*bōk

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs *bōk for Proto-West Germanic.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *bōks (“letter, book”),^[1][2] which Kroonen cites by its stem *bōk- and Orel as *ƀōkz.^[2][3] Ringe and Taylor reconstruct its nominative plural: Proto-Northwest Germanic *bōkiz "inscribed billets" became Proto-West Germanic *bōki, continued by Old High German buoh "books" and, with i-umlaut, by Northumbrian Old English bœ̅ċ and West Saxon ⟨bēċ⟩.^[4]

Morphology

A feminine root noun in Kroonen's reconstruction.^[2] Old English keeps it as a consonant stem with the umlauted plural ⟨bēc⟩,^[5][2] while Old Frisian and Old Saxon have remodelled the plural.^[6] In Old High German the singular is usually a neuter a-stem, rarely masculine, and twice in Otfrid a feminine i-stem; the word is more often used in the plural, often with a singular sense, and in the 8th and 9th centuries the plural is mostly inflected as a feminine consonant stem, later as a neuter a-stem.^[7] Old Saxon and Old Frisian treat it as feminine or neuter.^[8][9]

Evidence

The word is found in all the West Germanic languages: Old English bōc, Old Frisian bōk, Old Saxon bōk, Old Dutch buok and Old High German buoh.^[2][7][10] Old High German has it from the 8th century,^[7] Old Saxon in the Heliand,^[8] and Old Dutch in the Old Low Franconian psalms, where ⟨buoke⟩ glosses Latin ⟨libro⟩,^[11] in a manuscript that ONW dates to 901–1000, and in Williram's commentary of about 1100.^[10] In the Heliand the singular means "letter" and the plural "book".^[12]

Competing analyses

The word is usually connected with the Germanic name of the beech, *bōk(j)ō- in Kroonen's notation: on this view the first writings were wooden tablets, and Kroonen points to Old Saxon bōk "tablet" and to the slips cut from a branch of a fruit-bearing tree in Tacitus's Germania.^[2] Boutkan accepts the connection with the Indo-European tree name.^[13] Pronk-Tiethoff reports Fick, Falk and Torp's view that the original meaning was "(tablet of) beech wood with inscribed runes".^[14] Wiktionary calls the origin uncertain, since writing on beech bark, unlike birch bark, is not known.^[15]

Meanings

1. inscribed billet, letter^[1][4]
2. book^[1]

Old English also used the word for "charter" and "Bible",^[5] Old Frisian for "missal" and "Bible",^[16] and Old Saxon for "writing tablet".^[8]

Derivatives

• *bōkārī "scribe", Old English bōcere, Old High German buohhāri, which Ringe and Taylor give as a typical early example of the suffix *-ārī for professions.^[17]
• Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Germanic *bōkstabaz (“letter of the alphabet”);^[18] Orel lists the compound in Old English, Old Saxon and Old High German,^[19] and Old Dutch has buokstaf.^[20]

Reflexes

• Old English: bōc (“book, charter, Bible”)^[5]
• Old Frisian: bōk (“book, missal, Bible”)^[16]
• Old Saxon: bōk (“book, writing tablet”)^[8]
• Old Dutch: buok (“book”)^[10]
• Old High German: buoh (“book, writing, scripture, letter”)^[21]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *bōk
2. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 71
3. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 52
4. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 286
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bōc
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 208
7. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. buoh
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altsächsisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bōk
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. bōk
10. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. buok
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. buok
12. ^ Berr, Samuel (1971), An Etymological Glossary to the Old Saxon Heliand, Berne / Frankfurt: Herbert Lang, p. 66
13. ^ Boutkan, Dirk; Siebinga, Sjoerd Michiel (2005), Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 1, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. bok
14. ^ Pronk-Tiethoff, Saskia (2013), The Germanic Loanwords in Proto-Slavic, Leiden Studies in Indo-European 20, Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi, p. s.v. *bōk-s
15. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *bōks
16. ^ a b Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. bōk
17. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 138
18. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *bōkstabaz
19. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 51
20. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *bōkastaba-
21. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. buoh