Etymologically
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boc

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boc1 book

Pronunciation

Forms

bōc f (strong consonant stem; genitive singular bēċ, nominative plural bēċ)[1] Lindisfarne Gospels gloss (Northumbrian): dative singular boec.[2]

Etymology

The book is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *bōk, from Proto-Germanic *bōks.[1] The word is shared by the other Germanic languages: Old Frisian bōk, Old Saxon bōk (“book, writing tablet”), Old High German buoh and Old Norse bók, with Gothic 𐌱𐍉𐌺𐌰 (bōka, “letter”) beside them.[3][4][5]

Kroonen, Köbler and Wiktionary connect it with the Germanic word for the beech, bōc2: the usual explanation is that the first writings were cut on tablets of wood, and Kroonen points to Tacitus' account of lots cut from a fruit-bearing tree and marked with signs.[3][5][1] Orel puts the book and the beech under one Proto-Germanic noun, since the Norse word has both senses.[4] Etymonline notes the phonetic difficulties of the link, and Wiktionary's Proto-Germanic page calls it uncertain: no writing on beech bark is known, and some scholars derive the word from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g- (“to allot”) with an original sense "letter, sign".[6][1]

It is a root noun: the genitive and dative singular and the nominative plural are ⟨bēċ⟩, with i-umlaut of the stem vowel.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the sense "charter, title-deed": a grant of King Æthelberht of 858, surviving in a single sheet held to be contemporary, has Ðis siondan ðes landes boc et Wassingwellan, "These are the deeds of the land at Wassingwell".[8][9] The sense "book" is recorded in the Pastoral Care of 890×897: the learned who will not live swa hie on bocum leornedon, "as they learned in books".[10][9]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give two main senses, a book and a charter by which a king granted land.[11] In the laws the word names the Gospel book on which oaths were sworn, the books of the Bible and the books of canon law.[12] It glosses Latin liber, codex, libellus and volumen.[5][2] The plural Cristes bēc are the four Gospels.[11]

The word lived on as Middle English bok, recorded from the Peterborough Chronicle, and is now English book.[13][6]

Timeline

  • 858 – ðes landes boc “the deeds of the land” in a contemporary charter of King Æthelberht.[8][9]
  • 890×897 – on bocum “in books” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).[10][9]
  • s. x ex. – the word throughout Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I (Royal 7 C. xii).[14][9]
  • before 1121 – Middle English bokes and bec in the Peterborough Chronicle.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a book, a written volume.[11][5]
  2. a charter or deed conveying land.[11]
  3. the books of the Bible, the Gospels.[11][12]

Word family

  • bōcere
  • bōcland
  • bōcstæf
  • bōccræft
  • bōchūs
  • bōcian
  • dōmbōc

Descendants

  • Middle English bok (→ English book; Scots buik; Scots beuk)[1]

boc2 beech

Pronunciation

Forms

bōc f (strong ō-stem; genitive singular bōce, nominative plural bōca)[1]

Etymology

The beech is inherited from Proto-Germanic *bōkō (“beech”).[1] Its relatives are Old Saxon bōka, Old High German buohha and Old Norse bók.[15][16] Outside Germanic the same tree name is Latin fāgus (“beech”) and Ancient Greek φηγός (phēgós, “oak”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵos (“beech”).[1][16][17] Orel adds a Gaulish element of compounds and Proto-Slavic *bъzъ (“elder”).[4]

Hogg and Fulk take the beech to be an ō-stem, like the Old Saxon word, unlike the root noun bōc1 "book".[18] Kroonen derives the book from this tree name, and Köbler puts both under the Proto-Germanic name of the beech.[3][5] Wiktionary's Proto-Germanic page calls the link uncertain.[1] The more usual Old English name of the tree is bēce, with i-umlaut.[3][19]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bosworth and Toller cite the word from Ælfric's Glossary, where bóc glosses Latin fāgus and aesculus.[11][20]

Semantic evolution

The tree name is rare beside bēce and compounds such as bōctrēow "beech tree".[11][19] Latin aesculus, which it glosses, was a Mediterranean oak.[19]

Meanings

Noun

  1. the beech tree.[11][17][16]

Word family

  • bōctrēow
  • bōcwudu

Usage notes

Reference works number the two words differently: the Dictionary of Old English has the book as bōc 1 and the beech as 2, the place-name dictionaries the other way round.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Cook, Albert S. (1894), A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels, Halle: Niemeyer, p. s.v. boc
  3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 71
  4. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 52
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bōc 2
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.110
  8. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 328
  9. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
  10. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 113
  12. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 25
  13. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  14. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 407
  15. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 51
  16. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 28
  17. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bōc 1
  18. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 2.111
  19. ^ a b c Bierbaumer, Peter; Sauer, Hans; Klug, Helmut W.; Krischke, Ulrike, eds. (2007–), Dictionary of Old English Plant Names, Graz, oldenglish-plantnames.org, p. s.v. bēce
  20. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 99
  21. ^ LangScape: The Language of Landscape: Reading the Anglo-Saxon Countryside, King's College London, langscape.org.uk