cunae

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkuː.nae̯]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkuː.ne]^[1]

Forms

cūnae f pl (genitive cūnārum); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *koinā- (“cradle”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ḱoi-no- (“lair, cradle”), from the root *ḱey- “to lie”.^[2][1] Cognate with Ancient Greek κοίτη (koítē, “bed”), Ancient Greek κεῖμαι (keîmai, “to lie”), Sanskrit शेते (śete, “lies”) and Hittite 𒆠𒀜𒋫 (kitta, “lies”).^[2][3] Ernout and Meillet doubted it because the root is otherwise missing in the West, an objection de Vaan thinks weak.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who asks whether someone was used to sleeping in a cradle as a boy.^[2][4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a cradle, used in the plural, as Cicero's “if a child dies in the cradle”, and in poetry a bird's nest, as in Ovid.^[3][6] As a symbol it meant one's earliest years, infancy, as Propertius' tender boy in the cradle and without speech.^[3]

Its derivative incūnābula “swaddling clothes, birthplace” was used from 1650 for the earliest stage of printing, books printed before 1501, whence English incunabula.^[1] English cradle is a native word.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of sleeping in a cradle.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a child dying in the cradle.^[3][5]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of infancy.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cradle, (poetic) a bird's nest.^[3]
2. (figurative) Infancy, one's earliest years.^[3]

Word family

• cūnābula
• incūnābula

Related words

• English incunabula

Usage notes

It is used almost only in the plural.^[3] Prudentius has a singular cūna.^[4][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com