- publishing (n.)
- mid-15c., "act of announcing or declaring," also "the issuing of copies of a book for public sale," verbal noun from publish (v.).
- principia (n.)
- "fundamental principles," plural of Latin principium "beginning, origin" (see principle (n.)). Especially as the short form of the title of Newton's book (published 1687).
- pop-up (n.)
- from 1906 as a type of baseball hit; from pop (v.) + up (adv.). As an adjective from 1934 (of a children's book, later toasters, etc.).
- sixteenmo (n.)
- "book printed on sheets of 16 leaves," 1847, from an English reading of the printers' Latin abbreviation 16-mo, representing sexto decimo "sixteen."
- figgy (adj.)
- 1540s "sweet" (as figs are), from fig (n.1) + -y (2). From 1846 (in a book of Cornish words) as "full of figs or raisins."
- flatland (n.)
- 1735, from flat (adj.) + land (n.). Edwin Abbott's popular book about an imaginary two-dimensional world was published in 1884.
- leaf (v.)
- "to turn over (the pages of a book)," 1660s, from leaf (n.). Meaning "put forth leaves or foliage" is from 1610s. Related: Leafed; leaved; leafing.
- tome (n.)
- 1510s, "a single volume of a multi-volume work," from Middle French tome (16c.), from Latin tomus "section of a book, tome," from Greek tomos "volume, section of a book," originally "a section, piece cut off," from temnein "to cut," from PIE *tem- "to cut" (source also of second element in Latin aestimare "to value, appraise," Old Church Slavonic tina "to cleave, split," Middle Irish tamnaim "I cut off," Welsh tam "morsel"). Sense of "a large book" is attested from 1570s.
- guide (n.)
- mid-14c., "one who shows the way," from Old French guide, 14c., verbal noun from guider (see guide (v.)). In book titles from 1610s; meaning "book of information on local sites" is from 1759. In 18c. France, a "for Dummies" or "Idiot's Guide to" book would have been a guid' âne, literally "guide-ass." Guide-dog for the blind is from 1932.
- genesis (n.)
- Old English Genesis, first book of the Pentateuch, which tells among other things of the creation of the world, from Latin genesis "generation, nativity," in Late Latin taken as the title of first book of the Old Testament, from Greek genesis "origin, creation, generation," from gignesthai "to be born," related to genos "race, birth, descent" (see genus). Greek translators used the word as the title of the biblical book, rendering Hebrew bereshith, literally "in the beginning," which was the first word of the text, taken as its title. Extended sense of "origin, creation" first recorded in English c. 1600.
- divan (n.)
- 1580s, "Oriental council of state," from Turkish divan, from Arabic diwan, from Persian devan "bundle of written sheets, small book, collection of poems" (as in the "Divan i-Hafiz"), related to debir "writer."
Sense evolved through "book of accounts," to "office of accounts," "custom house," "council chamber," then to "long, cushioned seat," such as are found along the walls in Middle Eastern council chambers (see couch). The sofa/couch sense was taken into English 1702; the "book of poems" sense in 1823.
- libel (n.)
- c. 1300, "formal written statement, a writing of any kind," especially, in civil law, "plaintiff's statement of charges" (mid-14c.); from Old French libelle (fem.) "small book; (legal) charge, claim; writ; written report" (13c.), from Latin libellus "a little book, pamphlet; petition, written accusation, complaint," diminutive of liber "book" (see library). Meaning "false or defamatory statement" is from 1610s. Specific legal sense of "any published or written statement likely to harm a person's reputation" is first attested 1630s.
- lexicon (n.)
- c. 1600, "a dictionary, a word-book," from Middle French lexicon or directly from Modern Latin lexicon, from Greek lexikon (biblion) "word (book)," from neuter of lexikos "pertaining to words," from lexis "word, a speaking, saying, speech, phrase; way of speaking, diction," from legein "to say" (see lecture (n.)).
Especially of dictionaries of Greek, Syriac, Hebrew, or Arabic, because these typically were written in Latin, and in Modern Latin lexicon (not dictionarius) was the preferred name for a word-book. The modern sense of "vocabulary proper to some sphere of activity" (1640s) is a figurative extension.
- landlubber (n.)
- also land-lubber, "A useless long-shorer; a vagrant stroller. Applied by sailors to the mass of landsmen, especially those without employment" [W.H. Smyth, "The Sailor's Word-book"], c. 1700, from land (n.) + lubber (q.v.).
- tantra (n.)
- type of Hindu religious book, 1799, from Sanskrit tantram, literally "loom, warp," hence, figuratively, "groundwork, system, doctrine," from tan "to stretch, extend," from PIE root *ten- "to stretch, extend" (see tenet).
- quarto (n.)
- "book from paper folded to make four pages to the sheet," late 15c., from Medieval Latin in quarto "in the fourth (part of a sheet of paper)," from quarto, ablative singular of Latin quartus "fourth" (see quart).
- journal (n.)
- mid-14c., "book of church services," from Anglo-French jurnal, from Old French jornel, "a day; time; a day's travel or work" (12c., Modern French journal), properly "that which takes place daily," noun use of adjective meaning "daily, of the day," from Late Latin diurnalis "daily" (see diurnal).
The meaning "book for inventories and daily accounts" is from late 15c. in English (14c. in French); that of "personal diary" is c. 1600, also from a sense developed in French. Meaning "daily publication" is from 1728. Classical Latin used diurnus for "of the day, by day," and also as a noun, "account-book, day-book."
Initial -d- in Latin usually remains in French, but according to Brachet, when it is followed by an -iu-, the -i- becomes consonantized as a -j- "and eventually ejects the d." He also cites jusque from de-usque.
- Isaiah
- masc. proper name, name of a biblical prophet and of the book credited to him, from Hebrew Yesha'yah, abbreviated form of Yesha'yahu, literally "salvation of the Lord," from yesha, yeshua "salvation, deliverance." Related: Isaian
- log (v.2)
- "to enter into a log-book," 1823, from log (n.2). Meaning "to attain (a speed) as noted in a log" is recorded by 1883. Related: Logged; logging.
- missal (n.)
- c. 1300, from Old French messel "book of the Mass" (12c.) an ddirectly from Medieval Latin missale, neuter of adjective missalis "pertaining to the Mass," from Late Latin missa "Mass" (see mass (2)).
- counterculture (n.)
- also counter-culture, counter culture, 1968, from counter- + culture (q.v.). Popularized by, and perhaps coined in, the book "The Making of a Counter Culture" by Theodore Roszak. As an adjective by 1972.
- subhead (n.)
- "smaller heading or title in a book, chapter, newspaper, etc.," 1875, from sub- + head (n.) in the sense of "heading, headline." Meaning "subordinate section of a subject" is from 1670s.
- Venn diagram (n.)
- 1918 (Venn's diagram is from 1904), named for English logician John Venn (1834-1923) of Cambridge, who explained them in the book "Symbolic Logic" (1881).
- ambivert (n.)
- "person exhibiting features of an extrovert and an introvert," coined by Kimball Young in "Source Book for Social Psychology" (1927), from ambi- "about, around" + Latin vertere, as in introvert. Related: Ambiversion.
- A.A.
- also AA, abbreviation of Alcoholics Anonymous, attested by 1941, American English. The group name was the title of a book published in 1938 by the founder, Bill W.
- abecedary (n.)
- "primer, alphabet table," mid-15c., from Medieval Latin abecedarium "an ABC book," neuter of adjective abecedarius, used as a noun, from the first four letters of the Latin alphabet. Abecedarian (adj.) is attested from 1660s.
- binding (n.)
- mid-13c., verbal noun from bind (v.). Meaning "thing that binds" is from c. 1300; "state of being bound" is from late 14c. Meaning "covering of a book" is recorded from 1640s.
- verso (n.)
- "reverse, back, or other side of some object," especially a printed page or book, 1839, from Latin verso (folio), ablative singular neuter of versus, past participle of vertere "to turn" (see versus).
- kendal (n.)
- green woolen cloth, late 14c., from place name in Westmoreland where it was manufactured. The place (which is in the Domesday Book) is "Kent-dale," so called for being in the dale of the River Kent.
- clerihew (n.)
- humorous verse form, 1928, from English humorist Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956), who described it in a book published 1906 under the name E. Clerihew.
- duodecimo
- 1650s, from Latin in duodecimo (folded) "in a twelfth" of a sheet, from ablative of duodecimus "twelfth," from duodecim (see dozen). Often abbreviated 12mo.; a book in which each page is the twelfth part of the printer's sheet.
- incunabulum (n.)
- 1861, singular of Latin incunabula "cradle, birthplace; rudiments or beginnings" (see incunabula); taken up (originally in German) as a word for any book printed late 15c., in the infancy of the printer's art.
- planner (n.)
- 1716, "one who plans," agent noun from plan (v.). Derogatory variant planster attested from 1945. Meaning "book or device that enables one to plan" is from 1971.
- processional (n.)
