Incunabulum
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:42 am
I came across this word, "incunabulum", in a Wikipedia article about the Gutenberg Bible.
And it has an interesting word history...This Bible is the most famous incunabulum and its production marked the beginning of the mass production of books in the West.
The same article includes another interesting word, "rubricated".n. pl. in·cu·nab·u·la (-lə)
1. A book printed before 1501; an incunable.
2. An artifact of an early period.
[New Latin incūnābulum, from sing. of Latin incūnābula, swaddling clothes, cradle : in-, in; see in-2 + cūnābula, cradle, infancy (from cūnae, cradle; see kei-1 in Indo-European roots).]
in'cu·nab'u·lar (-lər) adj.
The definitionGutenberg produced these Bibles (which were printed, then rubricated and illuminated by hand, the work of specialized craftsmen) over a period of a year, the time it would have taken to produce one copy in a Scriptorium.
–adjective
(in ancient manuscripts, early printed books, etc.) having titles, catchwords, etc., distinctively colored.
–verb (used with object), -cat⋅ed, -cat⋅ing.
1. to mark or color with red.
2. to furnish with or regulate by rubrics.