Meaning

noun a marker (a piece of paper or ribbon) placed between the pages of a book to mark the reader's place

originFrom Middle English *boke-merk, *boke-merke (attested only in the bare form merk (“bookmark”)), equivalent to book + mark. Cognate with Danish bogmærke (“bookmark”), Swedish bokmärke (“bookmark”), Norwegian bokmerke (“bookmark”), Icelandic bókamerki (“bookmark”). Eclipsed non-native Old English æstel (“bookmark”), from Old Irish astal, from Latin hastula (“little spear, splint”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0