incunabulum

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English

An incunabulum.

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin incūnābulum (cradle, origin).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌɪn.kjʊˈnæb.jʊ.ləm/
  • (file)

Noun

incunabulum (plural incunabula)

  1. (printing) A book, single sheet, or image that was printed before the year 1501 in Europe.
    • August 1935, Clark Ashton Smith, “The Treader of the Dust”, in Weird Tales:
      Sebastian, a profound student of such lore, had long believed that the book was a mere medieval legend; and he had been startled as well as gratified when he found this copy on the shelves of a dealer in old manuscripts and incunabula.
    • 2004, Luisa Graves, The Shadow of the Wind, translation of original by Carlos Ruiz Zafón:
      Something about him reminded me of one of those figures from old-fashioned playing cards or the sort used by fortune-tellers, a print straight from the pages of an incunabulum: his presence was both funereal and incandescent, like a curse dressed in its Sunday best.
  2. (chiefly in the plural) The cradle, birthplace, or origin of something.

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

Latin

Pronunciation

Noun

incūnābulum n (genitive incūnābulī); second declension

  1. (Medieval Latin) Alternative form of incūnābula

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative incūnābulum incūnābula
Genitive incūnābulī incūnābulōrum
Dative incūnābulō incūnābulīs
Accusative incūnābulum incūnābula
Ablative incūnābulō incūnābulīs
Vocative incūnābulum incūnābula