stationer

pronunciation

How to pronounce stationer in British English: UK [ˈsteɪʃənə(r)] word uk audio image

How to pronounce stationer in American English: US [ˈsteʃənɚ] word us audio image

Word Origin

stationer: stationer: [15] In medieval Latin a statiōnārius was originally a ‘trader who kept a permanent stall’ (as opposed to an itinerant seller). The word was derived from Latin statiō ‘standing, keeping still’ (source of English station), which in the post-classical meaning evolved in meaning to ‘shop’. Such permanent shops were comparatively rare in the Middle Ages.Of those that did exist, the commonest were bookshops, licensed by the universities, and so when English adopted the Latin term, it was used in the sense ‘bookseller’. It has since come down in the world somewhat to ‘seller of paper, pens, etc’ (a sense first recorded in the mid 17th century), but the earlier application is preserved in the name of the Stationers’ Company, a London livery company to which booksellers and publishers belong.The derivative stationery dates from the 18th century.=> station

stationer (n.): "book-dealer, seller of books and paper," early 14c. (late 13c. as a surname), from Medieval Latin stationarius "tradesman who sells from a station or shop," noun use of Latin stationarius (see stationary). Roving peddlers were the norm in the Middle Ages; sellers with a fixed location often were bookshops licensed by universities; hence the word acquired a more specific sense than its etymological one.