Signet is the rendering in the A. V. of Dnn, cho- fhdni (Gen. xxxviii, 18; Exod. xxviii, 11, 21,36; xxxix, 6, 14, 30; Jer. xxii, 24; Hag. ii, 23), or T^nh, cholhe- meth (fem. of the same, only in Gen. xxxviii, 25), a seal, as elsewhere rendered; and of the Chald. XpTS', izkd, the same (Dan. vi, 17 [18J) ; both so called from being engraved; also of acppay'tQ, Tob. i, 22; Ecclus. xvii, 22; xxxii, 6; xlix, 11 ; Bel 11 ; 1 Mace, vi, 15, a seal, as elsewhere rendered.
The importance attached to seals in the East is so great that without one no document is regarded as au- thentic (Layard, A'trt. and Bub. p. 608 ; Chardin, Voyages, V, 454). The use of some method of sealing is obvious- ly, therefore, of remote antiquity. Among such meth- ods used in Egypt at a very early period were engraved stones, pierced through their length and hung by a string or chain from the arm or neck, or set in rings for the finger. The most ancient form used for this purpose was the scarabfeus, formed of precious or common stone, or even of blue pottery or porcelain, on the flat side of which the inscription or device was engraved. Cylin- ders of stone or pottery bearing devices were also used as signets. One in the Alnwick Museum bears the date of Osirtasen I, or between 2000 and 3000 B.C. Besides finger-rings, the Egyptians, and also the Assyrians and Babylonians, made use of cylinders of precious stone or terra-cotta, which were probably set in a frame and rolled over the document which was to be sealed. The document, especially among the two latter nations, was itself often made of baked clay, sealed while it was wet and burned afterwards. But in many cases the seal con- sisted of a lump of clay, impressed with the seal and at- tached to the document, whether of papjTus or other material, by strings. These clay lumps often bear the impress of the finger, and also the remains of the strings by which they were fastened. One such found at Nimriul was the seal of Sabaco, king of Egypt, B.C. 711, and another is believed by Mr. Layard to have been the seal of Sennacherib, of nearly the same date (Birch, Hist, of Pottery, i, 101, 118; Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt, ii, 341, 364; Layard, Kin. and Bab. p. 154-160). In a somewhat similar manner doors of tombs or other places intended to be closed were sealed with lumps of clay. The custom [irevalent among the Babylonians of carry- ing seals is mentioned by Herodotus, i, 195, who also no- tices the seals on tombs, ii, 121; Wilkinson, i, 15; ii, 364; Matt, xxvii, 66; Dan. vi, 17. The use of clay in sealing is noticed in the book of Job xxxviii, 14, and the signet-ring as an ordinary part of a man's equipment in the case of Judah (Gen. xxxviii, 18), who probably, like
SIGNET
736
SIGNET
many modern Arabs, wore it suspended by a string from Ills nec-k or arm. (See Cant, viii, (!; (iesenius, p. 538, 1140; Hobinsuii, i, .3(i; Xiehiilir, Dexcr. de I'A rob. p. 90; Cliardin, loc cit. ; Ok-arius, 7'iiirth, p. 317 ; Knobel, on (Jen. xjcxviii, in /->(•//. //iiii<lb.) Tiie ring or the seal as an emblem of authority, in Kgypt, I'er.sia, and elsewhere, is mentioned in the eases of Pharaoh with Joseph, (ion. xli, 42; of Ahab, 1 Kings xxi,8; of Ahasu- erus, Esth. iii, 10, 12; viii, 2; of Darius, Dan. he. cil.; also 1 ^lacc. vi, 1."); Josephus, Ant. xx, 2,2; Herodotus, iii, 128, Curtiiis, iii,('), 7; x,5,4; Sandys, 7V((;¥/.<(, p. 62 ; Chardin, ii, 2!tl ; v, 451,4(52; and as an evidence of a covenant in .Jer. xxxii, 10, 54; Neh. ix, 38; x, 1 , Hag. ii, 23. Its general importance is denoted by the meta- phorical use of the word (liev. v, 1 ; ix, 4). Rings with I seals are mentioned in the iSIishiia {Sh<ihb. vi, d). and earth or clay as used for seals of bags (viii, 5). Seals of four sorts, used in the Temple, as well as special guar- dians of tliem, are mentioned in Slnkdl. v, 1.
Among raddern Orientals the size and ]ilace of the seal vary according to the importance botli of the send- er of a letter and of the person to whom it is sent. In sealing, the seal itself, not the )iaper, is smeared with i the sealing substance. Thus illiterate persons some- [ times use the object nearest at hand — their own finger, ! or a stick notched for the purpose — and, daubing it with [ ink, smear tiie paper therewith (Chardin. v, 545 ; ix, j 347; Arvieux, Truvth, p. 161; liainvolf, Travels, in Ray, ii, 61; Niebuhr, loc. cit.; Robinson, i, 36). Engraved signets were in use among the Hebrews in early times, as is evident in the description of the high -priest's breastjilate (Exod. xxviii, 11, 36; xxxix, 6), and the work of the engraver as a distinct occupation is men- tioned in Ecclus. xxxviii, 27.
There seem to have l)eeu two kinds of seals in use among the Hebrews. A notion appears to exist that all ancient seals, being signets, were rings, intended to be worn on the hand. But this was by no means the case; nor is it so now in the East, where signet-rings are still, probably, as common as they ever were in an- cient times. Their general use of seals was very differ- ent from ours, as they were emplnyed not for the pur- pose of impressing a device on wax, but in the ])lace of a sign manual, to stamp the name of the owner upon any document to which he desired to affix it. The name thus impressed had the same legal validity as the actual signature, as is still the case in the East. This practice may be illustrated by a circumstance which oc- curred in the last days of Cieorge IV. When he became too ill to aliix his sign manual to the numerous docu- ments which reipiired it, a fac-simile was engraved on a stamp, by which it was in his presence impressed upon them. I5y this contrivance any one may give to any paper the legal sanction of his name, although he may be unable to write; and the awkward contrivance to which we resort in such cases, of affixing a cross or mark with the signature of an attesting witness, is un- necessary. For this i)urpose the surface of the seal is