From an etymological perspective, book and beech are branches of the same tree. The Germanic root of both words is *bk-, ultimately from an Indo-European root meaning beech tree. The Old English form of book is bc, from Germanic *bk-, written document, book. The Old English form of beech is bce, from Germanic *bk-jn, beech tree, because the early Germanic peoples used strips of beech wood to write on. A similar semantic development occurred in Latin. The Latin word for book is liber, whence library. Liber, however, originally meant barkthat is, the smooth inner bark of a tree, which the early Romans likewise used to write on.
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