helluo librorum
/ˌhɛljuoʊ lɪˈbɹɔ(ə)ɹəm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
14
Letters
6
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
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."
- "The Helluo Librorum, or Glutton of Books, was a character well known at the university, and mentioned by the ancients; but I believe their idea is far exceeded by many a fair subscriber at the circulating library. I have known a lady read twenty volumes in a week during two or three months successively."
- "[L]et us perform a good knife and fork as helluones librorum at those two magnificent repositories of legible or illegible rarities. Here we may feast on Editiones Principes, Uniques on vellum, books without date or place, literary frauds, colophons, catchwords, and dainties, as the ballad has it, 'past expression.'"
- "And, even physically considered, knowledge breeds knowledge, as gold gold; for he who reads really much, finds his capacity to read increase in geometrical ratio. The helluo librorum will but glance at the page which detains the ordinary reader some minutes; and the difference in the absolute reading (its uses considered), will be in favor of the helluo, who will have winnowed the matter of which the tyro mumbled both the seeds and the chaff."
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.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *lewbʰ-, helluō, helluōnēs librōrum
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌhɛljuoʊ lɪˈbɹɔ(ə)ɹəm/
- British English: /ˌhɛljʊəʊ lɪˈbɹɔːɹəm/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Frequently Paired Words
helluo
helluous