cuniculus

See also: Cuniculus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cunīculus.

Noun

cuniculus (plural cuniculi)

1. a burrow or low underground passage
2. a burrow in the skin made by a mite

Latin

Alternative forms

• cuniculum, cuniclus, cunicolus, coniculus, conicolus

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κύνικλος (kúniklos), probably of Iberian or Celtiberian origin; compare Basque untxi (“rabbit”), Mozarabic conchair (“greyhound”). The original meaning “burrow” adapted to the rabbit or vice versa.

Attested beginning from Cicero and Varro.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) 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.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cunīculus	cunīculī
Genitive	cunīculī	cunīculōrum
Dative	cunīculō	cunīculīs
Accusative	cunīculum	cunīculōs
Ablative	cunīculō	cunīculīs
Vocative	cunīcule	cunīculī

Related terms

• cunīculārium

Descendants

• Latin: cunīclus (see there for further descendants)
• → English: cuniculus
• → Italian: cunicolo
• → Portuguese: cunículo

See also

• cuneus
• cunnus

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