autographum

Forms

autographum n (genitive autographī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin autographus (“written with one's own hand”), used as a noun in the neuter.^[1][2] The adjective, which Suetonius uses of letters, is from Ancient Greek αὐτόγραφος (autógraphos) of the same meaning.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Symmachus, in the sense of a document in a person's own handwriting.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Ecclesiastical Latin it named an author's own copy, the original written document.^[4] The medieval Latin of Poland used it for a person's handwriting, a letter written in his own hand.^[5]

English took autograph in the 1640s for an author's own manuscript, and in 1791, through French, for a person's signature;^[6] Etymonline traces it to the Late Latin word.^[6] Many European languages borrowed it as well (German Autograph, Polish autograf).^[1]

Timeline

• c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus uses it for a document in one's own hand.^[2]
• 1640s – English autograph for an author's own manuscript.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A document written in one's own hand, an autograph.^[2][1]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An author's own copy, the original document.^[4]

Related words

• autographus
• chīrographum
• English autograph

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com