signal

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈsɪɡ.nəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English signal,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French signal (“seal, imprint, sign, mark”), earlier seignal,^[4][2] from Medieval Latin signāle,^[4][2] the neuter of Late Latin signālis “used as a sign”,^[4][5] from Latin signum (“identifying mark, sign”),^[4][2] the source of sign.^[4][2] The adjective, “notable”, is from French signalé, the past participle of signaler “to distinguish”,^[4][2][3] through Italian segnalato.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A visible sign, indication: about 1380, in Chaucer's House of Fame, according to Barnhart;^[2] about 1384 in the OED, a badge or symbol, a sense now obsolete.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

In late Middle English it was also a supernatural act of God and a device on a banner.^[4] A sign agreed on for concerted action, as an order to begin or stop, is from the 1590s,^[4] first in Shakespeare's Richard II (1593).^[2][8] A sign given to convey information or a warning is from 1598.^[8] The modulation of an electric current to transmit messages is from 1855,^[4][8] later of electromagnetic waves, hence in radio broadcasting (1923).^[4] The railway signalman is by 1840.^[4] The adjective, “striking, notable”, as in a signal achievement, is from 1641 in Barnhart and the OED,^[2][8] the 1640s in Etymonline.^[4] The verb, “to make signals to”, is from 1805;^[4][2] the earlier verb was signalize.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1380 – a visible sign.^[2]
• 1593 – a sign for concerted action.^[2][8]
• 1641 – adjective, notable.^[2][8]
• 1805 – verb.^[4][2]
• 1840 – signalman.^[4]
• 1855 – an electric signal.^[4][8]
• 1923 – a broadcast signal.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A gesture, light, sound or other sign used to communicate a message or warning.
2. Something that prompts action: the signal to attack.
3. An electrical impulse or radio wave that transmits information, as for radio or television.
4. A device, as on a railway, that shows whether the way is clear.

Verb

1. To make a signal to; to communicate by signals.
2. To be a sign of; to indicate.

Adjective

1. Notably out of the ordinary: a signal achievement.

Word family

• signaler
• signalman
• presignal
• signalment
• unsignaled
• unsignalled
• resignal

Related words

• signature
• signet
• sign
• signalize
• signify
• significant

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press