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book

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bok, inherited from Old English bōc (“writing tablet, written document”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *bōks,[3][5] whose cognates include Old Frisian bōk, Old Saxon bōk, Old High German buoh (modern German Buch) and Old Norse bók, and Gothic has bōka “letter of the alphabet”.[3][6][7] It is usually connected with the Germanic word for beech, on the idea that runes were carved on beechwood tablets,[2][3][4][6][5] but Etymonline notes phonetic difficulties with this,[2] and RHWU says no relation to beech is known.[8] The Latin word for book, liber, the source of library, likewise first meant the inner bark of a tree.[4][2] The verb is bōcian (“to grant by charter”), from the noun.[2][3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A writing tablet, a written document, and collectively writings: Old English bōc, about 725, in a translation of the Book of Daniel.[3][2] It was also used of charters granting land.[10][2]

Semantic evolution

By early Middle English the sense had narrowed to a long written work of many pages bound together, and to a literary composition of any length.[2] A main division of a larger work is a book from about 1200.[2] The spelling book appears in Chaucer, about 1375.[3] A play's script is a book from 1592,[11] the libretto of an opera from 1768,[2] and a record of bets from 1812,[2] hence the bookmaker, who “makes a book” of bets.[12] In the 19th century book could mean a magazine, and in the 20th a telephone directory.[2] The total of criminal charges against someone is the book from 1926, hence throw the book at (1932).[2] The verb meant “to grant land by charter” in Old English (966), “to enter in a record” from about 1200,[3][2] “to reserve a seat or issue a railway ticket” from 1841, and “to engage a performer” from 1872.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English bōc.[3]
  • 966 – verb bōcian, to grant by charter.[3]
  • c. 1200 – a division of a larger work; verb, to record.[2][3]
  • c. 1375 – the spelling book (Chaucer).[3]
  • 1592 – the script of a play.[11]
  • 1768 – a libretto.[2]
  • 1812 – a betting book.[2]
  • 1841 – verb, to reserve a seat.[2]
  • 1872 – verb, to engage a performer.[2]
  • 1932 – throw the book at.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A set of written, printed or blank pages fastened along one side between covers.
  2. A written or printed literary work.
  3. A main division of a longer work.
  4. A ledger or record of accounts, and (plural) business records.
  5. The libretto of an opera or the script of a play.
  6. A record of bets.

Verb

  1. To enter in a book or list; to register.
  2. To record charges against (a suspect).
  3. To arrange for in advance; to reserve.
  4. To engage (a performer).

Word family

  • booker
  • bookful
  • bookable
  • bookless
  • booklike
  • booking
  • double-book
  • overbook
  • beech
  • booklet
  • bookish
  • bookmaker
  • library

Usage notes

The AHD groups the verb with bespeak, engage and reserve, all meaning to have something set aside in advance for one's use.[13]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  9. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin