Meaning

noun a payment for consecutive issues of a newspaper or magazine for a given period of time

noun agreement expressed by (or as if expressed by) signing your name

noun a pledged contribution

originFrom Latin subscriptiō; by surface analysis, sub- + script + -ion. All senses reflect (either literally or figuratively) the notion of signing one's own name beneath some promise or description to indicate that one agrees with it or agrees to it.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0