signum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈsɪŋ.nũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsiɲ.ɲum]^[1]

Forms

signum n (genitive signī); second declension^[1] Georges records an Old Latin seignom, and Köbler the medieval spellings singnum and cignum.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *sekno- (“statue, sign”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *sek(h₂)-no- (“cut”), a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”), the root of secāre, so that the original sense was “what is cut out or carved”; the OLD likewise analyses it as the verb with the suffix -num.^[4][5][1] Cognate with Marrucinian asignas (“cut meat”) and Oscan segúnú (“statue”), with the Oscan verb seganatted “marked”, and perhaps with Marsian seino (“statue”).^[4] De Vaan notes that, since a laryngeal in the root would have left an unsyncopated vowel, the derivative may have been formed from the Italic root at a late stage.^[4]

Wiktionary and Etymonline report Watkins's alternative, Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ-no- “standard that one follows”, from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”).^[1][6] Lewis and Short compared a Sanskrit root meaning “to cling to”.^[7] Sigillum is the diminutive *segno-lo- “small sign”, and sīgnāre and īnsīgnis are derived from the noun.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is attested from Naevius onwards.^[4] In Plautus it already means a seal, a distinguishing mark, a recognition token, a statue and a constellation, and Ennius uses it of an omen and of the starter's signal at the games.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense was a mark made to show position or ownership, hence a seal or signet, a distinguishing feature, the tokens by which an exposed child was recognized, a nickname, and a mark on the body.^[5][7] It then meant any indication from which something is inferred: presumptive evidence in rhetoric, a weather sign or symptom, an omen, a trace, a gesture, a military signal, a password, a symbol, a shop sign.^[5]

The military standard was a signum, and the plural signa stood for active service (sub signis), for allegiance to a commander and for the lines of an army, and by metonymy a signum was a maniple.^[5] Another group of senses is the carved or cast figure: a statue, a figure in relief or in a painting, and a constellation or sign of the zodiac.^[5][8]

Christian Latin used it for a miracle and for the sign of the cross, which Lactantius calls signum crucis;^[1][9][2] medieval texts have it for a king's monogram, a hand-mark, a milestone or boundary mark, a gesture of monastic sign language, a battle cry, and the ringing of a bell or the bell itself, whence Portuguese sino “bell”.^[10][3][1] The Romance languages keep it as Italian segno, French seing and signe, Spanish seña and Romanian semn,^[1] and English sign came through Old French in the early 13th century, first as a gesture of the hand.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a seal, a token, a statue and a constellation.^[5][3]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of an omen and of the starting signal.^[5][3]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a mark on a cutting.^[5][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of statues, of military standards and of signs of the zodiac.^[5][3]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius writes of the signum crucis.^[2][3]
• 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours has medieval senses.^[3]
• early 13th century – English Sign is borrowed into English.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mark showing position or ownership, and in geometry a point.^[5]
2. A seal, a signet.^[5][7]
3. A distinguishing mark or feature; a recognition token; a nickname.^[5]
4. A sign from which something is inferred, an indication, and in rhetoric presumptive evidence.^[5][7]
5. A weather sign, a symptom; an omen.^[5]
6. A trace.^[5]
7. A gesture; a signal; a password.^[5][7]
8. A symbol, an emblem; a shop sign.^[5]
9. A military standard, and by metonymy a maniple.^[5][7]
10. A statue; a figure in relief or in a painting.^[5][7]
11. A constellation; a sign of the zodiac.^[5][7]
12. (Christian Latin) A miracle; the sign of the cross.^[1][9][2]
13. (Medieval Latin) A king's monogram; a hand-mark; a milestone; a boundary mark; a monastic sign-language gesture; a battle cry; a bell.^[10][3]

Word family

• īnsignis
• praesignis
• sigillum
• signārius
• signifer
• signifex
• signipotens
• signitenens
• signō
• multisignis
• signāle
• significō

Related words

• signātūra
• secō
• English sign
• English signal
• English seal

Usage notes

Döderlein sets signum, statua and effigiēs, plastic works, against imāgō and simulācrum, representations of any kind.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill