Abbreviations, Lapidary

LAPIDARY ABBREVIATIONS — 1) Bolsena, Inscription of the reliquary of S. Cristina: i(c) r(e)g(ui)es(cit) c(or)p(us) b(eat(ae) X(ristinae) m(ar(yris). 2) Inscription of Vibius Fimus from the year 290, at Calliato: Vibiu(s) Fimus r(eddi) VII ha(lendas) sep(tembres) Di(o)c(letiano) IIII et Max(imiano) co(n)s(ulibus). 3) Coin of the Emperor Constantius II: d(ominus) n(oster) Constantius p(us) f(elix) Aug(ustus). - felix temp(orum) reparatio. - Tr(everi)s. 4) Dolium stamp: Χ(ριατὸς) Ν(ιγαὴλ) Γ(αβριήλ) Ι(τ). Καπ(ων). Χρ(ιστς). 5) Epitaph of Pope Gaius: Γαίου ἐπιση(απου). Κατ(εκτῶ) πρὸ ΓΚαλ(ανδῶν) μαίων (died in 296). 6) Donor’s inscription in a floor mosaic: Urs(u)s v(ir) s(anctus) cum com(uge) s(u)a Ursina pro (v)oto s(us)c(epi)o fecer(u)nt hec. 7. Last line of the Damasian epitaph for Proiecta: vixit ann(os) XVI m(enses) IX dies XXV, dep(asita) III ha(lendas) ian(uarias) Fl(avio) Merobaude et Fl(avio) Saturnin(o) cons(ulibus).

(drawing, Enc. Catt.)
GREEK PALEOGRAPHIC ABBREVIATIONS - Table I: Reproduction of the most common abbreviation signs in use in Greek paleography, and of the corresponding forms in the full transcription. For some of them (nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 15, 19, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32), a few examples that occur most frequently in manuscripts are also given.

(drawing Enc. Cott.)
PALEOGRAPHIC GREEK ABBREVIATIONS - Table II: Characteristic examples of abbreviations by suspension or truncation. Reproduction of some monograms typical of paleographic usage. Examples of abbreviations indicating plurals. - Table III: Reproduction of some of the more frequent or characteristic symbols.

1) q. = que (more rarely quae)

quib. = quibus

nob. = nobis

id. = idem (or also idus)

scriptim. = scripsimus

·n. = enim

·f. = scilicet

·e. = est

·c. = caput

ḥ = hoc

ṷ = ut

2) n̄ = non

s̄ = est

an̄ = anno (anni)

nat̄ = natus

lib = liber

pon̄ = pontifices

qm̄ = quoniam

nr̄ = noster

tpe = tempore

aia = anima

ee = esse

eni = enim

cu = cum

codicioe = condicione

iperiu = imperium

nom̄ = nomen

mse = mense

tam̄ = tamen

propt = propter

dix = dixit

aum = autem

dicit = dicitur

lib = liber

t = vel

nob = nobis

pp = propter

notu = notum

n̄is = nostris

ao = actio

3) p' = post

c' = cum

e' = eius

s' = sed

t' = tur

δ' = dem (dum)

4) atq: = atque

neq: = neque

q:d = quid

quib: = quibus

ufq: = usque

quod: = quodque

m̄f: = mensis

omnib: = omnibus

q̄nq: = quinque

habz = habet

lz = licet

naz = nam

oz = oportet

q̄lqz = quisque

caz = causam

5) d = die

d̄ = dixi

α = autem

k = legitur

oe = omnis

fiatt = frater

tutf = tutis

inl = inluster

er = erit

et = etiam

dioc = diocesis

eor = eorum

scor = sanctorum

6) tra = terra

bvi = brevi

ctici = clerici

cdt = credunl

ubv = verbum

fuit = fuerit

funt = fuerunt

7) dict = dicuntur

ag = agitur

nuat = numeratur

ceto = cetero

gf = generis

cr'e = currere

8) 7 = et

7 = etiam

deb7 = debet

l7 = licet

z = cum (con-)

