In international practice, it has long been customary for heads of State and their permanent representatives abroad to resort to certain diplomatic acts if necessary. These notes are a kind of written monuments. They were issued in the form of relevant documents. The monuments of Russia's diplomatic relations with foreign powers reflect such documents as the declaration, manifesto, memorial (later memorandum), commemoration, notification, note, ultimatum, protest, demarche, reprisals, embargo, etc. In this article, we will discuss only some of these names.
A note from the middle of the XVIII century denotes an official diplomatic document that forms various relations between states (a statement of protest, notification of a fact, etc.). The word note (note) is borrowed from the French language, in which it goes back to the Latin nota "remark, explanation" (N. M. Shansky, Bobrova T. A. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language, Moscow, 1994). In business papers of the XVIII century, there are cases of intermittent use of this gallicismand the corresponding Russian note: "handed to him [the Danish minister] (...) her imp-ago v-va signing a proven note, which announces to him that her imp. b-vo deigns to pay out of its treasury that debt (...) Holstein Privy Councillor (...) and get (...) her imp-ago v-va signing a proven note, previously and thanked (...) for the favor shown to him" (1754) In the monuments of international law of the beginning of the XIX century, the compound designation note verbale was reflected:" I enclose a copy of the note verbale, which is in your case " (Ibid., 1803).
The word nota, which has been registered in lexicographic reference books since the 19th century, is still used as an international legal term today. Note here also the homonym note - a musical term (a graphic sign for recording the sound [of a musical work] of a certain height and duration), also borrowed from the French language in the XVIII century, where note < lat. n ...
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