English
cub
Cub comes from Proto-Indo-European *gup- ‘round object, knoll’, and goes back to *gew- ‘to bend, curve, convex, arch, vault’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gew-‘to bend, curve, convex, arch, vault’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*gup-‘round object, knoll’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kubb-reconstructed
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1601–1602cub
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gew-‘to bend, curve, convex, arch, vault’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*gup-‘round object, knoll’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kubb-reconstructed
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1601–1602cub
Earliest quotation: c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfe Night, or What You Will: “O, thou dissembling cub! what wilt thou be /…”
The story
Related terms include cup (cf. cupboard), coffin, cove, etc, essentially “chamber”, thus cub maybe initially derived from the sense “den”, or maybe “womb”. A probable cognate is also found in North Germanic: dialectal Swedish kubbe, kybbe, köbbe, kibb, Danish kippe (‘calf’). Also compare Icelandic and Old Norse kobbi (‘seal’), Old Irish cuib (‘whelp’). Originally, the meaning was specifically "young fox", in which sense it has largely replaced English whelp.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gew- ‘to bend, curve, convex, arch, vault’
cap, cop, cock, cod, giro, kiosk, guttural, gyrus, kibble, gyre, cudgel, 11 more
through Proto-Germanic *kubb-
Today it means
noun The young of certain animals, chiefly large carnivorous mammals, including the bear, wolf, fox, lion and tiger.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gew- / cub