sello

Forms

sello m (plural sellos)^[1] The usual early form is seello, at times siello; it was reduced to sello by the 14th century, though seello still appears in the archaic style of the Rimado de palacio.^[2] Old Spanish texts also have seyello, siyello and sieyllo.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish seello, inherited from Latin sigillum (“small figure; mark; seal”).^[2][5][6][1] The Latin noun is a diminutive of signum (“sign, mark”).^[5][7][1] Wiktionary reconstructs its earlier form as *signolom.^[1] The Latin word meant “statuette” and “sign, mark” as well as the impression of a seal and the seal itself.^[2][7]

The word is found in all the Romance languages: Portuguese selo, Galician selo, Catalan segell, French sceau and Italian suggello.^[2][4][8] The French form goes back to a popular variant *sigellum.^[9]

Its learned doublet is sigilo, which Lope de Vega used for “seal” and which took on the sense “secrecy”, as if a matter were kept under seal.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas first finds it in Berceo's Milagros (1220–1250): ponga y su seiello a la postremería “let him put his seal at the end”.^[2][5] The CDH has earlier records in charters: about 1218 a donor orders mio seello pendente “my hanging seal” to be put on the deed, and the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy) has seyello.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the word named the seal with which charters were authenticated, often hanging from the document, and its impression.^[10][11] Covarrubias in 1611 notes the phrase echar el sello “to conclude a business completely” and the plant sello de Salomón.^[12] Autoridades adds the house where documents were sealed.^[13]

The adhesive paper stamp entered the Academy's dictionary by 1884, and the postage stamp is now the word's first everyday sense.^[14][6][15] The Castilian word spread into Catalan in the 19th century with the postage stamp, until writers brought back the native Catalan segell.^[16] In several South American countries sello is the reverse of a coin, as in cara o sello “heads or tails”.^[6][17][1] Tagalog and Cebuano borrowed it as selyo.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – seyello in the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (in a 13th-century copy).^[10]
• c. 1218 – mio seello pendente in a charter of donation.^[10]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo's seiello, the first record according to Corominas.^[2][5]
• 14th century – the reduced form sello is established, as in Juan Ruiz.^[2]
• 1543 – the first record from the Americas, in Panama: vuestro real sello.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records echar el sello and sello de Salomón.^[12]
• 1843 – the Academy records sello del estómago, a small, solid morsel that settles the rest of a meal.^[19]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary includes the small paper stamp.^[14]
• 1917 – Alemany adds the Argentine sense “stamped paper” and the medical cachet.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small piece of paper bearing an official stamp, stuck on documents to make them valid.^[6]
2. A postage stamp: Le faltaba un sello a la carta.^[6][1]
3. A seal or rubber stamp: the tool for printing arms, emblems or other images, used to authenticate documents or close letters.^[6][1]
4. The mark left by such a tool.^[6][1]
5. A seal on a package or door, which shows that it has not been opened (precinto).^[6]
6. The office where documents are sealed.^[6]
7. A firm or brand, especially a record label or publisher.^[6]
8. A signet ring.^[6]
9. A distinctive character that marks someone or something out.^[6]
10. (historical) A disc of metal, wax or sealing wax hanging from important documents.^[6]
11. (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela) The reverse of a coin, tails.^[6][17]
12. (rare) A cachet: two round wafers enclosing a dose of medicine.^[6][21]

Word family

• matasellos

Related words

• sellar
• sigilo
• sigiloso
• signo
• Catalan segell
• Portuguese selo

Usage notes

Sello de Salomón is a six-pointed star of two interlaced triangles, credited with powers by the cabbalists, and a plant.^[6][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 197
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. sello
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6122
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sello
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. sello
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. sigillum
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. sceau
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. sello
11. ^ 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. sello
12. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1292
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 70
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 965
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. sello
16. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 7, 735
17. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. sello
18. ^ 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. sello
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 660
20. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1500
21. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. sello