Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Cunabula

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CUNA'BULA. A child's cradle. (Cic. Div. i. 36. Plaut. Amph. v. 1. 55. Serv. ad Virg. Ecl. iv. 23. Arnob. adv. Gent. iv.) The example (Cunabula/1.1) is from a very ancient MS. of Genesis, published by Lambeccius (Comment. Bibl. Caes. iii. 29.); but ancient cradles were also commonly made in the shape of a trough or boat, as in the next illustration; whence a Greek name for the same is σκάφη. Athen. xiii. 85.

2. Hence the place in which any living thing is born: a birth-place (Prop. iii. 1. 27.); a bird's nest (Plin. H. N. x. 51.); a bee-hive. Virg. Georg. iv. 66.

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  Cunabula/1.1