registrum

Forms

registrum n (genitive registrī); second declension^[1] Medieval spellings include regestrum, regesterum and registerium.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin regesta (“list, records”) + -trum, built on the participle stem of regerō (“to carry back; to record”).^[4][1][5] The TLL explains the ending as the instrumental suffix ⟨-trum⟩, as in haustrum beside hauriō, and the ⟨i⟩ as taken from a variant ⟨regista⟩ of ⟨regesta⟩; some scholars instead trace the Romance forms to regestum.^[4]

It is the source of Old Italian legistro, French registre and Spanish registro,^[4] and through Old French of English register.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is as the title of the collection of the letters of Gregory the Great.^[4] The word does not occur in Gregory himself, but Ildefonsus of Toledo, in a chapter that may be spurious, says that Gregory divided his letters into twelve books and decided that they should be called registrum.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin it was any book into which documents, letters, customs, forms of procedure or lists of names were copied: a register.^[3][2] It also named a collection of an author's works, and in English courts the list of cases to be heard on a given day.^[3] Later writers went on calling Gregory's letters the registrum.^[3]

Timeline

• 1278 – A register of original writs is cited in an English court.^[3]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as register.^[5]
• 1419 – London orders its customs to be enrolled in a register and read out once or twice a year.^[3]
• 1506 – Oxford statutes refer to the university's oldest registers.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A register, a book in which documents, letters or names are recorded.^[3][1][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) The collection of the letters of Gregory the Great.^[4][3]
3. (Medieval Latin, law) The list of cases to be heard by a court on a given day.^[3]

Related words

• regerō
• gerō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
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. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com