spoken of as coming through the gates of horn, false dreams as coming through those of ivory. ==The Odyssey== The earliest appearance of the image is in the Odyssey, book 19, lines 560-569. There Penelope, who has had a dream that seems to signify that her husband Odysseus is about to return, expresses by a play on words her conviction that the dream is false. She says: :Stranger, dreams verily are baffling and unclear of meaning, and in no wise do they find fulfilment in all things for men. For two are the gates of shadowy dreams, and one is fashioned of ''horn'' and one of ''ivory''. Those dreams that pass through the gate of sawn ''ivory deceive'' men, bringing words that find no ''fulfilment''. But those that come forth through the gate of polished ''horn bring'' true issues ''to pass'', when any mortal sees them. But in my case it was not from thence, methinks, that my strange dream came.〔Translation from the (Loeb Classical Library edition ). The original text is: :Ξεῖν’, ἦ τοι μὲν ὄνειροι ἀμήχανοι ἀκριτόμυθοι :γίγνοντ’, οὐδέ τι πάντα τελείεται ἀνθρώποισι. :δοιαὶ γάρ τε πύλαι ἀμενηνῶν εἰσὶν ὀνείρων· :αἱ μὲν γὰρ κεράεσσι τετεύχαται, αἱ δ' ἐλέφαντι, :τῶν οἳ μέν κ’ ἔλθωσι διὰ πριστοῦ ἐλέφαντος, :οἵ ῥ’ ἐλεφαίρονται, ἔπε’ ἀκράαντα φέροντες· :οἱ δὲ διὰ ξεστῶν κεράων ἔλθωσι θύραζε, :οἵ ῥ’ ἔτυμα κραίνουσι, βροτῶν ὅτε κέν τις ἴδηται. :ἀλλ’ ἐμοὶ οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν ὀΐομαι αἰνὸν ὄνειρον :ἐλθέμεν·〕 Arthur T. Murray,〔(Text (without footnotes) of the 1919 Loeb translation )〕 translator of the original Loeb Classical Library edition of the Odyssey, commented: :The play upon the words κέρας, "horn", and κραίνω, "fulfil", and upon ἐλέφας, "ivory", and ἐλεφαίρομαι, "deceive", cannot be preserved in English.〔Homer: The Odyssey, II (The Loeb Classical Library. First printed 1919; Reprinted 1925, 1928, 1931, 1940, 1942, 1946, 1953, 1960, 1966, 1975, 1980; American ISBN 0-674-99117-6; British ISBN 0-434-99105-8), p. 269〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gates of horn and ivory」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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