z̄ = contra

z̄t̄ = continentia

circ = circum

ʔ = -us

tit̄ = titulus

legim = legimus

p' = post

h' = huius

T A B L E II

h̄ = hoc

ū = unde

ū = vero

m̄ = mihi

ḡ = ergo

q̄dam = quodammodo

sigctm = signaculum

incrit = incurrit

q̄cz = quicumque

T A B L E III

p = per

p̄ = prae (pre)

p̄ = pro

q = qui

q̄ = que (quae)

q = quod

qz = quia

q̄ = quantum

q̄ = quam

q̄ = quem

T A B L E IV

ɔ = eius

H = enim

h̄ = autem

ɔɔ = contra

= = esse

÷ = est

·i = id est

(dis. Enc. Catt.)
LATIN PALEOGRAPHIC ABBREVIATIONS - Table I: Examples of Latin p. abbreviations classified according to the abbreviation sign. (1. point; 2. horizontal line; 3. apostrophe; 4. colon or semicolon; 5. oblique line; 6 and 7. wavy line;

8. tachygraphic signs)

Table II: Characteristic A. with a superscript letter. - Table III: Compendia of «p» and «q». - Table IV: Irish signs in use on the Continent.

Two points + are added to this line (this sign, however, was formerly used to indicate the syllable τα); it is therefore expressed simply by the two points:

3) The a. of αις is the doubling of that of ες, which has identical pronunciation.

8) The a. of γάρ is the combination of a γ with an inverted ρ.

12) The sign for the a. of ειν is initially the same as that of ην or ιν (distinguished only by having two dots above it), two phonetically corresponding syllables; then, for purposes of distinction, the sign is found doubled or with the addition of a diagonal stroke; and finally it is indicated only by two diagonal strokes running from right to left.

13) The sign for the a. of εις is likewise the doubling of that of ης or ις (which, as in ιν, has two dots for distinction).

15) The sign η is the cursive form of π.

16) The normal a. of ες is Ϙ, but two dots are often added to it, which in tachygraphic usage indicated τ in the endings -τες; thus the sign Ϙ ultimately remained, like the simple Ϙ, to indicate only ες.

17) A single diagonal stroke, or one between two dots, meant δστι; δστιν was indicated by the a. of ιν in variously deformed forms. The a. of the plural ειοι is a doubling of that of the singular.

24) An oblique line running from left to right is the a. of ον; two of equal length, or with the second shorter, indicate the same ending with the grave accent.

27) The sign ζ is a monogram resulting from the union of the two vowels.

30) A simple α is frequently found as the a. of προ- or πρωτο-, occasionally with another meaning.
TABLE II. — We give separately a few other examples of abbreviations using the system of suspension.

Certain words were indicated by adding to the initial letter the most important of the omitted letters; or by reversing the order of the letters; or by means of a monogram (a combination of the first two letters of a word). The plural was occasionally indicated by doubling the last letter written or by variously repeating the abbreviation.
TABLE III. — In papyri and manuscripts there are found, moreover, not only a., but also symbols, that is, signs that replace an entire word. We reproduce some of the many that were used.

Mario Burzachecki

III. LATIN PALEOGRAPHIC ABBREVIATIONS

In the Roman period and up to the fourth and fifth centuries, codices of literary or historical content had very few abbreviations, derived, as is well known, from epigraphic usage.

The endings -bus and -que are encountered, indicated respectively by B. and Q., and the final -m expressed by a small horizontal stroke placed above a vowel or over it; indeed, at first the abbreviated final -m is found at the end of a line, and only in the sixth century does its use extend also to words within the lines. In codices of scientific content, however, such as juridical works, in which technical terms well known to the reader are repeated very frequently, abbreviations were much more numerous, constituting a complex system (notae iuris); likewise, in Christian texts, beginning in the fourth and fifth centuries, certain words of sacred significance are regularly found abbreviated (nomina sacra),

(Latin, Vatican Library)
LATIN PALAEOGRAPHIC ABBREVIATIONS – A. legal abbreviations in a Bolognese manuscript of the 14th century. Bibl. Vaticana: Cod. Vat. lat. 1456, fol. 13'. Novella Johannis Andreae super Decretalibus.

TRANSCRIPTION: un(de) si queratu(r) q(ua)r(e) res ahena usu capit(ur), dic ne d(omi)nia ver(um) | sint i(n) ince(r)to. ff. [= Digestum] de usu cap(ione) l(ex) I. Si q(ue)ratu(r) q(ua)r(e) t(r)e(n)nio, dic q(uod) | ita placuit p(r)incipi, ut l(ex) « No(n) o(mn)iu(m) », sic e(n)(m) poterat plus | min(us)ve statuere. Osti(ensis). In glo(sa) ult(ima) ibi « Nemo » dicit Osti(ensis) q(uod) lex ista intelligit(ur) cum ip(s)e imp(erato)r non r(espo)udit | s(ed) ei(us) p(ro)ceres, s(ecundum) Accur(sium), ibi in I glo(sa). (Con)vor(dant) B(eruardus) et Phy(lippus) h(ic) (et) Vin(entius). | (Et) ibi « No(n) plures », d(e) q(u)o dic ut i(ufra), de cog(na- tione) sp(irit)u(all), c(apitulo) ult(imo) i(n) p(r)in(cipio) l(ibri) VI. C u m o r d i n e m. C(assa) Cyst(er)cienses p(er) r(escri)ptu(m), | quo n(on) fit m(en)tio de ordi(n)e sua, (con) veniri n(on) possu(n)t. | Divisio(n)e no(n) eget sp(ect)oliter et sing(u)(l)urite)r. N(on) e(n)(m) loquitu(r) | de indulto iur(is) co(mmun)is, v(e)l c(um) p(er) p(r)ivil(eg)iu(m) (con) cedit(ur) id q(uod) de iure | co(m)petebat s(ecundu)m Vin- c(entium). « Indulist » a(u) litt(er)e de iure co(mmun)i imp- | etrant(ur) (contro) Cyst(er)cienses sup(er) hiis sup(er) q(ui)b(us) s(un)t p(r)ivil(eg)iati, (et) t(un)c | sufficit q(uod) fiat mentio de ordine. A(u) t(m)petra « n » tu(r) litt(er)e v(e)l | indulgentie (contro) p(r)ivill(eg)iu(m) q(uod) h(abe)ut (et) t(un)c de p(r)ivil(eg)io m(en)tio | f(er)i d(eb)et; i(ufra) de re iudic(ata) « I(n)t(er) mo(n)asteriu(m) » (et) no(to) s(upra) c(aput) I (Com)po(stellanus). Ide(m) Osti(ensis).

Whereas in documents the a. generally comprise only a few technical terms (e.g.: heredes, successores, actum, subscripti). Examples of abbreviated nomina sacra, however, are already found in Christian papyri of the 2nd and 3rd centuries (v. BEATTY CHESTER; NOMINA SACRA).

After the use of notae iuris had ceased on the European continent as a result of the repeated prohibitions by the senate and the emperor against using them in books to be submitted in legal proceedings, the Roman system of abbreviation continued to develop in a particular way in the Irish schools, where new forms were coined; some of these, beginning in the 8th century, spread throughout the rest of Europe in manuscripts of every kind. From that time onward the a. became increasingly numerous, reaching their maximum frequency in the Gothic script of the 14th century, and especially in juridical, theological, philosophical, and medical texts.

The study of the a. thus has a twofold purpose: a practical one, in order to read ancient texts accurately, and a scientific one, as an important element in the criticism of manuscripts through observation of the typical local forms found in certain specific writing centers and of their diffusion. Often, through the study of abbreviated forms (and of the systematic errors resulting from their misinterpretation), it is also possible to determine the time and place of writ-