Middle English (in the sense 'bookseller'): from medieval Latin stationarius 'tradesman (at a fixed location, i.e. not itinerant)'. Compare with stationary.

• In the Middle Ages stationers sold not stationery, writing materials but books. The word comes from medieval Latin stationarius, referring to a tradesman who had a shop or stall at a fixed location, as opposed to one who travelled around selling their wares. The ultimate source is Latin statio ‘standing’, which is also the root of stationary with an a, ‘not moving’ and station (Middle English). In medieval England selling parchment, paper, pens, and ink was a branch of the bookseller's trade, and in due course booksellers became known as stationers. Statue (Middle English) and related words come from the same Latin root as do stature (Middle English) which originally meant ‘height when standing’, status (late 18th century) ‘legal standing’, and statute (Middle English), a law that had been set up. The verb to stay (Late Middle English) is yet another word from the root. Staid (late 16th century) is an archaic past of stay, describing a character that is fixed in its ways.