2 March 2015

incunabula

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

plural noun, singular incunabulum [in-kyoo-nab-yuh-luh m, ing-] (Show IPA)
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.

Origin
1815-1825; < Latin: straps holding a baby in a cradle, earliest home, birthplace, probably equivalent to *incūnā (re) to place in a cradle ( in- in-2+ *-cūnāre, verbal derivative of cūnae cradle) + -bula, plural of -bulum suffix of instrument; def. 1 as translation of
German Wiegendrucke

Related forms
incunabular, adjective
postincunabula, adjective

Dictionary.com

Today’s aphorism

With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing.

– Wayne Dyer

On this day

2 March 1904 – birth of Theodore Seuss Geisel, (Dr Seuss), children’s author. Died 24 September 1991.

2 March 1917 – Russian Czar Nicholas II is forced to abdicated following the Bloody Sunday massacres in which palace guards opened fire on unarmed protesters, killing many of them. His abdication brought an end to 300 years of rule by the Romanov dynasty.

2 March 1969 – The Concorde, the world’s first supersonic passenger jet, makes its maiden flight.