: Abbreviations and Signs A Primer of Information about Abbreviations and Signs with Classified Lists of Those in Most Common Use by Hamilton Frederick W Frederick William - Printing Style manuals; Abbreviations

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PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 GENERAL RULES FOR THE USE OF ABBREVIATIONS 3 DATES 3 TIME 5 OTHER ABBREVIATIONS INVOLVING NUMERALS 5 GEOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS, WITH LIST 7 ABBREVIATIONS OF NAMES, WITH LIST 10 ABBREVIATIONS OF TITLES, WITH LIST 12 SIZES OF BOOKS 18 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 19 FOOTNOTES 19 SCRIPTURAL ABBREVIATIONS 23 COMMERCIAL ABBREVIATIONS 24 MISCELLANEOUS ABBREVIATIONS 25 MONETARY SIGNS 35 MATHEMATICAL SIGNS 35 MEDICAL SIGNS 36 ASTRONOMICAL SIGNS 37 ECCLESIASTICAL SIGNS 37 PROOFREADER'S SIGNS 38 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 40 SUPPLEMENTARY READING 41 REVIEW QUESTIONS 42

ABBREVIATIONS AND SIGNS

INTRODUCTION

The introduction of printing removed the pressing necessity for the extensive use of abbreviations, but the actual use continued much longer than one would think. The early printed books were reproductions of manuscripts. In some cases the earliest were almost forgeries, and were probably intended to be sold as manuscripts. The types were cut in imitation of the handwriting of some well-known scribe and all his mannerisms and peculiarities were faithfully copied. An incidental result was the expansion of fonts of type by the inclusion of a great number of ligatures and of characters indicating the omission or combination of letters. Habit dies hard, and even after the type founders had freed themselves from the tyranny of manuscript printers continued to follow the habits of the copyist. The saving of material and labor still continued to be considered. The methods of abbreviation in use in written matter continued to be followed in print even down to the first quarter of the last century.

The result of all this abbreviation was serious and well-founded complaint about the difficulty of reading books thus printed. De Vinne gives the following astonishing example, said to be taken practically at random from a Latin copy of the Logic of Ockham printed at Paris in 1488.

"Sic his e fal sm qd ad simplr a e pducibile a Deo g a e silr hic a n e g a n e pducibile a Deo."

These are the abbreviations for Sicut his est fallacia secundum quid ad simpliciter. A est producibile a Deo. Ergo A est. Et similiter hic. A non est. Ergo A non est producibile a Deo.

The best present usage is to use abbreviations very sparingly. Certain recognized abbreviations are used under certain conditions, but generally only under constraint of limited space.

RULES FOR THE USE OF ABBREVIATIONS

Use no contractions or abbreviations in any place where there is room to print the words in full.

All legitimate words should be spelled out in full in text matter, but abbreviations are often needed in book work for footnotes and tables and in commercial work, where many brief forms and signs are used which are commonly understood and are as intelligible as words.

Certain special forms of printing such as market and stock reports, sporting news, price lists, directories, telephone directories, and the like make extensive use of abbreviations and signs. These abbreviations are of very limited use and often of only temporary life. They are not intelligible to general readers and should never be used outside the particular form of composition to which they pertain. De Vinne suggests that in the absence of printed authority every proofreader would do well to keep a manuscript book of unlisted abbreviations which he has to use repeatedly as a means of securing uniformity of form.

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