segnare

Forms

segnare (first-person singular present ségno, first-person singular past historic segnài, past participle segnàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin signō (“to mark, seal, indicate”), a verb formed from signum (“mark, sign”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The same verb is Romanian semna, Sardinian sinnare, Old French seignier, Occitan senhar and Catalan senyar.^[6][3][7] French signer is a learned form of it, and the verb also lives in French enseigner, Spanish enseñar and Italian insegnare.^[7]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *segnom; de Vaan derives it from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”), originally “something cut”, while Wiktionary also allows *sekʷ- (“to follow”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the reflexive segnarsi, to cross oneself, in the 13th-century Contrasto of Cielo d'Alcamo.^[2] Dante (before 1321) has the transitive verb for marking something with a sign and for noting down what has to be remembered.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb kept the Latin sense of marking and widened it to all that leaves or reads a mark: “to indicate” (1589, B. Baldi), “to scratch, leave a mark on” (1544, Mattioli), and of clocks and instruments “to show” a time or reading.^[2][4] Old Italian also used it for “to sign” a document, as Cellini still did.^[9][1] In the shop it means to put down on account (segnare tre caffè), and since the 1960s in football and other team games “to score”.^[4][2] Figuratively it means to mark someone for life, or to stand for a turning point.^[4]

Tommaseo traced da segnare col carbone bianco, of a day to be remembered, to the Latin proverb albo signanda lapillo (“to be marked with a white stone”).^[10] Other phrases are segnare il passo, to mark time, figuratively to stall, and segnare a dito, to point at someone.^[4][11]

Timeline

• 13th century – Cielo d'Alcamo uses segnarsi, to cross oneself.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses segnare for “to mark” and “to note down”.^[2]
• 1544 – Mattioli's Dioscorides uses it for “to scratch, leave a mark”.^[2]
• 1589 – B. Baldi uses it for “to indicate”.^[2]
• 1960 – The sense “to score” in football is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To mark with a sign, to underline or tick in a text: segnare le frasi importanti.^[4][11][1]
2. To put a mark of recognition on; to brand livestock.^[4][12]
3. To note down, record: segnare un numero di telefono.^[4][1]
4. To put on account: mi segni due panini; to enter a sum as debit or credit.^[4]
5. To write;^[4][1] (archaic) to sign a document.^[4][1]
6. To scratch or dent a surface; to furrow.^[4][1]
7. (sports) To score: segnare due reti.^[4][2][1]
8. Of an instrument, to show, read: il contachilometri segnava cento.^[4][1]
9. (figurative) To stand for, mark: quella sconfitta segnò la fine di un'epoca.^[4]
10. To leave a mark on;^[4][1] (figurative) to scar or stain someone for life.^[4][1]
11. (Christianity) To make the sign of the cross over someone;^[4][2][1] segnarsi, to cross oneself.^[4][2][1]

Word family

• assegnare
• disegnare
• segnacaso
• segnalibro
• segnaposto
• segnaprezzo
• segnapunti
• segnatasse
• segnatempo
• segnatore
• segnatura
• segnavento
• segnavia

Related words

• insegnare
• segno
• Latin signō

Usage notes

An Old Italian segnare “to let blood, bleed”, found in Florentine texts and in G. Villani, is a separate word, from Old French saignier, from Latin sanguinare.^[13][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3442
14. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca