Etymologically
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subsigno

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sʊpˈsɪŋ.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [subˈsiɲ.ɲo][1]

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

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