βιβλίον

Forms

βῐβλῐ́ον (biblíon) n (genitive βῐβλῐ́ου); second declension^[1] Also βυβλίον.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek βύβλος (búblos, “papyrus”) + -ιον (-ion), a diminutive, and was first spelled βυβλίον (bublíon); the form with ⟨ι⟩ in the first syllable became the usual one.^[3][1][4] Wiktionary takes βιβλίον for a corruption, possibly by assimilation of the vowels, but Beekes holds that the forms with ⟨ι⟩ are old.^[1][3]

βύβλος (búblos) is the Egyptian papyrus, its rind and the paper made from it.^[3] It is usually said to be named after the Phoenician port of Byblos, from which papyrus was shipped to Greece; but the town's Phoenician name was ⟨Gbl⟩ (Akkadian Gublu), so this needs an initial /gu-/ heard as /gʷu-/ or an assimilation of /g…b/ to /b…b/.^[3] E. Masson concluded that the word is of unknown origin and that the town was named after it, and Beekes, like Alessio, considers it rather Pre-Greek, because of its variation between ⟨υ⟩ and ⟨ι⟩ and its prenasalized forms such as βίμβλινος (bímblinos).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Herodotus uses the form βυβλίον for a written document or letter.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant a strip of papyrus (Theophrastus), then a paper or document, a letter, and by the late 5th century BC a book, in Eupolis and in Plato's Apology.^[2][6] Later it named a book as a division of a longer work, and the plural τὰ βιβλία could be a library.^[2] In the papyri it is a petition to the authorities, matching Latin libellus.^[2] In the Septuagint and the New Testament it is a scroll or book, and the βιβλίον ἀποστασίου is the certificate of divorce.^[6][7][2]

The Christian scriptures were called τὰ βιβλία in Greek from about AD 223; the Latin translation of that phrase, Latin biblia, gave the English word Bible, and the stem βιβλιο- gave English biblio-.^[8] The word continued through medieval Greek and is now Modern Greek βιβλίο (vivlío), “book”.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for a document or letter.^[2][11]
• 5th century BC – Eupolis uses it for a book.^[2][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato's Apology speaks of books that can be bought.^[2][11]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for a strip of papyrus.^[2][11]
• 1st century AD – Dioscorides uses it for a book of a longer work, and the New Testament for a scroll and a certificate of divorce.^[2][6][11]
• 2nd century AD – Papyri use it for a petition to the authorities.^[2]
• About AD 223 – The Christian scriptures are first called τὰ βιβλία.^[8]
• Modern Greek – βιβλίο (vivlío) is the ordinary word for “book”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strip of papyrus.^[2]
2. A paper, written document, letter.^[2][6]
3. A petition to the government.^[2]
4. A writing tablet.^[2]
5. A book, scroll; a book as a division of a longer work.^[2][6]
6. (plural) A library.^[2]
7. (New Testament) βιβλίον ἀποστασίου, a certificate of divorce.^[2][6]

Word family

• βιβλιοθήκη (bibliothḗkē)
• βιβλιογραφία (bibliographíā)
• βιβλιογράφος (bibliográphos)
• βιβλιοκάπηλος (bibliokápēlos)
• βιβλιοπώλης (bibliopṓlēs)
• βιβλιοφύλαξ (bibliophúlax)

Related words

• βίβλος (bíblos)
• βύβλος (búblos)
• Latin biblia
• 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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge