There are three main words in English that refer to books, one from the Greek, one from Latin, and one from old English. All have their roots, as it were, in trees.
The Greek root “byblos,” (book, writing) literally referred to the Egyptian paper, made from the inner bark of the papyrus plant, that was used in ancient books. The great source for this paper was the Phoenician (remember the Phoenicians?) city of Bublos or Byblos, a name which the Greeks appropriated to refer to paper and to books themselves. This word appeared in English as “bible,” which originally mean any book, and then, of course, The Book. The Greek root also appears as “biblio-” in “bibliography” and “bibliophile.” Papyrus, the name of the Egyptian reed from which these byblos were made, is the source of our word “paper,” although by the 12th century most paper in Europe was made from rags rather than from the papyrus plant.
The Latin root “liber” (book) originally meant the inner bark of a tree, but eventually came to be used to refer to a sheet of papyrus used for writing. Eventually the meaning of the word was extended to a long document and a section of a longer work, such as a book of the Bible or a book of the Aeneid. From this root we get our word “library” and “librarian,” and through the Italian, “libretto.” The word “libellus” was a diminutive form of the word “liber,” and meant “little book.” In Elizabethan England, “libels,” or little books or pamphlets often contained personal political attacks, and eventually the word came to refer not to these little books themselves, but to their defamatory content.
And the English word “book” has its origins in the old English word “boc,” a name for the beech tree, and extended in meaning to refer to an inscription made on a beechwood tablet. Although “boc” was replaced by “bece” and eventually the modern “beech” as a term for the tree, the old meaning is still evident in the term “buckwheat,” which means literally “beech wheat,” because the buckwheat plant has seeds that resemble beechnuts.
I’ll have some more connections with these roots next week.
