also book-store, "shop where books are sold," 1763, from book (n.) + store (n.).
Entries linking to bookstore
book n.
Middle English bok, from Old English boc "book, writing, written document," generally referred (despite phonetic difficulties) to Proto-Germanic *bōk(ō)-, from *bokiz "beech" (source also of German Buch "book" Buche "beech;" see beech), the notion being of beechwood tablets on which runes were inscribed; but it may be from the tree itself (people still carve initials in them).
Latin and Sanskrit also have words for "writing" that are based on tree names ("birch" and "ash," respectively). And compare French livre "book," from Latin librum, originally "the inner bark of trees" (see library).
The sense gradually narrowed by early Middle English to "a written work covering many pages fastened together and bound," also "a literary composition" in any form, of however many volumes. Later also "bound pages," whether written on or not. In 19c. it also could mean "a magazine;" in 20c., a telephone directory.
The use of books or written charters was introduced in Anglo-Saxon times by the ecclesiastics, as affording more permanent and satisfactory evidence of a grant or conveyance of land than the symbolical or actual delivery of possession before witnesses, which was the method then in vogue. [Century Dictionary]
From c. 1200 as "a main subdivision of a larger work." The meaning "libretto of an opera" is from 1768. A betting book "record of bets made" is from 1812. The meaning "sum of criminal charges" is from 1926, hence slang phrase throw the book at (1932). Book of Life "the roll of those chosen for eternal life" is from mid-14c. Book of the month is from 1926. To do something by the book "according to the rules" is from 1590s.
store n.
c. 1300, "supplies or provisions for a household, camp, etc.," from store (v.) or else from Old French estore "provisions; a fleet, navy, army," from estorer or from Medieval Latin staurum, instaurum "store." General sense of "sufficient supply" is attested from late 15c. The meaning "place where goods are kept for sale" is first recorded 1721 in American English (British English prefers shop (n.)), from the sense "place where supplies and provisions are kept" (1660s).
The word store is of larger signification than the word shop. It not only comprehends all that is embraced in the word shop, when that word is used to designate a place in which goods or merchandise are sold, but more, a place of deposit, a store house. In common parlance the two words have a distinct meaning. We speak of shops as places in which mechanics pursue their trades, as a carpenter's shop a blacksmith's shop a shoemaker's shop. While, if we refer to a place where goods and merchandise are bought and sold, whether by wholesale or retail, we speak of it as a store. [C.J. Brickell, opinion in Sparrenberger v. The State of Alabama, December term, 1875]
Stores "articles and equipment for an army" is from 1630s. In store "laid up for future use" (also of events, etc.) is recorded from late 14c. Store-bought is attested from 1912, American English; earlier store-boughten (1872).