significatio

Forms

significātiō f (genitive significātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin significō (“to show by signs”) + -tiō.^[2][1] The verb is from sīgnum (“sign”) and faciō (“to make”);^[1] de Vaan traces sīgnum to Proto-Italic *sekno- (“statue, sign”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek-no- (“cut”), with a shift from “what is carved out” to “sign”.^[3] Cognate with Oscan segúnú (“statues”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero;^[4] the Rhetorica ad Herennium of the same years defines exclamation as what conveys a sign of grief or indignation.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the giving of signs or signals, as in Caesar's “a signal was made with fires”, and the conveying of information, as in Cicero's god who would use dreams in vain.^[2] It is also an outward sign or expression, of omens and portents and of feeling shown by applause at assemblies.^[2] In speech and writing it is a hint or suggestion, and in rhetoric the figure that suggests more than the words say.^[2] From Varro on it is the meaning or sense of a word.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “sign, mark, meaning”,^[5] and in medieval documents it is the sealing of a charter.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar of signals made with fires.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of signs, omens and applause.^[2][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of the meaning of a word.^[2][4]
• Middle Ages – Of the sealing of a charter.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A signal, the giving of signs; the conveying of information.^[2][7][1]
2. An outward sign, expression, token; a sign given by omens; applause.^[2][7][1]
3. A hint, suggestion; in rhetoric, a figure that suggests more than is said.^[2]
4. The meaning or sense of a word.^[2][7][1]
5. (Medieval Latin) The sealing of a document.^[6]

Related words

• significō
• sīgnum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press