Book is widespread throughout the Germanic languages. German has buch, for example, Dutch bock, and Swedish bok. These point to a prehistoric Gemanic *bōks, which was probably related to *bōkā ‘beech,’ the connection being that early Germanic peoples used beechwood tablets for writing runic inscriptions on. The original meaning of the word in Old English (bōc) was simply ‘written document or record,’ but by the 9th century it had been applied to a collection of written sheets fastened together.

Dictionary of Word Origins. John Ayto. Arcade Publishing, New York. 1990.

*If I’m understanding the lengthy explanation of this correctly, it means the link between two words is not direct, but may have intermediary steps (words). I think.

I mentioned that I’ve submitted a couple of short stories to literary journals and sites. (Oh boy. What passes for literary is… Well, let’s just say that though well-written, some of the stories are terrible. Not my opinion. I’m talking objectively terrible.) The one journal I don’t have anything to submit to is one that’s give me good feedback in the past, and has published one of my stories.

It’s a thematic journal–they put the upcoming issues’ themes out there and people submit stories, poems, and art on the theme. So I looked at upcoming themes and one is bookmarks. Now, you’d think I could come up with a story on that theme. And you’d be right, I did. But the problem is the protagonist is a real jerk, and since I am already 8260 words (33 double-spaced pages) into a story that has a jerk, I’m not sure I want to bring another to life.

So I’m researching. Did not know the bit about birch.