*bōks

Runic: ᛒᛟᚲᛊ Pronunciation: /ˈbɔːks/

noun · feminine · consonant stem

Meanings

letter, written message, ‘book’

Etymology

Likely from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂ǵ-s from *bʰeh₂ǵ-o-s (‘oak, beech’). Compare Latin fāgus (‘beech tree’), Ancient Greek φηγός (phēgós) (phēgós, ‘oak, acorn’), and Gaulish bāgos (‘beech’). The semantic development is commonly explained as ‘beechwood’ → ‘piece/stick/tablet of beechwood used for writing’ → ‘written sign, written message’ → ‘book’. This is preferable to older explanations involving beech bark or parchment-like bookfell, since the relevant intermediate is more likely a wooden writing tablet or rune-stick. Related to *bōkō (‘beech tree’), but the exact relationship remains disputed (though early runic material such as Pre-Old English hɛribœḵi (‘army beech’) has been taken as possible support for an intermediate meaning ‘beechwood writing tablet’ or ‘rune-stick’) (Waxenberger, n.d.).

Declension

Case	Singular	Plural
Nom.	bōks	bōkiz
Acc.	bōkų	bōkunz
Gen.	bōkiz	bōkǫ̂
Dat.	bōki	bōkumaz
Inst.	bōkē	bōkumiz
Voc.	bōk	bōkiz

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Descendants

*bōk (Proto-West Germanic)
- buoc, buok (Old Dutch)
  - boec (Middle Dutch)
    - boek (Dutch)
    - book, Bouk (Limburgish)
*bōk (Proto-West Germanic)
- bōc (Old English)
  - bok, boc, boke, book, booke, buk, buke (Middle English)
    - book (English)
    - buik, beuk, buke, beuck (Scots)
*bōk (Proto-West Germanic)
- bōk (Old Frisian)
  - Bouk (Saterland Frisian)
  - boek (West Frisian)
*bōk (Proto-West Germanic)
- buoh, puoh (Old High German)
  - buoch (Middle High German)
    - Buech, Büäch (Alemannic German)
    - Buach (Bavarian)
    - Booch, Buch (Central Franconian)
    - Bouch (East Franconian)
    - Buch (German)
    - Buch, Busch (Rhine Franconian)
    - בוך (bukh) (Yiddish)
*bōk (Proto-West Germanic)
- bōk, buok (Old Saxon)
  - bôk, buk (Middle Low German)
    - Buak (Plautdietsch)
bók (Old Norse)
- buok (Elfdalian)
- bók (Faroese)
- bok (Gutnish)
- bók (Icelandic)
- bok (Norwegian Bokmål)
- bok (Norwegian Nynorsk)
bók (Old Norse)
- bok (Old Danish)
  - bog (Danish)
bók (Old Norse)
- bōk, ᛒᚮᚴ (Old Swedish)
  - pyökki (Finnish)
  - bok (Swedish)

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