cubo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkʊ.boː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkuː.bo]^[1]

Forms

cubō (present infinitive cubāre, perfect active cubuī, supine cubitum); first conjugation, no passive^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kubāō.^[1] Etymonline gives a possible PIE *kub-, and Wiktionary compares Welsh cysgu (“to sleep”), English hip and Ancient Greek κύβος (kúbos, “hollow before the hip”).^[2][1]

Compare Faliscan cupa (“lies”) and Sabine cumba (“litter”).^[3][4] The nasal verb -cumbō in compounds is related.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Plautus (c. 250–184 BC), who speaks of a little box where a puppy could lie.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to lie down or recline, as Cicero's Verres lying in his litter, to rest or sleep, cubitum ire being “to go to bed”, as Cato's bailiff, last to go to bed.^[3][6] It meant to recline at table, to lie sick in bed, and to lie in death, as Lucilius' corpse in the coffin.^[3][1]

Of places it meant to slope, and of birds to sit on eggs.^[1] Its derivatives gave English cubicle (from cubiculum, “bedroom”) in the mid-15th century, and its compound incubare gave incubate.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of lying and sleeping.^[3][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses cubitum ire, “to go to bed”.^[6][5]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a body in its coffin.^[3][5]
• mid-15th century – English cubicle comes from its derivative cubiculum.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lie down, recline.^[3][1]
2. To rest, sleep, cubitum ire: to go to bed.^[3][1]
3. To recline at table.^[1]
4. To be sick in bed.^[1]
5. To lie dead.^[3]
6. To incubate, brood.^[1]
7. (of places) To slope.^[1]

Word family

• accubō
• concubō
• cubātiō
• cubator
• cubīle
• cubitio
• cubitō
• cubitor
• cubitum
• cubitūra
• cubitus
• dēcubō

Related words

• *cumbō
• English cubicle
• English incubate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.