Bodley

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A surname borne by the English diplomat who founded the famous research library at Oxford University, now known as the Bodleian Library
2. The family name of a Tudor-era English diplomat remembered for establishing the Oxford University library that carries his later title
3. A proper noun referring to the English statesman who restored a university library at Oxford, whose collection gave rise to the Bodleian

Etymology: Thomas Bodley was a English diplomat who, after retiring from public service in 1597, turned his attention to Oxford University's library, which had been dismantled and its books scattered or sold in the mid-sixteenth century. He refurbished the building at his own expense, and it reopened in 1602 under his name as the Bodleian Library. He also secured a deal with the London Stationers' Company in 1610 that the library would receive a copy of every book entered in the company's register, the origin of the legal deposit system that still supplies copies to the library today. The surname itself is English and was taken from place names, but its original meaning is uncertain, so it is best understood simply as the family name of the man whose gift to scholarship gave the library its title.