Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/bōks
Proto-Germanic
Etymology
Uncertain. Often linked to *bōkō (“beech”),[1] though beechbark-writing, unlike birchbark-writing, is not known, nor is it likely that bookfells were made from beeches at the time. Connected by some to Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g- (“to allot”), ascribing to the word the meaning of “letter”, in the sense of merely one or few symbols; (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?) in older times, letters would have served as (allotted) ownership symbols, which would then have been generalized to any work with writing upon it. In case “letter” was indeed the original sense, compare also the semantics of Latvian burts (“letter, mark”), Lithuanian bùrtis (“sign”) and bùrtas (“lot”) with Proto-Slavic *bъrtь (“carving in a tree”); thus beech trunks could have been the wood carved in, rather than the bark. According to Kroonen, “it is generally assumed that the first scriptures consisted of wooden tablets.”
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bɔːks/
Noun
*bōks f
- letter, written message, inscriptions carved into a flat object pressed together, “book”
- ? (originally and in North Germanic) beech
Inflection
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | *bōks | *bōkiz |
| vocative | *bōk | *bōkiz |
| accusative | *bōkų | *bōkunz |
| genitive | *bōkiz | *bōkǫ̂ |
| dative | *bōki | *bōkumaz |
| instrumental | *bōkē | *bōkumiz |
Derived terms
- *bōkastabaz
- *bōkalistiz
- *bōkārijaz
- *bōkōną
Related terms
- *bōkō (synonym)
Descendants
- Proto-West Germanic: *bōk
- Old English: bōc
- Old Frisian: bōk
- Old Saxon: bōk, buok
- Old Dutch: buoc, buok
- Old High German: buoh, puoh
- Old Norse: bók
References
- ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*bōk-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 71