bookstave
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English bocstaff, bocstaf (“letter; symbol; written character”), from Old English bōcstæf (“letter, written symbol”), from Proto-Germanic *bōkastabaz, equivalent to book + stave (inflected form of staff). Compare modern Norwegian bokstav, Swedish bokstav, Danish bogstav, modern German Buchstabe, modern Dutch boekstaaf.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]bookstave (plural bookstaves)
- (rare or archaic) Alternative form of bookstaff (“letter, alphabetic symbol”)
- 2018, Christopher Ocker, Luther, Conflict, and Christendom:
- […] “[Doctor Martin] had undercut the pope, cardinals, and the great bishops, ... he had proved they could not offer so much as a bookstave from holy scripture to prove that their great power and lordship were based on God's command.
- 2019, James Meek, To Calais, In Ordinary Time:
- 'I can't read bookstaves, but Holiday learned himself,' said Softly. […] 'He learned me a bare five bookstaves, but it was enough to read a whole word.'
- 2020, D. Vance Smith, Arts of Dying, page 43:
- The poetic dialogue between Solomon and Saturn not only calls the rune for R the “best of bookstaves” (bocstafa brego), but it also spells out the Pater Noster, acrostically with runes, […]
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *stebʰ-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English compound terms
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