βίβλος

Forms

βῐ́βλος (bíblos) f (genitive βῐ́βλου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek βύβλος (búblos, “Egyptian papyrus”), the older form; the ⟨ι⟩ seems to have arisen in Attic by assimilation in the diminutive βιβλίον (biblíon), and the spelling ⟨βιβλ-⟩ prevails in Attic inscriptions and Ptolemaic papyri, while Roman times restored ⟨βυβλ-⟩.^[2][3]

Its origin is disputed.^[4][1] The traditional view is that the papyrus rind was named after the Phoenician port Ancient Greek Βύβλος (Búblos), from which it was shipped to Greece.^[3][4][1] Beekes finds this hard to accept, because the town was Phoenician 𐤂𐤁𐤋 (gbl) in Phoenician and Akkadian Gublu in Akkadian, so the Greeks would have had to hear the initial /g/ as /b/.^[4] E. Masson concluded that the word is of unknown origin and that the town was named after it, and Alessio took it as Pre-Greek;^[4] Beekes too considers it Pre-Greek, pointing to the old variation between ⟨υ⟩ and ⟨ι⟩ and to forms with a nasal, such as βίμβλις (bímblis), “cords of papyrus”, and the wine name Βίμβλινος (Bímblinos).^[4]

Ancient writers derived it from βίος (bíos, “life”) and βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”), because lives are “set down” in a book, or from βύω (búō, “to stuff, stop up”);^[5][6] Orion also connected it with βέβαιος (bébaios, “firm, lasting”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found in the 5th century BC, in Aeschylus and Herodotus, for the Egyptian papyrus plant;^[2][7] Herodotus also uses it for the strips of papyrus used to write on and for a papyrus roll.^[2][7] The derived adjective βύβλινος (búblinos), “made of papyrus”, is already in the Odyssey.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The name of the plant passed to its parts and products: the rind of the stalk (Theophrastus) and, generally, bark (Plato); the strips of pith used as writing material, garlands and wrappings; and the roll written on.^[2][7] From the roll it came to mean a written work, a book, and in particular a revered or sacred one: Plato mentions a heap of books of Musaeus and Orpheus, and a 3rd-century BC decree from Canopus speaks of sacred books.^[2][8]

In the Septuagint it is the book of Scripture, beginning with “the book of the generation of heaven and earth”;^[2][9] the New Testament speaks of the book of Moses, the book of Psalms and the book of life, and of magical books.^[2][8][10] Polybius and later historians use it for a book as a division of a longer work, and the nine books of Herodotus were called his βίβλοι.^[2][7] It was borrowed as Latin biblos.^[11]

Medieval vernacular Greek used it for a book of any kind.^[12] From the 13th century it is also found as a masculine noun.^[12] In Modern Greek Βίβλος (Vívlos) is the Bible, and the learned word βίβλος (vívlos) also names an official collection of documents, such as a white or black book; the everyday word for a book is βιβλίο (vivlío), from the ancient diminutive.^[13][6]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Aeschylus and Herodotus use it for the papyrus plant, and Herodotus for a papyrus roll.^[2][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for sacred books of Musaeus and Orpheus.^[2][8]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for the rind of the papyrus stalk.^[2]
• 3rd century BC – A decree from Canopus mentions sacred books.^[2]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for a book as a division of a longer work.^[2][7]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament speaks of the book of Moses and the book of life.^[2][8]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek uses it for a book of any kind, also as a masculine noun.^[12]
• Modern Greek – The learned word βίβλος (vívlos) names the Bible and official collections of documents.^[13][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The Egyptian papyrus plant.^[2][7]
2. Papyrus fibre or strip; the rind of the papyrus stalk, and generally bark.^[2][7]
3. A sheet of papyrus as writing material.^[7][2]
4. A papyrus roll.^[7][2]
5. A written work, a book.^[7][8]
6. A sacred or revered book: books of ritual or magic; in the Septuagint and the New Testament, the books of Scripture.^[7][2][8]
7. A book as a division of a longer work.^[7][2]

Word family

• βιβλίον (biblíon)
• βιβλίδιον (biblídion)
• βιβλιακός (bibliakós)
• βύβλινος (búblinos)
• βυβλιά (bubliá)

Related words

• βύβλος (búblos)
• πάπυρος (pápuros)
• Latin biblos
• English Bible

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c d e f Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
9. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
11. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
12. ^ a b c Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
13. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki