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dissignatio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word dissignatio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin dissignō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin signo
French signer
Latin dissignatio
From the same root
Latin consigno ← signo
Latin designo ← signo
Latin insigno ← signo
Latin resigno ← signo
Latin signator ← signo
Latin subsigno ← signo

Forms

dissignātiō f (genitive dissignātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + signō (“to mark”) + -tiō,[1] or, as the TLL, Georges and Gaffiot put it, from the verb dissignō (“to arrange, order”).[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Cicero,[5][1] who in De natura deorum has a speaker ask for the whole plan and apparatus of a work.[1][2] Some manuscripts there read des-.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Besides “plan, arrangement”,[1][3] the word named the office of the dissignator, an official who acted as master of ceremonies at funerals;[1] the Lex Iulia municipalis lists it beside the herald's trade and undertaking.[1][2] The TLL also records a use in Arnobius that it explains as wrongdoing, perhaps for des-.[2]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for the plan of a work.[1][5]
  • 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it in a sense the TLL explains as wrongdoing.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Plan, arrangement.[1][3][4][6]
  2. The office of the dissignator, the master of ceremonies at funerals.[1][3][4]
  3. (Late Latin) Wrongdoing (perhaps a reading for dēsignātiō).[2]

Usage notes

Lewis & Short treat it as another form of dēsignātiō.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Dissignatio.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/dissignatio. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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