signum
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English
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin signum. Doublet of sign.
Pronunciation
Noun
signum (plural signa or signums)
- A sign, mark, or symbol.
- (history) A medieval tower bell used particularly for ringing the eight canonical hours.
- Synonym: signum bell
- (mathematics) A function that extracts the sign of a real number x, yielding -1 if x is negative, +1 if x is positive, or 0 if x is zero.
- Synonyms: signum function, sign function
Related terms
References
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., "Bell".
- ^ Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Music, Vol. 2, p. 452.
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *seknom, from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”) or *sekʷ- (“to follow”).
Pronunciation
Noun
signum n (genitive signī); second declension
- visible indication: sign, mark, signal
- seal, signet
- emblem, ensign
- watchword
- symptom, prognostic
- miracle, miraculous work, sign
- statue, figure
- 70 BCE, Cicero, In Verrem 2.1.46:
- Delum venit. Ibi ex fano Apollinis religiosissimo noctu clam sustulit signa pulcherrima atque antiquissima, eaque in onerariam navem suam conicienda curavit.
- He went to Delos. There, from that holiest temple of Apollo, at night, he secretly took away the most beautiful and ancient statues, and made sure to have them loaded on board his own ship.
- Delum venit. Ibi ex fano Apollinis religiosissimo noctu clam sustulit signa pulcherrima atque antiquissima, eaque in onerariam navem suam conicienda curavit.
- (chiefly poetic) constellation; sign in the heavens, heavenly sign
- (Medieval Latin) signum (medieval tower bell used particularly for ringing the 8 canonical hours)
- (Medieval Latin) the cross of Jesus Christ & Christianity.
- 12th c., Honorius Augustodunensis, Gemma animae 1.57, (from du Cange, Glossarium mediæ et infimæ latinitatis, page 482a):
- Tribus autem digitis signa facimus, quia Trinitatem exprimimus.
- We perform these signings of the cross with three fingers, because we represent the Trinity with it.
- Tribus autem digitis signa facimus, quia Trinitatem exprimimus.
Declension
Second-declension noun (neuter).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | signum | signa |
| Genitive | signī | signōrum |
| Dative | signō | signīs |
| Accusative | signum | signa |
| Ablative | signō | signīs |
| Vocative | signum | signa |
Hyponyms
- signum interrogationis (?)
- signum exclamationis (!)
- signum citationis („“)
- signum divisionis (- resp. ⸗, to divide)
- signum subunionis (- resp. ⸗, to unite)
- signum productionis (¯)
- signum correptionis (˘)
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- Aromanian: semnu
- Catalan: senya
- Friulian: segn
- Italian: segno
- → English: segno
- Old French: seing
- French: seing
- Old Occitan: senh
- Old Galician-Portuguese: sino
- Piedmontese: segn
- Portuguese: senha
- Romanian: semn
- Romansch: segn
- Sardinian: semmu, semu
- Sicilian: signu
- Spanish: seña
- Sicilian: sinna
- Venetian: ségno
- → Albanian: shenjë
- → Ancient Greek: σίγνον (sígnon)
- → Catalan: signe
- → English: signum
- → Esperanto: signo
- → Galician: signo
- → Ido: signo
- → Interlingua: signo
- → Old English: segn
- → Old French: signe
- → Old High German: segan
- → Old Irish: sén
- → Portuguese: signo
- → Spanish: sino, signo
- → Proto-Brythonic: *suɨɣn
References
- “signum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “signum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- signum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- (ambiguous) to follow the standards: signa sequi (opp. a signis discedere, signa relinquere)
- to demand loudly the signal to engage: signum proelii (committendi) exposcere (B. G. 7. 19)
- to give the signal to engage: signum proelii dare
- to fight hand-to-hand, at close quarters: collatis signis (viribus) pugnare
- (ambiguous) statues and pictures: signa et tabulae (pictae)
- (ambiguous) to begin the march, break up the camp: signa ferre, tollere
- (ambiguous) to deviate, change the direction: signa convertere (B. G. 1. 25)
- (ambiguous) to follow the standards: signa sequi (opp. a signis discedere, signa relinquere)
- (ambiguous) to pluck up the standards out of the ground (to begin the march): signa convellere (vid. sect. XVI. 6, note signa...)
- (ambiguous) to attack the enemy: signa inferre in hostem
- (ambiguous) to come to close quarters: signa conferre cum hoste
- (ambiguous) the retreat is sounded: signa receptui canunt
- (ambiguous) to follow the standards: signa sequi (opp. a signis discedere, signa relinquere)
- “signum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “signum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
- Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “sĭgnum”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 11: S–Si, page 605