Etymologically
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manuscriptum

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Forms

manūscriptum n (genitive manūscriptī); second declension[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin manus (“hand”) + scrībō (“to write”).[3][1] Etymonline traces the medieval noun to the phrase ⟨manū scrīptus⟩ “written by hand”, with the ablative of the noun and the past participle of the verb.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first record is a royal diploma of 1039,[1] where it means a charter, a deed made valid by its signature.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In German diplomas and cartularies of the 11th and 12th centuries it was a charter or title deed: a donation was confirmed “by our manuscriptum” and sealed.[3] Niermeyer glosses it simply as a charter.[5]

In later medieval Latin, as in Hungary, it was a document written in the author's own hand, an autograph.[6] Ecclesiastical and modern Latin use it for a manuscript,[2][1] and English borrowed the word in that sense around 1600.[4]

Timeline

  • 1039 – A royal diploma uses it of a charter.[1]
  • 1064 – A diploma of Henry IV asks that a donation be confirmed by manuscriptum.[3]
  • 1129 – A diploma of Lothar III orders a manuscriptum to be made and sealed.[3]
  • 1590s – English uses manuscript as an adjective, “handwritten”, and as a noun c. 1600.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A charter, a deed or title of property validated by its signature.[5][3]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A document written in one's own hand, an autograph.[6]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin, New Latin) A manuscript.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  2. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  3. ^ a b c d e f Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE