Book

Have you ever leafed through a book?
 
The word book has its origins in the PIE root bhago (beech tree), the source of Latin fagus, the scientific name for the botanical genus of beech trees.
 
PIE bhago is the source of Proto-Germanic bokiz (beech) and modern German buche (beech) and buchstaben (a beech stick). Beech wood, because of its softness and ease of cutting, was often used as a medium for the use of runes. Runes are any of several alphabets used by Germanic peoples from about the 3rd to the 13th centuries. Perhaps it is not surprising that German Buch (book) comes from buche (beech tree).
 
Similarly, the French word for book (livre) comes from Latin librum (the inner bark of trees) and from PIE lubh-ro (leaf, rind) and PIE leub(h) (to strip, to peel). The word library also comes from these sources.
 
The English word book comes from Germanic rather than from Latin sources.
 
The Old English word boc (book), from Proto-Germanic bokiz, originally meant any written document. Later, the word book came to mean a written work of many pages fastened together and bound. The Old English plural of book was beek, not books—just as geese is the plural of goose.
 
From bokiz to buch to boc to book—a book literally and figuratively comes from trees. Speaking of leafing through a book.
 
Perhaps it is not surprising to consider that over the centuries the tree has been a symbol of knowledge. Although this image might have to change if more and more people begin to get their knowledge from YouTube or social media!
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/