cunae

Latin

cunae reginae

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/, [ˈkuːnäe̯]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈku.ne/, [ˈkuːne]

Noun

cūnae f pl (genitive cūnārum); first declension (usually plural)

1. cradle
   • 8, Ovid, Fasti, book 6, line 167:

     Post illud nec aves cunas violasse feruntur,/ Et rediit puero, qui fuit ante, color.

     After that, it is said, the birds did not violate the cradle, and to the boy returned his former color.

     :

2. (metonymically) nest of young birds
   • after 8, Ovid, Tristia, book 3, elegy 12, line 10:

     Utque malae crimen matris deponat hirundo,/ Sub trabibus cunas, parvaque tecta facit.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (metonymically) birth or early childhood, infancy; compare cūnābulum
   • 8, Ovid, Metamorphoses, book 3, line 313:

     Furtim illum primis Ino matertera cunis/ Educat. inde datum Nymphae Nyseïdes antris/ Occuluere suis, lactisque alimenta dedere.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 8, Ovid, Metamorphoses, book 9, line 67:

     Cunarum labor est angues superare mearum,/ Dixit: et, ut vincas alios, Acheloë, dracones,/ Pars quota Lernaeae serpens eris unus Echidnae?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

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.

Case	Plural
Nominative	cūnae
Genitive	cūnārum
Dative	cūnīs
Accusative	cūnās
Ablative	cūnīs
Vocative	cūnae

Derived terms

• ā lacte cūnīsque
• cūnābula
• incūnābula
• Cūnīna

Descendants

• Aromanian: cunji, cunã
• Basque: kuma
• Greek: κούνια (koúnia)
• Italian: culla
• Neapolitan: connola, connula, connula, cunnura
• Spanish: cuna
• Venetan: cuna

References

• “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