A note on Latin nota ‘mark, sign’
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Ranko Matasović
Abstract
In this short etymological note, we derive Lat. nota ‘mark, sign’ from the PIE root *gnet- ‘press, knead’ (OE cnedan, OCS gnetǫ, etc.). It is argued that nota < *gnoteh 2 initially denoted impressed or branded marks, in contradistinction to signum < *seknom (from the root of secō ‘cut’), which denoted carved or incised signs.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Clausal versus phrasal comparatives in Latin
- More on the collapse of contrastive vowel length in late Latin: a review of the metalinguistic evidence
- A note on Latin nota ‘mark, sign’
- A new hypothesis on the etymology of Lat. mulier ∼eris ‘woman’
- On the etymology of Latin signum and its Sabellic counterparts
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Clausal versus phrasal comparatives in Latin
- More on the collapse of contrastive vowel length in late Latin: a review of the metalinguistic evidence
- A note on Latin nota ‘mark, sign’
- A new hypothesis on the etymology of Lat. mulier ∼eris ‘woman’
- On the etymology of Latin signum and its Sabellic counterparts
