Mapbook

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A book containing a collection of maps, typically organized by region or theme for reference and navigation
2. A bound volume filled with maps that provides geographic information and visual representation of territories and locations
3. A reference book comprised of maps arranged to display geographic areas, routes, or cartographic data in organized form

Etymology: "Mapbook" is a plain compound: "map" joined to "book," with no hidden history. "Map" entered English in the 1500s, borrowed from Medieval Latin "mappa mundi," meaning "cloth of the world," a reference to the world painted on cloths. "Book" is an older Germanic word, going back to Old English "bōc," which is related to "beech" because early writing was often scratched into beechwood tablets. The compound itself is a modern formation. Atlases had long been bound volumes of maps, so the combined term describes a collection of maps bound together in book form. It is a practical coinage rather than a word with a dramatic story, and its meaning is nearly the sum of its two parts.

Synonyms: atlas, gazetteer