obsignator

Forms

obsignātor m (genitive obsignātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin obsignō (“to seal up”) + -tor (“agent suffix”), “one who seals”.^[2][3][4] The verb is built on signō (“to mark, seal”), from signum (“mark, sign”), which de Vaan takes back to Proto-Italic *sekno- (“statue, sign”) and Proto-Indo-European *sek(h2)-no- (“cut”), a derivative of the root of secō (“to cut”): what is carved out became a sign.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero,^[3][4] who uses it of the witnesses who set their seals on a will (Pro Cluentio 37) and of the person who sealed a letter (Pro Cluentio 186).^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed rare and close to the law courts: Cicero speaks of the sealers of a will (testamenti) and, in the Pro Flacco, of the sealer of a settlement (decisionis).^[6][4] In the TLL's quotations it stands beside the author of a letter and the witness, as one of the people who vouch for a document.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the witnesses who seal a will and of the sealer of a letter.^[6][4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who puts a seal on something, especially as a witness to a will or other document.^[2][6]
2. The one who seals up a letter.^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press