also bibliothek, Old English biblioðece "the Bible, the Scriptures," from Latin bibliotheca "library, room for books; collection of books" (in Late Latin and Medieval Latin especially "the Bible"), from Greek bibliothēkē, literally "book-repository," from biblion "book" (see biblio-) + thēkē "case, chest, sheath," from suffixed form of PIE root *dhe- "to set, put." Used of the Bible by Jerome and serving as the common Latin word for it until Biblia began to displace it 9c. (see Bible). The word was later reborrowed from French as bibliotheque (16c.).
