Buch German · revision 35017

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=8th century, Old High German|origins=gem-pro *bōks}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /buːx/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Buch''' ''n'' (genitive Buches or Buchs, plural Bücher, diminutive Büchlein n or Büchelchen n)^(Wiktionary)

+ In the 8th and 9th centuries the plural was usually declined as a feminine, later as a neuter.^(EWA|2, 445) The Middle High German plural was ''buoch'', later also ''buoche'' and ''buocher''.^(EWA|2, 445)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|buoch]], [[inh|goh|buoh]], [[inh|gem-pro|*bōks]].^(Kluge 2011|157)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[osx|bōk]], [[ang|bōc]], [[ofs|bōk]], [[non|bók]] and [[got|𐌱𐍉𐌺𐌰|tr=bōka]], which means “letter of the alphabet” in the singular and “document, book” in the plural.^(Kluge 2011|157)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|2, 445) The Germanic noun was originally a feminine root noun; the shift to the neuter happened early, already in Old High German.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(EWA|2, 445)

+

+ Kluge starts from the sense “letter (character)”, kept in Gothic and in traces in Old High German.^(Kluge 2011|157) The use of its plural for “a writing, a book” matches [[grc|γράμμα|tr=grámma]] and [[la|littera]], and Kluge thinks it was modelled on the classical languages;^(Kluge 2011|157) West Germanic then formed a singular for “book”.^(Kluge 2011|157) The sense “letter” was borrowed into Slavic, as in [[ru|буква|tr=búkva]].^(Kluge 2011|157)

+

+ The traditional etymology, going back to Jacob Grimm, identifies the word with the name of the [[Buche]], as if the first books were tablets of beech wood on which runes were cut.^(DWB|2, 466)^(Pfeifer 1993) The Duden and Kroonen still hold this view; the Duden points out that the boards of book covers were made almost always of beech until the 16th century.^(Duden 7 2020|173)^(Kroonen 2013) Kluge rejects it on formal grounds, since the noun for “letter” was a root noun while the tree name was a feminine ō-stem, and on factual ones, since runes are nowhere recorded as written on beech tablets.^(Kluge 2011|157) Pfeifer also doubts it and, with Kluge, compares [[sa|भग|tr=bhága|t=wealth, fortune, share]], [[sa|भाग|tr=bhāgá|t=share, lot]], [[ae|baga-|t=share, lot]] and [[cu|богъ|tr=bogŭ|t=god]], from [[ine-pro|*bhag-|t=to allot]]; the Germanic word would first have meant “lot”, then the rune stick used for drawing lots, and then a letter.^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kluge 2011|157) Paul calls the connection with the tree name possible, and notes that doubting it does not make the etymology easier.^(Paul 2002) Szemerényi proposed a borrowing from Turkic.^(Kluge 2011|157)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''buoh'' is recorded from the 8th century, in glosses and in the Benedictine Rule of about 790–802, meaning a book or a written document, the Holy Scriptures, and once perhaps a letter of the alphabet.^(Kluge 2011|157)^(Köbler AHD)^(DWB2|5, 931)^(EWA|2, 445) The plural was often used for a single book, as in Middle High German ''an den buochen lesen'' “to read in the book”.^(Kluge 2011|157)^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the plural for one written document the word passed to the codex of parchment and then to any bound or stitched set of sheets, and today above all to the printed book.^(Duden 7 2020|172)^(Paul 2002) It is also used for a part of a larger work, as in ''das fünfte Buch Mose'' in Luther's Bible, and for blank books for writing in, such as ''Tagebuch'' and ''Kirchenbuch''.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2020|172) From the 14th century it was used for a merchant's account book, mostly in the plural.^(Paul 2002) The Grimms and Adelung record it for the third stomach of ruminants, whose folds look like the leaves of a book.^(DWB|2, 466)^(Adelung 1793)

+

+ Several derivatives and compounds came in from neighbouring languages: ''Buchhalter'' (16th century) is formed from the phrase ''die Bücher halten'', which since the 15th century has translated Italian ''tenere i libri'';^(Duden 7 2020|172) ''Bücherei'' (17th century) translates Dutch ''boekerij''; the verb ''buchen'' “to enter in an account book” (18th century) probably follows Dutch ''boeken'' and English ''to book'', and ''Buchmacher'' (second half of the 19th century) translates English ''bookmaker''.^(Duden 7 2020|172) The ''Bücherwurm'' was at first a larva living in books and since the 17th century a jocular name for a scholar.^(Duden 7 2020|172)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 8th century – Old High German ''buoh'' is recorded.^(Kluge 2011|157)^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * c. 790–802 – The plural ''pvah'' is used in the Benedictine Rule.^(DWB2|5, 931)

+ * 14th century – The word is used for an account book.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 15th century – ''die Bücher halten'' translates Italian ''tenere i libri''.^(Duden 7 2020|172)

+ * 16th century – ''Buchhalter'' is formed.^(Duden 7 2020|172)

+ * 17th century – ''Bücherei'' and the figurative ''Bücherwurm'' appear.^(Duden 7 2020|172)

+ * 18th century – ''buchen'' appears in commerce.^(Duden 7 2020|172)

+ * Second half of the 19th century – ''Buchmacher'' is formed after English ''bookmaker''.^(Duden 7 2020|172)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|book]], a larger bound printed work: ''ein Buch mit festem Einband''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A literary or scholarly work published as a book: ''Ihr neues Buch erscheint im Herbst.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(dated)'' A part or division of a larger work: ''die fünf Bücher Mose''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Paul 2002)

+ # Short for [[Drehbuch]]: a [[m|en|screenplay]].^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A bound volume of blank or printed pages for writing in, such as a notebook.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(usually plural)'' Account books, the books: ''die Bücher führen'' “to keep the books”.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(horse racing)'' The betting list kept by a [[Buchmacher]].^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # An old unit for counting paper, 24 or 25 sheets, and gold or silver leaf.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Duden 7 2020|172)

+ # ''(zoology, rare)'' The [[m|en|omasum]], the third stomach of ruminants.^(Wiktionary)^(DWB|2, 466)^(Adelung 1793)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[Buchstabe]]

+ * [[buchen]]

+ * [[Bücherei]]

+ * [[Büchlein]]

+ * [[Buchhalter]]

+ * [[Buchhandlung]]

+ * [[Buchmacher]]

+ * [[Bücherwurm]]

+ * [[Tagebuch]]

+ * [[Drehbuch]]

+ * [[Gesetzbuch]]

+ * [[Lehrbuch]]

+ * [[Wörterbuch]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Buche]]

+ * [[en|book]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Wie er im Buche steht'' “as described in the book” means typical, a model of its kind, originally with reference to the Bible.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Duden 7 2020|172) Something that is ''ein Buch mit sieben Siegeln'' “a book with seven seals” is incomprehensible; the phrase comes from Revelation 5.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch) English Wiktionary takes the rare sense “omasum” from Old High German ''būh'' “belly”, while the Grimms and Adelung explain it from the leaves of a book.^(Wiktionary)^(DWB|2, 466)^(Adelung 1793)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}