Etymograph

English

sign

Sign comes from Middle English signe, from Old English seġn, from Latin signum ‘a mark’, from Proto-Italic *segnom.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*segnomreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsignum‘a mark’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150seġn‘sign’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500signe
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1603sign

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*segnomreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsignum‘a mark’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150seġn‘sign’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500signe
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1603sign

Earliest quotation: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “And why not, as well as our dumbe men…”

The story

Partially displaced native token.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut’

saw, sex, risk, section, ship, sexual, segment, sack, insect, scarlet, sawyer, sax, het, shingle, dissect, sickle, scythe, seg, sedge, sich, desiccation, brassica, desiccant, 59 more

through Proto-Italic *segnom

sealing, designation, assignation, 23 more

through Latin signum ‘a mark’

seal, insignia, sain, sigil, 15 more

Another origin of sign

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sek-‘to cut’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*segnomreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsignum‘a mark, sign’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsignāre‘to mark, seal, indicate, signify’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400signer‘to sign’
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150seġnian‘to mark’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500signen
  8. Englishtodaysign

Today it means

noun A visible fact that shows that something exists or may happen.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *segnom / sign

Shirt and support for this word