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A study of the polysemy of the Latin word signum in Plautus, based on semic analysis, shows that the word does not only mean “sign,” a word whose general characteristics in Plautus are comprehensively analyzed. The word means also “password” and “signal,” signs of a different kind, defined in terms of the semiotic classification system of Peirce (1978). His typology also helps to understand the other entities designated by the word signum, “standard,” “statue,” “seal,” and “constellation.”