- "book of hymns for use in processions," mid-15c., from Medieval Latin processionale, from noun use of neuter of processionalis "pertaining to a procession," from Late Latin processio (see procession).
- redux (adj.)
- "restored, brought back," Latin, from reducere (see reduce). In book titles at least since 1662 (Dryden, "Astraea Redux," written on the restoration of Charles II).
- Kings
- biblical book (in the Christian bible two books), late 14c., so called because it tells the histories of the kings of Judah and Israel (except Samuel's and most of David's).
- biblioklept (n.)
- 1881, from biblio- + Greek kleptes "thief" (see kleptomania). Walsh calls it "a modern euphemism which softens the ugly word book-thief by shrouding it in the mystery of the Greek language."
- post (v.2)
- in bookkeeping, "to transfer from a day book to a formal account," 1620s, from post (n.2) via a figurative sense of "carrying" by post horses. Related: Posted; posting.
- pseudepigraphy (n.)
- "ascription of false authorship to a book," 1842, probably via German or French, from pseudo- + epigraph + -y (1). Related: Pseudepigrapha; pseudepigraphic (1830); pseudepigraphical (1838); pseudepigraphal (1630s).
- pushmi-pullyu (n.)
- fictional two-headed mammal, from "Dr. Dolittle" (1922), coined by Hugh Lofting from the expressions push me, pull you. Popularized by the 1967 film version of the book.
- recto (n.)
- "right-hand page in an open book" (opposed to verso or reverso), 1824, from Latin recto (in recto folio), ablative of rectum "right," (see right (adj.1)).
- speller (n.)
- c. 1200, "a preacher;" mid-15c. apparently in the sense "a person who reads letter by letter;" 1864 of a book to teach orthography. Agent noun from spell (v.1).
- wonder woman (n.)
- 1917, a woman who seems wonderful or has wonderful qualities, from wonder (n.) + woman. The comic book superheroine debuted in DC Comics in 1941.
- imprint (n.)
- mid-15c., emprente "an imprint or mark, impression made by printing or stamping," from Old French empreinte "mark, impression, imprint" (see imprint (v.)). Meaning "publication information of a book" (1790) is directly from the verb.
- Deuteronomy (n.)
- 5th book of the Pentateuch, late 14c., from Late Latin Deuteronomium, from Greek Deuteronomion, literally "second law," from deuteros "second" (see deuterium) + nomos "law" (see numismatics). A mistranslation of Hebrew mishneh hattorah hazzoth "a copy of this law" [Deut. xvii:18]. The book is a repetition, with comments, of the Decalogue and most of the laws of Exodus. The title was translated literally into Old English as æfteræ, literally "after-law."
- Gradus ad Parnassum (n.)
- Latin, literally "A Step to Parnassus," the mountain sacred to Apollo and the Muses. It was the title of a dictionary of prosody used in English public schools for centuries as a guide to Roman poetry. The book dates from the 1680s. Also the name of a treatise on musical composition written in Latin by Johann Joseph Fux, published in Vienna in 1725, and of a much-used book of exercises for piano.
- pica (n.1)
- "size of type of about six lines to the inch" (12 point), 1580s, probably from pica, name of a book of rules in Church of England for determining holy days (late 15c. in Anglo-Latin), probably from Latin pica "magpie" (see pie (n.2)); the book so called perhaps from the color and the "pied" look of the old type on close-printed pages. The type size was that generally used to print ordinals.
- folkways (n.)
- coined 1906 in a book of the same name by U.S. sociologist William Graham Sumner (1840-1910); see folk (n.) + way (n.).
Folkways are habits of the individual and customs of the society which arise from efforts to satisfy needs. ... Then they become regulative for succeeding generations and take on the character of a social force. [Sumner, "Folkways"]
Sumner also often is credited with ethnocentrism, which is found in the same book but is older.
- Leviticus
- third book of the Pentateuch, c. 1400, from Late Latin Leviticus (liber), literally "book of the Levites," from Greek to Leuitikon biblion, from Leuites, from Hebrew Lewi (see Levi). Properly the part of the Pentateuch dealing with the function of the priests who were of the tribe of Levi (a portion of the tribe acted as assistants to the priests in the temple-worship). The Hebrew title is Torath Kohanim, literally "the law of the priests."
- ibid. (adv.)
- "at the place or in the book already mentioned" (used to avoid repetition of references), 1660s, abbreviation of Latin ibidem "in the same place, just there," from ibi "there," pronominal adverb of place, + demonstrative suffix -dem. Also ibid, but properly with the period.