library

library
\ \ [14] The Latin word for ‘book’ was liber.
\ \ It is related to Russian lubbark’ and Lithuanian lubaboard’, and originally denoted ‘bark’, as used for writing on before the introduction of papyrus. From it was derived librāriabookseller’s shop’, which Old French took over as librairie and passed on to English. The English word has only ever been used for a ‘place where books are kept’, or for a ‘collection of books’, but French librairie now exclusively means ‘bookseller’s shop’. Other English derivatives of Latin liber include libel [13] (from the diminutive form libelluslittle book’; it originally denoted in English simply a ‘formal written claim by a plaintiff’, and did not take on its current connotations of ‘defamation’ until the 17th century) and libretto [18] (also literally a ‘little book’, from an Italian diminutive form).
\ \ Cf.LIBEL, LIBRETTO

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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