< Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic

Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/bōks

This Proto-Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Germanic

Etymology

Uncertain. Often linked to *bōkō (“beech”), though beechbark-writing, unlike birchbark-writing, is not known, nor is it well imaginable that it was the time for bookfells made from beeches already. 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 because letters would have primitively been ownership symbols, which would then have been generalized to any work with writing upon it.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /bɔːks/

Noun

*bōks f

  1. letter, written message, inscriptions carved into a flat object pressed together, “book”

Inflection
consonant stemDeclension of *bōks (consonant stem)
singular plural
nominative *bōks *bōkiz
vocative *bōk *bōkiz
accusative *bōkų *bōkunz
genitive *bōkiz *bōkǫ̂
dative *bōki *bōkumaz
instrumental *bōkē *bōkumiz

Derived terms

Descendants
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