- signature (n.)
- 1530s, a kind of document in Scottish law, from Middle French signature (16c.), from Medieval Latin signatura "sign," in classical Latin "the matrix of a seal," from signatus, past participle of signare "to mark, sign" (see sign (v.)). Meaning "one's own name written in one's own hand" is from 1570s, replacing sign-manual (early 15c.) in this sense.