From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordSignator primarily names one who makes, impresses, or assigns signs.
- In the workThe human signator assigns marks which communicate identity, office, value, or contents.
- In this editionNote 97 explicitly identifies the reader/judge sense at 9.P033, against the maker sense of the opening.
- A place to read“tres hoc modo signatores”
Meaning
Signator primarily names one who makes, impresses, or assigns signs. The opening enumerates human being, Archaeus, and stars as signators. In the paragraph on manners and gestures, however, the same word names a reader or judge who can be deceived. This local change of role is essential: producer and interpreter are not always the same agent, and an English gloss limited to either one would misread part of the book.
Use in the book
The human signator assigns marks which communicate identity, office, value, or contents. An artisan marks a product; an official marks inspected cloth; an alchemist labels vessels. These examples make sign-making a deliberate act of disclosure and coordination. The Archaeus and the stars extend agency into nature: signs are attributed to formative powers rather than human convention. The umbilical-knot passage later explicitly names the Archaeus as signator, completing a distinction announced at the beginning.
Adam occupies a special position. He is called the first signator because his names supposedly came from true inward knowledge and were approved by God. His sign-making is therefore not presented as arbitrary labelling. It provides a model in which linguistic designation and the thing’s nature coincide.
The interpreter sense appears when mutable manners and gestures can deceive the signator. Here the text tells that person what evidence to attend to, making him a reader rather than a maker. The edition correctly renders the function rather than mechanically repeating one English definition. These shifts also clarify the book’s epistemic problem: signs may be authored by one agency, encountered by another, and misread through inadequate skill or deliberate disguise. The maker’s asserted authority does not by itself guarantee the reader’s judgement.
Places to read
- Book 9 · Signature · Passage 2Latin“tres hoc modo signatores” The opening names three producing agents.
- Book 9 · Signature · Passage 33Latin“ut Signatori fucum faciant” The signator here is someone deceived in interpretation.
- Book 9 · Signature · Passage 59Latin“Adam Signator primus” Adamic naming gives the human signator an exemplary origin.
- Book 9 · Signature · Passage 63Latin“Archeus signator est” A later example identifies the natural formative maker.
Translation in this edition
Note 97 explicitly identifies the reader/judge sense at 9.P033, against the maker sense of the opening. Note 110 confirms that the Archaeus is expressly the signator in the umbilical passage.