Etymograph

English

incunable

Incunable comes from French incunable ‘incunabulum’, from Latin incūnābula ‘swaddling-clothes, cradle’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- ‘to lie down’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱey-‘to lie down’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱoy-no-‘lair, cradle’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*koināreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcūnae‘cradle’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcūnābula‘cradle’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEincūnābula‘swaddling-clothes, cradle’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentincunable‘incunabulum’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1976same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱey-‘to lie down’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱoy-no-‘lair, cradle’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*koināreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcūnae‘cradle’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcūnābula‘cradle’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEincūnābula‘swaddling-clothes, cradle’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentincunable‘incunabulum’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1976same form

Earliest quotation: 1976, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Something Nasty in the Woodshed: “Nerciat rubbed shoulders with D.H. Lawrence, the Large Paper…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- ‘to lie down’

home, city, civil, hide, cemetery, civic, coma, haunt, citadel, civitas, ceilidh, hame, 32 more

Today it means

noun —

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- / incunable

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