señal

Forms

señal f (plural señales)^[1] Old Spanish wrote sennal, señal, senal, sinal, seynal and segnal.^[2] The word is masculine in Old Leonese and in Aragonese since the Middle Ages, as in Portuguese and Catalan, and in Eastern Judeo-Spanish.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin signāle (“sign”), the Late Latin adjective signālis (“serving as a sign”) used as a noun.^[3][4][1][5] The DLE takes it from Medieval Latin signale.^[4] The word took over most of the uses of signum (“mark, sign”) in the western Romance languages; it is feminine only in Castilian, from the 13th century on, and masculine elsewhere.^[3]

The same Latin word is Portuguese sinal, Galician sinal, Catalan senyal, Occitan senhal and Italian segnale.^[6][7][1] The plural signa gave seña.^[3]

Signum goes back to Proto-Italic *sekno-.^[8] De Vaan connects it with secō (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”), with a change from “what is cut out, carved” to “sign”;^[8][1] Wiktionary also names *sekʷ- (“to follow”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record to about 950, in the Glosas Emilianenses, in the spelling seingnale.^[3][9] In the Auto de los Reyes Magos (c. 1180) one of the kings asks of the star ¿Non pudet seer otra sennal? “could it not be another sign?”.^[10] The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has armas de señal, arms bearing a device.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose the word means a distinguishing mark, a boundary marker, a token to remember something by, and a good or bad omen.^[11] Percyvall in 1591 also gives “earnest penny”, the sense of a deposit paid on a contract.^[12][4] The Diccionario de Autoridades in 1739 defines it as a mark that makes things known, a boundary mark and a reminder.^[13]

In Cuba señal is the earmark cut on cattle, as against the brand: hierro mata señal, the brand prevails over the earmark.^[14][15] Leonese uses it for the cut in the ear of sheep and goats, for a scar, and for the remains of a dead animal.^[16] In the thieves' cant of 1609 a señal was a constable's servant.^[17] Modern senses include the signals of traffic and telecommunications and the dialling tone of a telephone.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 950 – seingnale in the Glosas Emilianenses.^[3][9]
• c. 1140 – armas de señal in the Cantar de mio Cid (in a 14th-century copy).^[10]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos uses sennal for the star.^[10]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for the marks by which stones are known.^[11]
• 1390 – the masculine diversos señales in an Aragonese inventory.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin signum and nota.^[18]
• 1532 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City.^[19]
• 1591 – Percyvall records the sense “earnest penny”.^[12]
• 1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the word.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mark put on or found in things to make them known and tell them apart.^[4][1]
2. A landmark or boundary stone marking a limit or distance.^[4][1]
3. A sign or means used to remember something; a distinguishing mark.^[4][1]
4. A sign: something that stands for something else; a sign or indication of something.^[4][1]
5. A trace left by something; a scar: Le quedó una señal en la frente.^[4]
6. An image or representation of something.^[4][1]
7. A wonder, something out of the ordinary.^[4]
8. A deposit paid in advance as a guarantee in some contracts.^[4]
9. A signal: a notice given to go to a place or to do something.^[4][1]
10. The tone a telephone gives when the receiver is lifted.^[4]

Word family

• señalar
• señalero
• señalética
• señalizar

Related words

• seña
• signo
• insignia
• Latin signum
• Portuguese sinal

Usage notes

La señal de la cruz is the sign of the cross made with the hand.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. señal
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 209
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. señal
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. señal
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. signale
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6123
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. seña
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. señal
11. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. señal
12. ^ a b Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 213
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6
14. ^ Pichardo, Esteban (1875), Diccionario provincial casi-razonado de vozes y frases cubanas, 4th ed., La Habana: Imprenta El Trabajo, p. 339
15. ^ Suárez, Constantino (1921), Vocabulario cubano, La Habana: Librería Cervantes / Madrid: Perlado, Páez y Compañía, p. 475
16. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. señal
17. ^ Hidalgo, Juan (1609), Romances de germanía de varios autores, con el vocabulario por la orden del a.b.c. para declaración de sus términos y lengua, Barcelona: Sebastián de Cormellas (ed. Madrid 1779), p. 199
18. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 415
19. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. senal