αὐτόγραφος

Forms

αὐτόγρᾰφος (autógraphos) m or f (neuter αὐτόγρᾰφον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek αὐτο- (auto-, “self”) + γράφω (gráphō, “to write”), “written by oneself”.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DGE's earliest example is in Posidonius, of decrees written in a person's own hand;^[4] Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Plutarch use it of letters.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Used as a noun, the neuter τὸ αὐτόγραφον meant one's own handwriting or an original document, as opposed to a copy, in Plutarch, Galen and Porphyry.^[5][4] Both the adjective and the noun were borrowed, as Latin autographus and Latin autographum;^[6][1] the Latin noun is the source of English autograph and of words in many European languages.^[1]

Modern Greek αυτόγραφος (aftógrafos) is a learned word taken from the Hellenistic one, still meaning “handwritten by the author”.^[7][8] The noun αυτόγραφο (aftógrafo), a celebrity's signature or a short handwritten greeting for admirers, is a modern sense taken over from French autographe, itself made from the Greek word.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 2nd–1st century BC – Posidonius uses it of decrees written in someone's own hand.^[4]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it of handwritten letters.^[5][4]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses the neuter noun for an original document.^[5][4]
• Modern Greek – The learned word αυτόγραφος (aftógrafos) means handwritten by the author, and its neuter names a celebrity's signature.^[7][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Written with one's own hand, autograph.^[5][4]

Noun

1. (neuter, τὸ αὐτόγραφον) One's own handwriting; an original document.^[5][4]

Related words

• χειρόγραφος (kheirógraphos)
• Latin autographus
• English autograph

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
7. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
9. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος