autographus

Forms

autographus (feminine autographa, neuter autographum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek αὐτόγραφος (autógraphos, “written with one's own hand”).^[2][3][1] The Greek word is a compound of αὐτός (autós, “self”) and the stem of γράφω (gráphō, “to write”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Suetonius is the first to use it, in his life of Augustus, of a letter and of notes written in the emperor's own hand.^[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

The adjective stayed rare: after Suetonius it is used by Theodosius, writing to Ausonius, of sending him a familiar note in his own hand.^[5][7] The neuter autographum, used as a noun for an author's own manuscript, is found in Symmachus.^[6][5]

Timeline

• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius speaks of letters written in Augustus' own hand.^[5][4]
• c. 340–402 AD – Symmachus uses the neuter as a noun for an original manuscript.^[6][5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Written with one's own hand, autograph, holograph.^[2][6]

Word family

• autographum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn