cunae Latin · revision 5821

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *ḱey-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkuː.nae̯]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkuː.ne]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cūnae''' ''f pl'' (genitive cūnārum); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*koinā-|t=cradle]], [[inh|ine-pro|*ḱoi-no-|t=lair, cradle]], from the root *ḱey- “to lie”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Cognate with [[grc|κοίτη|tr=koítē|t=bed]], [[grc|κεῖμαι|tr=keîmai|t=to lie]], [[sa|शेते|tr=śete|t=lies]] and [[hit|𒆠𒀜𒋫|tr=kitta|t=lies]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Ernout and Meillet doubted it because the root is otherwise missing in the West, an objection de Vaan thinks weak.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who asks whether someone was used to sleeping in a cradle as a boy.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==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.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) As a symbol it meant one's earliest years, infancy, as Propertius' tender boy in the cradle and without speech.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Its derivative ''incūnābula'' “swaddling clothes, birthplace” was used from 1650 for the earliest stage of printing, books printed before 1501, whence [[en|incunabula]].^(Wiktionary) [[en|cradle]] is a native word.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of sleeping in a cradle.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a child dying in the cradle.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of infancy.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|cradle]], (poetic) a bird's [[m|en|nest]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # (figurative) Infancy, one's earliest years.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cūnābula]]

+ * [[incūnābula]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|incunabula]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ It is used almost only in the plural.^(OLD 2012) Prudentius has a singular ''cūna''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}