Etymologically
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chirographum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kʰiːˈrɔ.ɡra.pʰũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kiˈrɔː.ɡra.fum][1]

Forms

chīrographum n (genitive chīrographī); second declension[1] It is also spelled chīrografum.[2] A masculine chīrographus and a Greek-form neuter chīrographon also occur.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek χειρόγραφον (kheirógraphon, “handwriting; bond”).[2][3][4] Köbler explains the Greek word from χείρ (kheír, “hand”) and γράφω (gráphō, “to write”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is frequent in Cicero, who uses it of a person's own handwriting: in the second Philippic he asks by what witness he is to be convicted: by his handwriting?[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From one's own handwriting it came to mean a document written by one's own hand, as in the Brutus and in Plancus' letter to Cicero, where he trusted another man's handwritten assurances.[2][3] In business and law it was a bond or acknowledgement of debt under one's own hand, which Lewis & Short distinguish from the syngrapha and do not find in Cicero;[3] Gaius, the Digest, Suetonius and Gellius use it so.[3] A masculine chīrographus occurs in Quintilian.[2][3] In Medieval Latin it is a subscription, a deed or charter, the word written across an indenture, and an indenture itself.[5] Stelten gives “handwriting, bond”.[6] English has chirograph, a formal written legal document, from the late 13th century in Anglo-French.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of handwriting and of handwritten documents.[2][3][4]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius, of a written bond.[3][4]
  • late 13th century – An Anglo-French chirograph, a formal legal document.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. One's own handwriting, autograph.[2][3][1]
  2. A document written in a person's own hand, a manuscript; a written assurance.[2][3][1]
  3. (law, business) A bond or acknowledgement of debt under one's own hand.[2][3]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A subscription; a deed, charter; an indenture.[5]
  • English chirograph
  • English chirography

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com