cunae

== Latin == === Etymology === From Proto-Italic *koinā, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱoy-no- (“lair, cradle”), from *ḱey- (“to lie down”). Cognate with Ancient Greek κοίτη (koítē). === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkuː.nae̯] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈkuː.ne] === Noun === cūnae f pl (genitive cūnārum); first declension (usually plural) cradle 8, Ovid, Fasti, book 6, line 167: : (metonymic) nest of young birds after 8, Ovid, Tristia, book 3, elegy 12, line 10: (metonymic) birth or early childhood, infancy; compare cūnābulum 8, Ovid, Metamorphoses, book 3, line 313: 8, Ovid, Metamorphoses, book 9, line 67: ==== Usage notes ==== Although the singular forms (see cūna) do exist in Classical Latin, they were rarely used. The plural was normally used for a singular object. ==== Declension ==== First-declension noun, plural only. ==== Derived terms ==== ā lacte cūnīsque cūnābula incūnābula Cūnīna ==== Descendants ==== === References === === Further reading === “cunae”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press “cunae”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers “cunae”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette. “cunae”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers “cunae”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin