Etymologically
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cunae

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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

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