Etymograph

English

bookly

Bookly comes from Old English bōclīċ ‘of or belonging to a book, scientific,…’, and goes back to bōc.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150bōc1
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150bōclīċ2‘of or belonging to a book, scientific, biblical, scriptural’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*bocli2reconstructed
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1919bookly2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English boclic
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English bookly
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1919, Flora Warren Seymour, The Step Ladder: Volumes 1-5: “As you received this and many other bookly treasures,…”.

Earlier history not traced here. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150bōcWiktionary, Old English boclic
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150bōclīċWiktionary, English bookly‘of or belonging to a book, scientific, biblical, scriptural’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*bocliWiktionary, English booklyreconstructed
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1919booklyWiktionary, English bookly. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1919, Flora Warren Seymour, The Step Ladder: Volumes 1-5: “As you received this and many other bookly treasures,…”

Every English word from Old English bōc

Today it means

adj Of or pertaining to books; literary.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bookly”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English boclic. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Old English bōc / bookly

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