consigno Latin · revision 33368

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=itc-pro *sekno-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [kõːˈsɪŋ.noː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [konˈsiɲ.ɲo]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cōnsignō''' (present infinitive cōnsignāre, perfect active cōnsignāvī, supine cōnsignātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+ The spelling ''cosign-'' appears in an inscription.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|con-|signō|t2=to mark, seal]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) [[m|la|signō]] is made from [[m|la|signum|t=mark, sign]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*sekno-|t=statue, sign]] and [[ine-pro|*sek(h2)-no-|t=cut]], from the root of [[m|la|secō|t=to cut]]: a sign was first something cut or carved out.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[osc|segúnú|t=statues]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and the TLL record it from Plautus on.^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) In the ''Trinummus'' a speaker says he will seal the letters: ''epistulas … consignabo''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense is to put a seal on a document: Plautus has sealed tablets, Cicero tablets sealed with the seals of noblemen, and Suetonius the tablets of a marriage contract.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Livy it is to record something in a sealed document, as when everything was sealed and sent to the senate.^(OLD 2012) From this it came to mean placing on record in any way and so attesting or vouching for: Cicero speaks of antiquity attested and recorded in monuments, and of judgements of the senate recorded in the public records of the Roman people.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero also uses it for fixing something precisely, as the motion of time to be marked by the stars, and of notions stamped, as it were, on minds.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Gellius uses it of making a cause known, and has the adverb ''consignātē'', distinctly.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ The TLL notes that Christian writers were fond of the word.^(TLL) From Tertullian on it means to seal a person with a sacrament, to confirm with the chrism, to consecrate, and to mark with the sign of the cross.^(TLL) Medieval Latin keeps these senses beside sealing and signing charters, and also uses it for assigning or handing over property.^(MLW) Church Latin glosses it to sign, record, seal, certify.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of sealing letters and tablets.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of recording in public registers and of attesting.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of documents sealed and sent to the senate.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian, of one initiated and sealed in the Christian mysteries.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * mid-15th century – English [[m|en|consign]], first “to ratify by a seal”, comes partly from it and partly through French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To affix a [[m|en|seal]] to, to seal (a document).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To record in a sealed document; to place on [[m|en|record]], register, note down.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To [[m|en|attest]], certify, vouch for.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # To indicate precisely, establish.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' To seal with a sacrament, [[m|en|confirm]] with the chrism; to mark with the sign of the [[m|en|cross]].^(TLL)^(MLW)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' To assign, hand over (property).^(MLW)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cōnsignātiō]]

+ * [[reconsigno]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[signum]]

+ * [[obsignō]]

+ * [[en|consign]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}