threeplusfire: (Default)
three ([personal profile] threeplusfire) wrote2001-08-24 11:14 am

bibliotaphy [n. BIB-lee-oh-TAF-ee]

Bibliotaphy is the practice of hoarding or hiding books, and someone who engages in bibliotaphy is a bibliotaph.

Like many "bookish" words, this one includes the biblio- prefix, from the Greek biblion (book), which also gave us Bible. The suffix, -taphy, is from Greek taphos (tomb), since the books hoarded or hidden might as well be entombed.

Another word from taphos is cenotaph [n. SEN-uh-taf] (an empty tomb that commemorates someone who is actually buried elsewhere), with the prefix ceno- from Greek kenos (empty).

Here are more "bookish" words:

bibliopegy: the art of binding books
bibliopolist: a seller of books, especially rare or used ones
bibliotics: examination of documents for authenticity