subsigno

Forms

subsignō (present infinitive subsignāre, perfect active subsignāvī, supine subsignātum); first conjugation^[1] An inscription has the spelling ⟨sups-⟩.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin sub- (“under”) + signō (“to mark”).^[2][1] De Vaan derives signō from signum (“sign”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *sekno- (“statue, sign”), a derivative of the root of secō (“to cut”), so first “what is cut out”.^[3] Cognate with Oscan segúnú (“statues”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in a law preserved in an inscription (CIL 1.585) and in Cicero's speeches on the agrarian law and for Flaccus, of property registered with the treasury as security.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is to write something beneath, as a signature or an addition: Pliny the Elder appends Cato's own words to his rules, and Festus notes that subsignāre is still said for subscrībere.^[2][4] Lewis and Short find it mostly after Augustus.^[4]

In law it meant to register real estate as security for an obligation, usually one's own, and in general to guarantee a payment:^[2] Valerius Maximus tells of a man who lost as a fine three iūgera he had pledged to the treasury for a friend, and the jurist Callistratus speaks of property pledged to the imperial treasury.^[2][5] Figuratively, Pliny the Younger uses it of pledging his word for someone's character.^[2][4] It continues in Romanian subsemna.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of property registered as security.^[2][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of writing words beneath.^[2][6]
• 2nd half of the 2nd century AD – Festus glosses it with subscrībere.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To write beneath, undersign, add as a signature.^[2][4]
2. (law) To register real estate as security for an obligation; to guarantee payment of.^[2]
3. To pledge (one's word), promise solemnly.^[2][4]

Word family

• subsignātiō

Related words

• signum

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de