May 6, 2009

Word of the Week

in⋅cu⋅nab⋅u⋅la [in-kyoo-nab-yuh-luh, ing-] 

plural noun, singular -lum  [-luhm].

1. extant copies of books produced in the earliest stages (before 1501) of printing from movable type.
2. the earliest stages or first traces of anything.

Origin:
1815–25; < L: straps holding a baby in a cradle, earliest home, birthplace, prob. equiv. to *incūnā(re) to place in a cradle (in- in- 2 + *-cūnāre, v. deriv. of cūnae cradle) + -bula, pl. of -bulum suffix of instrument; def. 1 as trans. of G Wiegendrucke

Related forms:
in⋅cu⋅nab⋅u⋅lar, adjective

incunabulum. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/incunabulum.

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