bookstaff

/ˈbʊkˌstæf/

Etymology

From Middle English bocstaff (“letter, written character”), from Old English bōcstæf (“letter, written symbol”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōkstab, from Proto-Germanic *bōkstabaz (“beechwood staff; written character”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Boukstäf, Dutch boekstaaf, German Low German Bookstaav, German Buchstabe, Danish bogstav, Swedish bokstav, Norwegian Bokmål bokstav, Norwegian Nynorsk bokstav, Faroese bókstavur, Icelandic bókstafur. Likely a semirevival of the Old English term. By surface analysis, book + staff.

bookstaff means A letter, a letter of the alphabet, a written character. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.

bookstaff is pronounced /ˈbʊkˌstæf/.

Why “bookstaff” is a great word

BOOKSTAFF — [Noun] A letter of the alphabet or a written character. From Middle English bocstaff, from Old English bōcstæf, from Proto-Germanic *bōkstabaz, a compound of *bōkō ("beech tree, writing tablet") and *stabaz ("staff, stick"), originally referring to a beechwood staff on which runes were carved. Unlike "letter"—the abstract, modern term for a phonetic symbol—or "glyph"—a broad category of carved marks—a bookstaff is the physical fact of language given weight and grain. It is the runemaster's knife biting into pale beech, the tangible notch and angle that holds a thought, and the stark, raised dot of a modern braille cell; each a splinter of thought made permanent, a reminder that our first alphabets were not written, but built.

noun

A letter, a letter of the alphabet, a written character.“Brother Ormin cautions transcribers to follow his spelling exactly —And tat he looke well that he (And that he look well that he), An bookstaff write tweis (A letter write twice), Eywhere then it upo this book (Wherever then it upon this book) Is written o that wise (Is written on that wise), For he ne may nought elles (For he may not else) On English writen right te word (In English write right t”