Etymologically
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signum

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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
  • 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