signator Latin · revision 36782

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=86–34 BC, Sallust|origins=la signum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [sɪŋˈnaː.tɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [siɲˈɲaː.tor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''signātor''' ''m'' (genitive signātōris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|signō|-tor|t1=to mark, seal]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) De Vaan lists the verb, from Plautus on, among the derivatives of [[m|la|signum|t=sign, mark]],^(de Vaan 2008) which goes back to [[itc-pro|*sekno-|t=statue, sign]] and [[ine-pro|*sek(h₂)-no-|t=cut]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Sallust,^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012) who in the ''Catiline'' speaks of supplying false witnesses and sealers of documents (''testīs signātōrēsque falsōs commodāre'').^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis & Short note that it is not in Cicero and is mostly post-Augustan.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It was the witness who sealed a will, as in Suetonius, Valerius Maximus and the Digest, and Juvenal calls a forger a ''signātor falsō''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Juvenal also uses it of the witnesses to a marriage contract.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) An inscription has it, perhaps, for an official who stamped bars of metal in the mint;^(OLD 2012) Lewis & Short and Georges take it as a coiner.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Augustine uses it of one who marks something out.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ In medieval Latin it could mean a chancellor,^(Niermeyer 1976) and in Britain an official in charge of sealing documents in the chancery and, in astrology, a planet that signifies something.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of those who seal documents as witnesses.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of forgers of wills and of witnesses to a marriage.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of witnesses to wills.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of one who marks out.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1521 – In England it names a sealer in the chancery.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|witness]] who seals a document, especially a [[m|en|will]]; also a witness to a marriage contract.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(perhaps)'' An official who stamped bars of assayed metal in the mint; a [[m|en|coiner]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' One who marks or designates.^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|chancellor]]; an official who seals documents in a chancery.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin, astrology)'' A planet that signifies something.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[signō]]

+ * [[signum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}