denoto

Forms

dēnotō (present infinitive dēnotāre, perfect active dēnotāvī, supine dēnotātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + notō (“to mark”).^[2][3][4] Wiktionary traces notō to nōscō (“to know”),^[1] but de Vaan holds that nota (“mark”), from which the verb is derived, cannot come from the root of that verb, and leaves its origin open.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first instance is in Cicero's speech on the Manilian law, of someone who by one message and one letter marked out Roman citizens to be killed, though the TLL notes a variant reading there; otherwise it is found from Livy on.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense was to mark something: Pliny the Elder says the ancestors marked with chalk the feet of slaves brought for sale from overseas, and Seneca uses it of a painter laying on colours.^[3][2] From marking it came to mean pointing out or indicating, in Seneca the Elder with a finger, and implying: Livy says the senate plainly meant the Icilii.^[2][6][7] Velleius and Tacitus use it of observing closely,^[2][6] and Seneca and Suetonius of censuring or branding with reproach.^[2][6]

Tertullian uses it often.^[3] In Christian Latin it could mean to condemn, as in the Vulgate's Ecclesiasticus, and to punish, in Augustine.^[7][6] Ecclesiastical Latin also has the sense to denote or specify.^[8] English took it over in the 1590s, through French dénoter, as denote.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero's speech on the Manilian law may have the first instance.^[3][9]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of implying someone.^[2][6][9]
• c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius uses it of observing.^[2][9]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of laying on colours and of censure.^[2][9]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of marking slaves' feet with chalk.^[3][9]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it often.^[3][9]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of condemning.^[7][6][9]
• 1590s – English borrows it through French as denote.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a mark on, mark.^[2][6]
2. To lay on (colours).^[2]
3. To point out, indicate.^[2][6]
4. To mean, imply, allude to.^[2][7]
5. To mark down, observe.^[2][6]
6. To censure, disparage, brand with reproach.^[2][6]
7. (Late Latin) To condemn; to punish.^[7]
8. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To denote, specify.^[8]

Word family

• dēnotātiō
• denotatus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de