Titulus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An inscription or label used in texts, especially in ancient manuscripts or monuments
2. A formal title or heading that designates specific content or authority
3. A designation linked to roles or themes in religious or legal contexts

Etymology: Latin "titulus" meant an inscription, label or placard, and it is from that sense that the English word "titulus" (in the sense of a designation attached to a role or theme) was drawn. The same Latin noun gave English a whole family of words that look unrelated at first glance. "Title" came through Old French, "tilde" arrived from Spanish and was once written as a small "t" placed over a letter, and "tittle" is the dot over an "i" or "j". Each of these is a doublet, meaning two forms of one Latin source that entered the language by different routes. The shared thread is the idea of a small marked sign. A tittle is a tiny mark, a tilde is a wavy diacritic, and a title is a label that names what something is. A titulus in the Latin sense was exactly such a label, and that explains why the word could move easily from a physical sign to an abstract designation. Its use in religious and legal settings follows the same logic: a formal name given to a person or office identifies them in the way a placard identifies an object.