Word of the Week – Book

Book.

It’s one of those words so integral to my very life that I’ve never really paused to look it up. Oh, I’ve looked up the history of the things we call books, don’t get me wrong. I’ve learned about how they evolved from scrolls to codexes to the bound paper we call by the word today. But the word itself? 

Somehow I hadn’t ever delved into that history. Gasp!

And you might (or might not) be surprised to learn that book is actually from the same root as beech. As in, the tree. Whose bark was used (you guessed it) for paper AND whose wood was also used as early tablets for inscribing runes. Our English word traces its roots back to the proto-Germanic boko, which is in turn from bokiz.

Interestingly, Germanic languages aren’t the only ones whose words for book are directly related to a tree! Latin’s word is related to birch and Sanskrit to the ash tree! (Given last week’s word of the week, library, the Latin won’t be a surprise to you.)

Now, it’s worth noting that early uses of book did NOT mean the bound paper matter we associate with it today, but ANY written document. But by the Middle Ages, the meaning had narrowed to be applied to “writing that covers many bound pages.” It was also used to refer to a multi-volume set of writings. From there it could refer to the bound pages, whether written on or blank (think notebook). In the 1800s it was also used to refer to a magazine.

Ironically, not only was book used to refer to a multi-volume set, it could also be used to refer to a main section of a single volume–like a book of the Bible (itself a book). The Book of Life, as referencing the Lamb’s book with the names of those who are saved, is from the mid-1300s.

The phrase by the book (to do something according to the rules) is from the 1590s. In the 20th century, book was used to refer to the “sum of criminal charges” brought to court, hence the 1930s phrase throw the book at.

Word Nerds Merch!