Etymograph

English

helluo librorum

Helluo librorum comes from Late Latin helluō librōrum ‘glutton of books’.

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEhelluō librōrum‘glutton of books’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1729helluo librorum

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEhelluō librōrum‘glutton of books’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1729helluo librorum

Earliest quotation: 1729, Bernard Mandeville, The Fourth Dialogue between Horatio and Cleomenes: “Among the helluones librorum, the Cormorants of Books, there…”

A compound of helluō ‘glutton’ + librōrum ‘of books’

Latin helluor ‘to be a glutton, gormandize’

Latin helluō ‘glutton’

The story

Helluō is derived from helluārī + -ō (suffix forming masculine agent nouns, nicknames, and other designations); helluārī is the present active infinitive of helluor (‘to be a glutton, gormandize’), further etymology unknown.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. Librōrum is the genitive plural form of liber (‘book; inner bark of a tree’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (‘to cut off, peel’)). The plural form is also borrowed from Late Latin helluōnēs librōrum.

Every English word from Late Latin helluō librōrum

Today it means

noun An insatiable and obsessive bookworm (“avid book reader”).

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Late Latin helluō librōrum / helluo librorum

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