helluo librorum

Definition

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

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin helluō librōrum (“glutton of books”), from Latin helluō (“glutton; squanderer”) + librōrum (“of books”). 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. 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.

Example Sentences

• "[A] Writers Stomach, Appetite, and Victuals, may be judg'd from his Method, Stile, and Subject, as certainly as if you were his Meſs-fellow, and ſat at Table with him. Hence we call a Subject dry, a Writer inſipid, Notions crude, and indigeſted, a Pamphlet empty or hungry, a Stile jejune, and many ſuch like Expreſſions, plainly alluding to the Diet of an Author, and I make no manner of doubt but Tully [i.e., Cicero] grounded that ſaying of Helluo Librorum upon the ſame Obſervation."
• "Among the helluones librorum, the Cormorants of Books, there are wretched Reaſoners, that have canine Appetites, and no Digeſtion."
• "Study was his [Gabriel Naudé's] principal occupation, and he was indeed a true "Helluo librorum;" ſo that he underſtood them perfectly well."

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