incunabula

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

plural noun

singular

incunabulum 

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

Other Word Forms

• incunabular adjective
• postincunabula adjective

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of incunabula¹

C19: from Latin, originally: swaddling clothes, hence beginnings, from _in- ² + cūnābula cradle

Example Sentences

There are the incunabula — very early books, printed before 1500 — and, in a class by itself, the Kelmscott Chaucer, after the Gutenberg Bible probably the most famous feat of book printing ever.

Read more on New York Times

“I know what incunabula are,” I said testily.

Read more on Washington Post

Collectors’ interest will be piqued by the incunabula – books printed before 1501 – which is described as one of the most important collections ever assembled.

Read more on The Guardian

But too often Mr. Foy’s prose is portentous and clumsy: “The incunabula of travel and boat repair swirl in my brain.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The exhibition’s “reimagining” of the research library is meant to lure visitors who may not be drawn to 15th-century incunabula.

Read more on New York Times