self-dedication

noun

1. the act of dedicating.
2. the state of being dedicated: Her dedication to medicine was so great that she had time for little else.
3. a formal, printed inscription in a book, piece of music, etc., dedicating it to a person, cause, or the like.
4. a personal, handwritten inscription in or on a work, as by an author to a friend.
5. a ceremony marking the official completion or opening of a public building, institution, monument, etc.

noun

1. the act of dedicating or the state of being dedicated
2. an inscription or announcement prefixed to a book, piece of music, etc, dedicating it to a person or thing
3. complete and wholehearted devotion, esp to a career, ideal, etc
4. a ceremony in which something, such as a church, is dedicated

n.late 14c., “action of dedicating,” from Old French dedicacion (14c., Modern French dédication) “consecration of a church or chapel,” or directly from Latin dedicationem, noun of action from dedicare (see dedicate). Meaning “the giving of oneself to some purpose” is c.1600; as an inscription in a book, etc., from 1590s.