symbolus

Pronunciation

• Classical: [ˈsym.bɔ.ɫʊs]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [ˈsim.bo.lus]^[1]

Forms

symbolus m (genitive symbolī); second declension^[1] The manuscripts of Plautus also have sumbolus, symbulus and simbolus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon, “token”) or its masculine σύμβολος (súmbolos),^[4][3][5] from συμβάλλω (sumbállō, “to throw together”), a compound of σύν (sún, “together”) and βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).^[3] Wiktionary takes the masculine as a change of gender from the neuter symbolum.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[3][6] for a token that proved who sent a messenger: in the Pseudolus a soldier has left a token here, his likeness pressed in wax from his ring (miles hic reliquit symbolum, expressam in cera ex anulo suam imaginem).^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

In Plautus it is one of two matching objects held by the parties to an agreement, usually the impression of a signet, which the other party's agent had to show to prove who he was.^[4] Cato, in a speech, says he never issued travel permits so that his friends might make money through such warrants (per symbolos).^[4][6] Pliny the Elder reports that Greeks and Romans later called the signet ring itself symbolus.^[4][6][5]

In Christian Latin, with the neuter symbolum, it named the creed, the profession of faith.^[7][1][5] In medieval Latin Köbler also records the sense of an obligation to provide board.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a token proving a messenger's identity.^[4][3]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of an official warrant.^[4][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a signet ring.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A token, one of two matching objects (usually the impression of a signet) that proved the identity of a party's agent.^[4][6]
2. A signet ring.^[4][8]
3. An official warrant, permit.^[4][8]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The creed.^[7][1]

Usage notes

Gaffiot notes that the masculine symbolus and the neuter symbolum often cannot be told apart.^[2] The Vulgate uses the plural in Proverbs in the sense of symbola.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier