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incunabula

[ in-kyoo-nab-yuh-luh, ing- ]

plural noun

, singular in·cu·nab·u·lum [in-ky, oo, -, nab, -y, uh, -l, uh, m, ing-].
  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.


incunabula

/ ˌɪnkjʊˈnæbjʊlə /

plural noun

  1. any book printed before 1501
  2. the infancy or earliest stages of something; beginnings
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • ˌincuˈnabular, adjective
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Other Words From

  • incu·nabu·lar adjective
  • postin·cu·nabu·la adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of incunabula1

First recorded in 1815–25; from Latin: “straps holding a baby in a cradle, earliest home, birthplace,” probably equivalent to unattested *incūnā(re) “to place in a cradle” ( in- in- 2 + unattested -cūnāre, verbal derivative of cūnae “cradle”) + -bula, plural of -bulum suffix of instrument; incunabula def 1 as translation of German Wiegendrucke
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Word History and Origins

Origin of incunabula1

C19: from Latin, originally: swaddling clothes, hence beginnings, from in- ² + cūnābula cradle
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Example Sentences

The term Incunabula is now applied to all books printed before the year 1500.

It contained especially choice editions of the classics, and also many incunabula.

Beughem's Incunabula Typographica, 1688, 12mo., is both jejune and grossly erroneous.

By the term 'early-printed books' the bookseller generally means fifteenth-century works, or incunabula as they are now called.

One is the original editions of famous Elizabethan and early Stuart authors, the other, the more estimable incunabula.

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