first five books of the Bible, c.1400, from Late Latin pentateuchus (Tertullian, c.207), from Greek pentateukhos (c.160), originally an adjective (abstracted from phrase pentateukhos biblos), from pente "five" (see five) + teukhos "implement, vessel, gear" (in Late Greek "book," via notion of "case for scrolls"), literally "anything produced," related to teukhein "to make ready," from PIE *dheugh- "to produce something of utility" (see doughty). Glossed in Old English as fifbec.