assignamentum

Forms

assīgnāmentum n (genitive assīgnāmentī); second declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin assīgnō (“to assign, allot”) + -mentum, a medieval noun made from the verb.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Du Cange quotes it from statutes of Pistoia dated 1107, where it means a decree: penalties set in the oath of the podestà and in all statutes and assīgnāmenta.^[3] Köbler's earliest source is a charter of 1250.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense was the assignment of a rent or annuity on a definite source of revenue, often a widow's dower.^[4] In 1250 a king promised to assign rents worth a thousand pounds in Flanders and spoke of holding to the assignment;^[2] French charters of the 1240s and 1250s put a meadow or a plot of land in assīgnāmentum as a pledge for a church.^[3] Italian humanists used it for an assignment of money or securities: Leonardo Bruni and Enea Silvio Piccolomini both have it in 1436.^[5] British records of 1391 and 1425 use it for a grant of money assigned by the king.^[6]

Timeline

• 1107 – Statutes of Pistoia use it for a decree.^[3]
• 1241 – A charter of Reims gives a meadow as a pledge in assīgnāmentum.^[3]
• 1250 – A royal act assigns rents in Flanders.^[2][1]
• 1391 – A royal tally records a large assignment.^[6]
• 1436 – Leonardo Bruni and Enea Silvio Piccolomini use it of assigned securities.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) The assignment of a rent or annuity on a definite source of revenue, especially of a dower.^[4][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) An order to pay, a delegation of payment.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A pledge, a rent or income set on land as security.^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin) An assignment, a grant (of money).^[6][5]
5. (Medieval Latin) A decree, an edict.^[3]

Related words

• assīgnātiō
• sīgnum

References

1. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
2. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
4. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
6. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press