incunabula

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɪŋ.kuːˈnaː.bʊ.ɫa]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [iŋ.kuˈnaː.bu.la]^[1]

Forms

incūnābula n pl (genitive incūnābulōrum); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + cūnābula (“cradle”),^[2] from cūnae “cradle”.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, in the Amphitruo, says the baby Hercules was so strong no one could bind him in his swaddling bands.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was the bedding and bands of a cradle, swaddling clothes, as in Plautus' list of swaddling bands, pillows, cradle and cradle-clothes.^[2][6] Döderlein notes that cūnae is the cradle itself, incūnābula the things in it.^[3] By extension it was the cradle, as Ovid's cradle of Bacchus, one's birthplace, as Cicero speaks of going to his native hills and cradle, and earliest childhood, as in Livy.^[2][7]

In medieval Latin it was a cradle and figuratively infancy, often in ab incūnābulīs “from the cradle”.^[8][9] The singular English incunabulum was taken up in 1861, after German usage, for a book printed in the infancy of printing.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of swaddling bands.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a birthplace.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid speaks of the cradle of Bacchus and of Jupiter.^[2][5]
• 1861 – English incunabulum is used of an early printed book.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Swaddling clothes; the bedding of a cradle.^[2][1]
2. A cradle; a birthplace.^[2][1]
3. Earliest childhood; beginnings, origin.^[7][1]

Related words

• cūnae
• English incunabula

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften