Disputatio Categoriae:Signa mercatoria

Libellus mercatorius = little book of trading?--Rafaelgarcia

The "trade" bit is OK, I take it. I was hoping "libellus" (sense 10 in Lewis & Short: "attestation, certificate") would cover the idea of "registered ... mark". By all means suggest a better term! It's easy to change at this stage. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 17:16, 19 Octobris 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I see what you are trying for:trademark. There seem to be many different terms attested ... Morgan gives

trademark (registered) / signum legitimum [Soc. Lat.] (Helf.)
trademark / ergasterii (v. officinae) nota (LRL)
trademark / signum mercatorum [s.18]; nota mercatorum [s.17]; signum mercatorium | registered trademark / signum inscriptum; nota inscripta [Vox Lat.] (Helf.)
trademark nota; propium, symbolus (Lev.)
tradename / nota commercialis [Vox Lat.] (Helf.)

and Redmond gives

trademark : ergasterii or officinae nota, signum mercatorium

So that everyone agrees either nota or signum best translates the mark part. I would personally suggest "signum mercatorium" although "nota mercatoria" seems to be as good, signum suggests to me the battle standard and corporate competition.--Rafaelgarcia 21:40, 19 Octobris 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I think I agree. I'll wait a day or so in case others have opinions ... Thanks for checking. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 21:45, 19 Octobris 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ex Taberna: Cicero has signa et notae locorum, implying a difference between the words, but what is it? The examples listed in Cassell's suggest, at least to this reader, that nota would be better for a sign in the sense of a brand or trademark, whereas signum would be better for a sign in the sense of a standard or banner: the former seems more like a design; the latter, something on which the design is displayed. IacobusAmor (disputatio) 18:08, 9 Augusti 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure, and I'll be quite happy whichever we decide, but my first impulse would be to make the opposite deduction :) A signum, to me, would be the design or concept, the Platonic ideal -- as produced by a designer, accepted by the company, and registered by the people who register things -- while a "nota" would be the written/printed implementation of it. Hence a "nota postalica" (an example you have adduced, but it must be somewhere else, I don't know where) is a printed thing, a stamp. So, if we're primarily talking about the design (and secondarily all the things that exemplify it) we're talking primarily about the signum. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 09:24, 10 Augusti 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You're talking philosophy; I was working from the examples in Cassell's. So let's string together the glosses there, omitting a few idioms: nota = 'a mark, note, token, sign; distinguishing mark; marks in writing; letters, characters; marks of punctuation; cypher; a writing, letter; a distinguishing mark made on an object; a branded mark, brand; disgrace, shame, ignominy; a mark on a cask of wine or honey (to mark the quality, vintage, etc.); brand, sort, quality; a critical mark in a book (to express approval or disapproval); the censor's mark of disgrace, placed against a citizen's name'; signum = 'a sign, mark, token; a standard, banner, ensign; a signal, order, command; a watchword, password; a signal for races to begin; an indication of the future, a warning, symptom; a physical representation of a person or thing; a figure, image, statue, esp. a seal, signet; a group of stars, constellation'. IacobusAmor (disputatio) 10:50, 10 Augusti 2012 (UTC)[reply]