English
library
Library comes from Middle English librarie, from Anglo-Norman librarie, from Latin librārium ‘bookcase’, from liber ‘bark; book’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEliber1‘inner bark; book’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElibrārius1‘concerning books’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElibrārium1‘bookcase’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400librairie1
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400librarie1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500librarie1‘library’
- Englishearliest quotation 1896library1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English library
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1896, Alfred Newton, A Dictionary of Birds: “A small library of books has been written on…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEliberWiktionary, English library‘inner bark; book’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElibrāriusWiktionary, English library‘concerning books’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElibrāriumWiktionary, English library‘bookcase’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400librairieWiktionary, English library
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400librarieWiktionary, English library
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500librarieWiktionary, English library‘library’
- Englishearliest quotation 1896libraryWiktionary, English library. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1896, Alfred Newton, A Dictionary of Birds: “A small library of books has been written on…”
The story
From Middle English librarie, from Anglo-Norman librarie, from Old French librairie, from Latin librarium (‘bookcase, chest for books’), from librarius (‘concerning books’), from liber (‘the inner bark of trees; paper, parchment, book’), probably derived from a Proto-Indo-European base *leub(ʰ)- (‘to strip, to peel’). Romance cognates often mean “bookshop” instead: French librairie, Italian libreria, Spanish librería, Romanian librărie and Portuguese livraria. This is a relatively recent innovation (16th century in French), which ended up displacing the earlier sense.
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with library, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *lew- ‘to cut off’
through Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- ‘to peel, cut off, harm’
59 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun An institution which holds books and/or other forms of media for use by the public or qualified people often lending them out, as well as providing various other services for its users.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “library”. 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 / Latin liber / library