cuniculus

See also: Cuniculus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cunīculus.

Noun

cuniculus (plural cuniculi)

1. A burrow or low underground passage, such as a rabbit warren, mine, or catacomb.

   Synonym: latibulum (obsolete)

2. A burrow in the skin made by a mite.

Derived terms

• cuniculiform

Related terms

• cunicular
• cuniculiform

Latin

Alternative forms

• cuniculum, cuniclus, cunicolus, coniculus, conicolus

Etymology

Perhaps some Iberian or Celtiberian word + the Latin diminutive -ulus or -culus. Compare Basque untxi (“rabbit”), Mozarabic conchair (“greyhound”). Attested from Varro onward.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kuˈniː.ku.lus/, [kʊˈniːkʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kuˈni.ku.lus/, [kuˈniːkulus]

Noun

cunīculus m (genitive cunīculī); second declension

1. a rabbit
2. a rabbit burrow
3. a mine, underground tunnel or gallery
   • 2015, Tuomo Pekkanen, Nuntii Latini 7.8.2015:https://areena.yle.fi/1-2864830

     Greges migratorum, qui diversis viis ex Africa vel Asia in Europam venerunt, in proximitatem urbis Caleti (Calais) convenerunt, unde brevissima est in Britanniam per cuniculum traiectio.

     Groups of migrants, coming into Europe by various routes from Africa and Asia, came together near the city of Calais, where it is but a short passage to Britain through the tunnel.

   • Phaedrus, Fabulae 4.21:

     vulpēs, cubīle fodiēns, dum terram ēruit
     agitque plūrīs altius cunīculōs,
     pervēnit ad dracōnis spēluncam ultimam

   • 38 CE – 104 CE, Martial, Xenia 60:

     gaudet in effossīs habitāre cunīculus antrīs.
     mōnstrāvit tacitās hostibus ille viās.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cunīculus	cunīculī
genitive	cunīculī	cunīculōrum
dative	cunīculō	cunīculīs
accusative	cunīculum	cunīculōs
ablative	cunīculō	cunīculīs
vocative	cunīcule	cunīculī

Related terms

• cunīculārium

Descendants

• Padanian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Emilian: cunili, cunij, cunej, cunì ⇒ cunin, cunen
    • Lombard: conì, conili, conécc, cómic
    • Piedmontese: cunij, cunì, cunèj, cunicc ⇒ conin
    • → Corsican: cunigliu
    • → Italian: coniglio
      • → Greek: κουνέλι (kounéli)
      • → Sardinian: conigliu
    • → Sicilian: cunigghiu, cunigliu
  • Friulian: cunin
  • Romansch: cunigl
  • Venetan: cunicio
    • → Ladin: cunicio
    • → Serbo-Croatian: kunić
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: conill
    • → Sardinian: conigliu
  • Old French: connil (see there for further descendants)
  • Occitan: conilh
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: coniello
  • Old Leonese: [Term?]
    • Asturian: coneyu
    • Leonese: cuneyu
    • Mirandese: coneilho
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: cõelho (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Spanish: conejo
    • Ladino: konejo
    • Spanish: conejo (see there for further descendants)

Borrowings

• → Ancient Greek: κύνικλος (kúniklos), κούνικλος (koúniklos), κόνικλος (kóniklos)
  • ⇒ Greek: κονικλοτροφείο (koniklotrofeío)
• → Arabic:
  • Moroccan Arabic: قنية (qniyya), قلينة (qlayna)
• → English: cuniculus
• → Esperanto: kuniklo
  • Ido: kuniklo
• → Italian: cunicolo
• → Middle High German: küniklīn, künglīn (partial calque)
  • Czech: králík
  • Lower Sorbian: kralik
  • Polish: królik (see there for further descendants)
  • Slovak: králik
• → Old Breton: [Term?]
  • Middle Breton: conicl, conniffl
    • Breton: konikl, konifl
• → Portuguese: cunículo

References

• “cunīculus” in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present

Further reading

• “cuniculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cuniculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "cuniculus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• cuniculus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to make mines, subterraneous passages: cuniculos agere (B. G. 3. 21)
    
• “cuniculus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “cuniculus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin