Chapter 2

Abbreviations

Olaf Pluta

The Middle Ages (or medieval period) is present in our daily lives in many ways.¹ The same is also true of medieval abbreviations. For instance, the @ symbol (at sign) in our email addresses can be traced back to a letter written by Francesco Lapi, an Italian merchant, dated May 4, 1536, and sent from Seville to Rome.² In this letter, the @ denotes ‘anfora’ (amphora), then a common unit of measurement.³ Later, the @ symbol acquired the general commercial meanings ‘at the price of’ or per-unit cost.

The & symbol (and sign, or ampersand) as it is written today—originally a ligature of ‘et’, which is still discernible in the italic ampersand &—can frequently be found in medieval Latin manuscripts from the eighth century onward in abbreviations such as ‘hab&’, ‘ten&’, ‘ſcilic&’, ‘app&it’, ‘uari&aſ’, ‘l&itia’, ‘&iam’ (Fig. 2.1), ‘&ſi’, and ‘&c&era’, or used separately as ‘&’ denoting ‘et’.⁴

Fig. 2.1 Lyons, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 324, fol. 3r (Date: 825–50).⁵

The ∅ symbol (zero sign)—today used to signify the empty set, which has zero members—can be found in manuscripts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In those cases, the ∅ symbol denotes ‘instans’ (instant), a moment in time, the duration of which is zero.⁶ It can also be found in combinations such as ∅^ns (instans), ∅^tis (instantis), ∅^ti (instanti) (Fig. 2.2), or in derivatives like ∅^ea (instantanea).⁷

Fig. 2.2 Fribourg, Bibliothèque des Cordeliers, MS 51, fol. 30v (Date: 1364).⁸

Apart from these special abbreviation marks, which can stand for themselves—there are other, less obvious ones, such as ≈ (esse) or ∻ (est)—the Middle Ages developed a wealth of abbreviation marks that can only be used in combination with letters.⁹ To start with, there is a three-shaped mark (ꝫ) used for et and for ‘m’ (vertical m), in combination with ‘b’ for ‘bus’ or with ‘q’ for the enclitic ‘que’. A raised nine-shaped mark (ꝰ) is frequently used for ‘us’. A zigzag-shaped mark above a letter (c͛) is used for ‘er’ or ‘re’. A wavelike mark above a letter (c᷈), actually an open ‘flat’ a—the open form being the standard in some medieval scripts such as the Carolingian ‘ꞟ’—often replaces ‘ar’ or ‘ra’ but, generally speaking, it may replace any syllable that contains an ‘a’. A two-shaped mark on top of letters (t^ꝛ), actually a round r, stands for ‘ur’ or ‘tur’. And the same two-shaped mark on the baseline, combined with a downward stroke, may stand for ‘ris’ as in aꝝ^les (Aristoteles), though it is more often used at the end for ‘rum’. A dot on or above the baseline after a letter usually signifies a suspension. A horizontal stroke (or two horizontal strokes) above a letter signifies a contraction, which can also be denoted by superscript letters or abbreviation marks.

What we have learned so far allows us to decipher the following abbreviations, all of which are combinations of the letters ‘ca’ with various abbreviation marks: c^ꝛa (cura), ca^ꝛ (capitur), caꝰ (casus), cā (causa), cāꝫ (causam), ca˭ (causam), cāꝝ (causarum), caꝝ (carum), c͛a (cera), c (charta), c͛ (creatura), c͛a^ꝛ (creatur), and ca· (capitulum, capitulo). On its own, ‘ca’ may also denote a name like Cassiodorus.¹⁰

Abbreviations can be very short, sometimes consisting of a single letter combined with an abbreviation mark. If you know how a particular abbreviation has evolved over time, its various forms are easy to recognize: aarꝫ, aaꝫ, aꝫ, apꝫ, and, ultimately, aꝫ have all been used to denote ‘apparet’.¹¹ There are, however, no rules that proscribe reading aꝫ as ‘absolvet’, ‘accidet’, ‘adesset’, or any other word that begins with ‘a-’ and ends with ‘-et’. Since the three-shaped mark (ꝫ) has, as mentioned earlier, various other meanings as well, the word could have a different ending. To make things even more complicated, abbreviations were not only used to represent words but also sometimes replaced whole phrases, which resulted in a reading that could be even more farfetched. For example, in medieval disputations, which are often highly logical, aꝫ is sometimes used to denote ‘maior patet’.¹²

Copying books by hand was a time-consuming task. When Jacobus van Enkhuysen, librarian of the Brethren of the Common Life in Zwolle, produced a copy of the entire Bible in six parchment volumes in folio, it took him 12 years to complete his work.¹³ Understandably, the scribes sought to ease their gargantuan task by using scribal abbreviations. At the same time, the dignity of the manuscript dictated the extent to which an abbreviation could be used. In precious and ostentatious manuscripts such as the Zwolle Bible, abbreviations tend to be rare or are even entirely absent, with the exception of nomina sacra.¹⁴ In academic manuscripts, however, abbreviations tend to be frequent. Even though university lectures were sometimes read “ad pennam”—slowly and accentuated to allow the students to write down the lecture carefully—lecture notes are often hastily written and full of strong abbreviations. This also extends to other texts that were copied and compiled for study purposes.

When a text contained a strong abbreviation for a particular word, even medieval scribes were sometimes at a loss when trying to figure out the correct word. For example, in the very first sentence of a treatise on the soul from the fourteenth century, the copyists came across a strong abbreviation that they successively read as ‘discernere’, ‘discutere’, and ‘disserere’—all of which make sense in the given context.¹⁵

With ambiguities like these, the textual tradition branched out into a multitude of readings. When scribes had access to two or more copies of a particular text, they sometimes added variant readings in the margin or above the line if they were unsure about the correct reading. In a case comparable to the preceding example, the scribe of a commentary on Aristotle’s Physics read ‘distinguere’ (diſtī^re) in the main manuscript (“quia est difficile distinguere”) but added ‘discernere’ (diſc͛ne͛) (Plate 2.1) as a variant reading from another manuscript in the margin.¹⁶

Plate 2.1 København, Kongelige Bibliotek, MS Ny kgl. Saml. 108 fol., fol. 12ra.

While ‘distinguere’ and ‘discernere’ are largely synonymous, there are other cases where the variant readings change the meaning of the text. For example, it does make a difference whether Aristotle puts forward something as a mere question (quaestio) or as a demonstrative conclusion (conclusio).¹⁷ Apparently, at some point in the textual tradition, a scribe misread the nine-shaped abbreviation mark on the baseline for prefixes standing for con-/com- (ⳋ) as the letter ‘q’, the original abbreviation being something like ‘ⳋ^oꝫ’ or ‘ꝯͦnē’ (conclusionem), which he interpreted as ‘q^oꝫ’ or ‘qͦnē’ (quaestionem). The scribe of our commentary read ‘quaestionem’ (queſtionē) (Plate 2.2) in the main manuscript and added ‘conclusionem’ (ꝯcluſionē) as a variant reading from another manuscript above the line.

Plate 2.2 København, Kongelige Bibliotek, MS Ny kgl. Saml. 108 fol., fol. 3va.

In the following example, the original abbreviation may have been something like ‘ꝯ^it’ or ‘ꝯīt’, which one could read as ‘contingit’ or ‘convenit’, among other possibilities.¹⁸ The scribe of our commentary read ‘contingit’ (ꝯtīg^t) in the main manuscript, but added ‘concipit’ (ſeu ꝯcipit) as a variant reading from another manuscript in the margin (Plate 2.3).

Plate 2.3 København, Kongelige Bibliotek, MS Ny kgl. Saml. 108 fol., fol. 9vb.

In fact, an abbreviation such as ‘ꝯ^it’ or ‘ꝯīt’ can have many more readings. Depending on the context, it may also be read as ‘consistit’, ‘constituit’, ‘contigit’, ‘concludit’, ‘convertit’, ‘contulit’, ‘consuevit’, or ‘congruit’, to name but a few options.

It is worthwhile briefly to remind ourselves of how many different readings are possible with a strong abbreviation. Take, for example, the common abbreviation “anֿs”. Looking at this abbreviation through the eyes of a novice reader, “anֿs” may signify any word that starts with the letter a, ends with the letter s, and has the letter n somewhere in between. Searching the Thesaurus Formarum Totius Latinitatis,¹⁹ a database of Latin word forms, for instances of “a*n*s” (with the asterisk denoting any string of characters, or no character at all), we get a total of 7,820 results.²⁰ Even when we apply some heuristic rules to narrow down the number of results, the figure is still considerable. For example, we may say that the first two letters (“anֿ”) frequently stand for the preposition ante. When searching for “ante*s” we get 178 results.²¹ Likewise, we may say that the last two letters (“nֿs”) are frequently used for the ending ens. When searching for “a*ens”, we get 322 results.²²

Experience shows that in nine out of ten cases, the abbreviation “anֿs” stands for “antecedens”.²³ This, however, cannot be deduced a priori by applying scribal or heuristic rules; it can only be known a posteriori by collating as many instances as possible. In general, one may say that frequently used words or phrases are abbreviated the most. Ultimately, however, only experience can tell what words or phrases are frequent in a given context and which abbreviations were actually used.²⁴

For this reason, collections of abbreviations have been compiled from the earliest days.²⁵ In the late Middle Ages, more and more lists of abbreviations were put together.²⁶ This is unsurprising, since both the sheer volume of texts and the number of abbreviations used increased significantly during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. In the age of printing, the anonymous Modus legendi abbreviaturas in utroque iure was reissued many times over.²⁷ The first edition of this book was probably printed in Cologne around 1475, and subsequent editions were published in Basle, Strasbourg, Nuremberg, Louvain, Paris, and elsewhere.²⁸ It was reprinted continuously until 1623.²⁹ In the sixteenth century, we have the Nuova regoletta nella quale troverai ogni sorta de abbreviatura usuale,³⁰ which contains around 900 abbreviations, and Manutius’ De veterum notarum explanatione quae in antiquis monumentis occurrunt.³¹

In the eighteenth century, the first attempts were made to devise a comprehensive collection of abbreviations. Daniel Eberhard Baring published his Clavis diplomatica in 1737,³² followed by Johann Ludolf Walther’s Lexicon Diplomaticum in two volumes in 1747.³³ In the late nineteenth century, two major dictionaries of Latin abbreviations were compiled. The first was Alphonse Chassant’s Dictionnaire des abréviations latines et françaises in 1846, which was corrected and augmented several times;³⁴ the second was Ramón Álvarez de la Braña’s Siglas y abreviaturas latinas in 1884.³⁵

Still in use today is Adriano Cappelli’s Lexicon abbreviaturarum. It first appeared in 1899 as part of the series “Manuali Hoepli.”³⁶ It has since been revised four times, twice in Italian for the same series (1912, 1929) and twice in German for “Webers illustrierte Handbücher” (Leipzig 1901, 1928).³⁷ A longer version of the Latin title was used in 1899—Lexicon abbreviaturarum quae in lapidibus, codicibus et chartis praesertim medii-aevi occurrunt—but all subsequent editions have reduced the title to two words, following the example of the German translator: Lexicon abbreviaturarum: Wörterbuch lateinischer und italienischer Abkürzungen. The first Italian edition contained 10,000 entries, and although a further 3,000 entries were added in the German translation of 1901, the next Italian edition in 1912 was enlarged by only a thousand entries; its present size stands at approximately 14,000 entries. Since 1929 no changes have been introduced into the Italian text, which continues to be reprinted under the title Lexicon abbreviaturarum: Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane usate nelle carte e codici specialmente del medio-evo riprodotte con oltre 14000 segni incisi con l’aggiunta di uno studio sulla brachigrafia medioevale, un prontuario di Sigle Epigrafiche, l’antica numerazione romana ed arabica ed i segni indicanti monete, pesi, misure, etc.³⁸

The Lexicon was never available in an English edition, as it was in German, but Cappelli’s prefatory treatise on the elements of Latin abbreviation has been published in an English translation under the title The elements of abbreviation in medieval Latin paleography by Adriano Cappelli, Lawrence, Kansas 1982.³⁹

Auguste Pelzer’s Abréviations latines médiévales: Supplément au Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane de Adriano Cappelli presents a valuable supplement based on Vatican manuscripts.⁴⁰ It contains approximately 1,500 entries that cannot be found in Cappelli.

According to Adriano Cappelli’s Lexicon abbreviaturarum, all medieval abbreviations can be divided into six categories (some of these abbreviation techniques are still in use today).

 1. Truncation. A word is abbreviated by truncation when only the first part of the word is actually written out, while an abbreviation mark replaces the missing final letters. Examples are: b. (beatus), a.t. (alia translatio), fi· (fide), and oꝭ (omnis). Today, only the dot on the baseline has survived in abbreviations of titles, such as Prof. (Professor), and in commercial abbreviations as part of firm names such as Co. (Company), Corp. (Corporation), and Inc. (Incorporated).

2. Contraction. A word is abbreviated by contraction when one or more of the middle letters are missing. Such an omission is indicated by one of the general signs of abbreviation: ſpֿſ (spiritus), grֿa (gratia), roֿ (ratio), and anֿs (antecedens). Today, we frequently use contractions, but usually without any sign of abbreviation, in abbreviations such as Mme (Madame) and Mlle (Mademoiselle) in social titles, or in the last part of street names such as Blvd (boulevard), Pkwy (parkway), and Rd (road).

3. Abbreviation marks significant in themselves. These signs indicate which elements of the abbreviated word are missing, no matter what letter the symbol is placed above or joined with as a ligature. Examples are: ꝓ (pro), ꝓbō (probatio), ꝓba^le (probabile), and ꝓlogꝰ (prologus).

4. Abbreviation marks significant in context. In this category are signs that indicate which elements are missing in an abbreviated word whose meaning is not set and constant but varies relative to the letter for which the sign stands. Examples are: ꝑ (per), ꝑfcō (perfectio), ꝑcial’ (partialis), and ꝑcio (portio).

5. Superscript letters. With a few exceptions, a word is abbreviated with superscript letters at the end of a word where a superscript letter, whether a vowel or a consonant, simply indicates the ending of the word. Examples are: a^d (aliud), a^a (maior nota), gͤci (Graeci), and ꝓꝓpⁱe^te (proprietate). Today, we use abbreviations such as nº (numero/number) as well as in ordinal numerals such as 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th.

6. Conventional signs. This category includes all signs that stand for a frequently used word or phrase; in most cases these are not recognizable as letters and they are almost always isolated. Examples are: ≈ (esse), ≈n^r (essentialiter), ∅ (instans), and ∅^ti (instanti). Today, our currency symbols €, £, $, and ¥ fall into this category as do Ⓡ (registered trademark) and © (copyright), as well as many conventional signs in the sciences that are not recognizable as letters such as ×, ÷, =, ≠, ≈, ∅, ⊕, ⊗, ∞, and so on.

It should be noted that not all medieval abbreviations start with the initial letters of the words they represent. Examples include l’ (vel), ·n· (enim), g^o (ergo), and gⁱ (igitur). As our examples illustrate, it should be noted that the six categories discussed here are not mutually exclusive.

There were no restrictions on which techniques could be used to abbreviate a particular word. For example, the word ‘consequentia’, a frequent word in logical argumentations, has been abbreviated variously as: ꝯ᷈, ꝯ^a, ꝯn᷈, ꝯn^a, ꝯnֿa, ꝯn˭a, ꝯnֿcia, ꝯſeꝗ^a, ꝯſequētia, con˭a, and conֿcia.

It remains a matter of debate whence exactly these different abbreviation techniques originated. Contraction, for example, which is clearly the most frequently used abbreviation technique in late-medieval manuscripts, can be traced back to the abbreviation of nomina sacra, which in turn can already be found in early Greek Christian manuscripts.⁴¹ The most common of these abbreviations are: ΘΣ = θεός, ΚΣ = κύριος, ΙΣ or ΙΗΣ = Ἰησοῦς, ΧΣ or ΧΡΣ = Χριστός, and ΠΝΑ = πνεῦμα. Following the Greek example, these abbreviations were written in Latin texts as D̅S = Deus; DN̅S or DM̅S = Dominus; IH̅S = Iesus; XP̅S = Christus; and SP̅S = Spiritus. These Latin abbreviations sometimes imitated the Greek letters by using visually similar letters from the Latin alphabet.⁴² The origin of the usage of contracting the nomina sacra, however, remains unclear to this day. The Christian scribes may have received their inspiration from the Jewish tradition of writing the inexpressible tetragram in the Greek versions of the Old Testament, or, alternatively, from a similar usage of writing the names of emperors in Greek cursive script.⁴³

It can be useful to be aware of the fact that some abbreviations originated in the British Isles, while others were invented (and frequently used) in Spain or on the Italian Peninsula. In Italy, for example, ‘qui’ was represented by a distinctive abbreviation, written with a horizontal stroke through the descender of the letter q.⁴⁴ This abbreviation was also used in combinations, such as ‘ꝗa’ (quia), ‘ꝗdē’ (quidem), or ‘aliꝗd’ (aliquid). Thomas Aquinas used this abbreviation in his own handwriting, the famous “littera inintelligibilis” as it was dubbed by contemporaries,⁴⁵ which, however, is only ‘illegible’ as far as Thomas’s script is concerned, while the abbreviations used are not exceptionally difficult to decipher.⁴⁶

Notably, however, scholars traveled, and so did their books and their abbreviations. A scribe who, like Thomas Aquinas, was trained in Naples, Italy did not immediately change his abbreviation techniques when he traveled to Paris and started to copy manuscripts there. Hence, we should be careful not to use abbreviations as the sole instrument in dating or locating a particular manuscript, even though they are undoubtedly useful as additional evidence.

Little is known about scribal training in the use of abbreviations. It should thus be all the more worthwhile briefly to look at one of the rare examples of a medieval tutorial for novice scribes. Our example is special in that it is an attempt to reform scribal practice, which apparently had got somewhat out of hand. The multitude of abbreviations in use during the Late Middle Ages had become a danger when it came to the transmission of religious texts. If a text is considered to be holy, as in the case of the Holy Scripture, it is naturally of the utmost importance that every single word is transmitted correctly. There must not be the slightest doubt as to what word the scribe has copied. It is certainly no coincidence that the Congregation of Windesheim, where this tutorial was compiled in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, prepared, at around the same time, a critical revision of the Latin Bible (Vulgate).

The title of the treatise as given in the Incipit reads as follows: “Quaedam regulae de modo titulandi seu apificandi pro novellis scriptoribus copulatae.”⁴⁷ This title introduces us to some technical terms related to the art of abbreviating. The term ‘titulare’ literally means ‘to add a titulus to a letter’. The term ‘apificare’ is used as a synonym and literally means ‘to add an apex to a letter’.

At the beginning of the text, the terms ‘titulus’ or ‘titellus’—the text does not use the term ‘apex’—refers to the abbreviation strokes placed on top of letters to indicate contraction. Later on in the treatise, however, the term is also used to refer to other abbreviation marks. We may thus readily say that ‘titulus’ or ‘titellus’ refers to any sign that is used to indicate an omission.

Since the text is aimed at novice scribes, the abbreviation rules are fairly simple. Usually, only individual syllables are abbreviated. Hence, the term ‘syllabicare’ is used in an alternative title of the treatise given in the initial table of contents: “Quaedam regulae scribendi et syllabicandi bonos libros”.

As this second title makes clear, the collection of scribal rules should be used to copy ‘good books’, which the text of our treatise identifies further as ‘precious books, that is to say, Bibles and the like’ (iste modus titulandi servari potest in libris pretiosis, scilicet in bibliis et huiusmodi). However, the scribe may, if he so wishes, also apply these rules to the writing of missals, sermons, or homilies (nisi scriptori autem placuerit, scilicet in messalibus, sermonibus, homilariis et sic de aliis).

The scribal rules of the treatise are straightforward: special rules refer to syllables at the beginning of words (rules 1–3), at any position within a word (rules 4–5), or at the end of a word (rules 6–9 and 12). A special case refers to polysyllabic words (rule 13) where every single syllable is “titellabilis”, i.e., where every syllable can be abbreviated with a “titulus”; in such cases, one needs to determine which syllables should be abbreviated. Two general rules (rules 14–15) determine when and where the ‘titulus’ has to be placed in order to avoid doubt in the reader. Finally, three rules (rules 10, 11, and 16) refer to when and where to use special letterforms: the round u, the round r, and the long s.

As an example, let us look at two general rules that aim at avoiding ambiguity in abbreviation.

Rule 14. Every “titellus” must always be placed exactly where it replaces a number of characters; otherwise, it raises doubt in the reader and also often changes the meaning of the word, as is evident in the following example: If in “rapia” the “titellus” is put directly over the a (rapiā), this signifies a verb and is read as “rapiam”. If, however, the “titellus” is put directly over the i (rapīa), this signifies a noun and is read as “rapina”. For this reason, the “titellus” must be put in the exact place where it replaces a number of letters (suppletio) or where it modifies the meaning of a letter (combinatio). For example, when using a “titellus” in writing “gratia” or “littera”, the “titellus” must not be placed over the last letter, but instead over the middle letter (gr̵a, lr̵a). Likewise, in ‘frēs’ (fratres) and ‘pꝛēs’ (patres), the “titellus” must be put over the r as in ‘fr̵e’ (fratre) and ‘pꝛ̄e’ (patre).`

Rule 15. If a “titellus” allows us to read a word in various ways, then it must not be written with a “titellus”, as in the examples provided, for these can be read in two ways: ‘cōfo᷈ꝛre’ (“confortare” or “conformare”), ‘tꝑare’ (“temperare” or “temporare”), ‘gēitus’ (“genitus” or “gemitus”), and so forth. This general rule drastically reduces the number of abbreviations. Here, as well as in other places, the treatise emphasizes that an abbreviation must not generate any doubt in the reader; if there is the slightest possibility of doubt concerning the “significatum dictionis” (i.e., the meaning of a given abbreviation), the word must not be abbreviated. Strong contractions are only allowed for well-known and frequently used abbreviations signifying words such as dominus, Deus, gratia, littera, ecclesia, fratres, patres, and so forth. Ambiguity in abbreviations must be avoided at any cost in order to make sure that the texts of precious books, that is to say, Bibles and the like, are transmitted correctly.

Despite such late-medieval attempts to reform scribal practice, the reader of a medieval Latin manuscript usually has to solve a three-dimensional puzzle: one has to read a text in a foreign language (medieval Latin), which is written in an unfamiliar script, and, on top of that and more often than not, which is heavily abbreviated. The three dimensions are tightly interconnected: if you cannot recognize a letter in a particular script, you may have a hard time deciphering the abbreviation used; likewise, if you do not know the many technical terms of medieval Latin, you may have no idea what a particular abbreviation stands for. If you are an expert in Latin palaeography, and widely read in a particular field, you will probably have a good idea of what a given abbreviation stands for; this intuitive knowledge can, however, sometimes be misleading. Solving the compound puzzle presented by medieval Latin manuscripts is both an art and a science. Fortunately, Latin palaeography is becoming more of a science today.

The humanities have become more and more computational in recent years, and Latin palaeography is no exception. The first database of medieval Latin abbreviations, aptly named “Abbreviationes™,” was developed by Olaf Pluta at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany.⁴⁸ Originally written for the Apple Macintosh family of computers, the database is now published exclusively on the Internet, following the long-term trend away from native applications to web-based applications (“cloud computing”).⁴⁹ Today, you can access Abbreviationes™ from anywhere with an Internet connection and a web browser, even from your smartphone (Plate 2.4). A medieval scribe would certainly be amazed at the ease and speed with which a current reader can today search for abbreviations on a small handheld device, tapping on a mirror-like surface where letters and abbreviation marks appear as if by magic.

Plate 2.4 Abbreviationes™ on the Apple iPhone 3G.⁵⁰

And th@’s th@!

Notes

1. For a list of medieval inventions such as books and bookcases, the printing press, and eyeglasses, see Frugoni (2003).

2. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported on its website on July 28, 2000 (and in print on July 29, 2000) that Giorgio Stabile, then professor of the History of Science at Sapienza University of Rome, had come across this letter while carrying out research for a visual history of the twentieth century: https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2000/07/29/la-madre-di-tutte-le-chiocciole.html, accessed January 17, 2020. Medieval financial institutions—the bourse, a market for trading commercial paper, is another medieval invention—may have earlier examples in their documents. Stabile’s finding does not, however, completely rule out a Latin or Middle English origin of the @. The @ may, in fact, have several independent roots.

For a printed facsimile edition of the letter, see Melis (1972, no. 44, 214–17). Note that Francesco Lapi begins his letter with the date written as “@ddì 4 di maggio 1536”; the @ is used for purely decorative purposes here.

3. The Spanish word for amphora was ‘arroba’, and in modern Spanish the @ is still called ‘arroba’; likewise in modern French, the @ is called ‘arobase’ or ‘arrobe’.

4. These examples are taken from the following manuscripts: München (Munich), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, MS lat. 14500 (ninth century); and Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 13956 (ninth century). Sometimes, the & symbol spans two words, such as in ‘d&erra’ (de terra) or ‘qua&amen’ (quae tamen). Occasionally, the & is also used for ‘ec’ as in ‘m&um’ (mecum), ‘n&’ (nec), ‘ſp&ulū’ (speculum), ‘intell&tum’ (intellectum), or ‘gr&e’ (Graece). Furthermore, it could also be used for ‘ed’ as in ‘ſ&’ (sed).

5. https://florus.bm-lyon.fr/visualisation.php?cote=MS0324&vue=11. You will find the abbreviation in question in line 15.

6. See Meersseman (1955, 87–9). See also Steffan (1980, 155–7). On the adaptation of the medieval zero sign in contemporary modal logic, see Weidemann (1981, 8–9).

7. The examples are taken from the following manuscripts: Fribourg (Switzerland), Bibliothèque des Cordeliers, MS 51 (1364); Wien (Vienna), Dominikanerkloster, MS 138/108 (fourteenth century); Wien (Vienna), Dominikanerkloster, MS 107/73 (fifteenth century). In logical contexts, however, the ∅ is used for ‘instantia’ (counterinstance) as in ‘∅^ie’ (instantiae) or ‘∅^as’ (instantias).

8. https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/fcc/0051/30v/0/Sequence-775. You will find the abbreviation in question in line 20: “motus non possit fieri in instanti, sed in tempore”. On this manuscript, see Putallaz (1998, 304–11).

9. The medieval abbreviation system goes back to the ancient Roman system of sigla. In part at least, it also derives from the system of Tironian notes, a Roman shorthand. A third line of influence is the nomina sacra, which were abbreviated in the Christian tradition. While some elements of these precursors survived through the Middle Ages, the medieval abbreviation system is highly original in its use of many different abbreviation techniques.

10. The examples are taken from the following manuscripts: Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica, MS Vat. lat. 694 (thirteenth century), MS Vat. lat. 781 (thirteenth century), MS Urb. Lat. 198 (fourteenth century), MS Ottob. lat. 21 (fourteenth century); Fribourg (Switzerland), Bibliothèque des Cordeliers, MS 51 (1364); Köln (Cologne), Historisches Archiv, MS W 258 a (thirteenth century); København, Kongelige Bibliotek, MS Ny kgl. Saml. 1801 fol. (fourteenth century); Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, MS 659 (fourteenth century), MS 1771 (fourteenth century); Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, MS 934 (fourteenth century); Wien (Vienna), Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, MS 5437 (fourteenth century); Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, MS 40 Weissenb. (fifteenth century).

11. There are, of course, further abbreviations such as ‘appar&’ or ‘aae͛t’. Apart from aꝫ, frequent abbreviations of this type include dꝫ (debet), eꝫ (esset), hꝫ (habet), lꝫ (licet), oꝫ (oportet), pꝫ (patet), ſꝫ (scilicet), tꝫ (tenet), and vꝫ (valet, videlicet).

12. In logical texts, ‘a’ is frequently used for the major premise and ‘b’ is for the minor premise of a conclusion. This results in abbreviations such as a^a (maior nota) and b^ꝛ (minor probatur).

13. This Bible (now Utrecht, Universiteitsbibliotheek, MS 31) was commissioned by Herman Droem, dean of the chapter of St. Mary in Utrecht, and produced after the invention of printing in the years 1464–76. For a description of the manuscript, see Horst (1984, 138–40), (1989, No. 76).

14. See Bischoff (1990, 154). For the nomina sacra as an origin of the use of abbreviations, see Traube (1907).

15. Peter of Ailly (1987, xxxi). Further (singular) readings are ‘dicere’, ‘asserere’, and ‘recitare’, but here the scribes obviously deviate from the original text. The original sentence reads as follows: “Quidditatem animae umbratice somniantes philosophi de ea diversa et adversa senserunt, quae omnia disserere longum esset.”

16. The variant readings in this manuscript are often accompanied by terms like “alias …”, “aliter …”, “aut …”, “seu …”, or “vel …”.

17. The passage in question reads: “quia in secundo Posteriorum ponit Aristoteles unam conclusionem demonstrative scibilem.”

18. The passage in question reads: “termini mentales, scilicet conceptus, quibus anima concipit plures res simul indifferenter.”

19. Tombeur (1998).

20. The asterisk, which is used as a wildcard character, takes the place of any series of characters. Searching for “*ualere”, for example, delivers the following results: aequiualere, beneualere, conualere, equiualere, inualere, praeualere, preualere, squalere, and ualere itself. The database allows a maximum of two asterisks (*) per search.

21. From anteactas to anteus. The results include frequent word forms such as antecedens, antecedentes, antecedentibus, antecedentis, antecessores, antecessoribus, antedictis, anteponens, anteriores, anterioribus, anterioris, and anterius, with the most frequent word form being antecedens.

22. From abdens to auriens. The results include frequent word forms such as absens, accedens, accidens, accipiens, addens, adhaerens, adolescens, adueniens, adulescens, agens, agnoscens, aliquotiens, amens, antecedens, aperiens, apparens, appetens, ardens, arguens, ascendens, aspiciens, asserens, assumens, attendens, audiens, and auferens, with the most frequent word forms being accidens, agens, and audiens.

23. The abbreviation “anֿs” is also used in abbreviations of common phrases such as “anֿsꝫ” (antecedens patet) and “anֿs^ꝛ” (antecedens probatur).

24. When searching for instances of “a*n*s”, the ten most frequent word forms are Augustinus, angelus, annos, annis, accidens, angelis, animus, animas, agens, and angelos. Evidently, frequency is not the reason for choosing the abbreviation “anֿs” for “antecedens”, which is not even among the top 50 most frequent word forms.

25. On the oldest lists of abbreviations, see Traube (1909, 129–56).

26. These inventories were collected and published by Lehmann (1929).

27. See Sawicki (1973, 109–34). The question of authorship is still not decisively resolved (see ibid., 111–13).

28. For the incunable editions, see Feenstra (1998, 221–48). Feenstra lists (p. 248) 36 printed editions from 1475 to 1500.

29. Modvs legendi abbreviatvras (1623).

30. Nuova regoletta (1534): see Omont (1902, 5–9).

31. Manutius (1566).

32. Baring (1737).

33. Walther (1745–7).

34. Chassant, (1846). Chassant was the first to try and categorize the huge volume of abbreviations; for this purpose, he introduced the terms “contraction” and “suspension.”

35. Álvarez de la Braña (1884).

36. Cappelli (1899).

37. Cappelli (1901), (1928).

38. Cappelli (2011).

39. Cappelli (1982).

40. Pelzer (1966).

41. See Traube (1907). Similarly, Bischoff views the “ubiquitous model of the nomina sacra” as the origin of the abbreviation technique of contraction (Bischoff 1990, 153). This view contradicts Schiaparelli’s opinion, which regards the contractions of legal terms as the model for the development of the medieval system. See Schiaparelli (1914, 241–75), (1915, 275–322). These two articles were reprinted in Schiaparelli (1969, 94–186). Schiaparelli denies a major role of the nomina sacra: “I nomi sacri formarono un gruppo di vocaboli scritti o abbreviati in tal maniera pressoché chiuso, pur avendo esercitato qualche influenza” (Schiaparelli,1928, 86).

42. See Christianus Stabulensis, Expositio in evangelium Matthaei, col. 1278, linea 43: “Scribitur autem Iesus iota et eta et sigma et apice desuper apud nos. Nam in Grecorum libris solummodo per iota et sigma et apice desuper invenitur scriptum, et sicut alia nomina dei comprehensive [i.e. abbreviated] debent scribi, quia nomen dei non potest litteris explicari. Quando purum hominem significat, per omnes litteras scribitur” (Migne 1864, 106, col.1278CD).

43. For a summary of the discussion, see Paap (1959).

44. See Derolez (2003, 68).

45. According to Dondaine and Shooner (1967, 7) ‘inintelligibilis’ is a misreading of ‘illegibilis’, but it has held the field for a long time. See Boyle (2005, 294).

46. In the autograph manuscript Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. lat. 9850, we find, for example: ꝗ (qui) (fol. 105ra), ꝗa (quia) (fol. 105ra), ꝗbꝫ (quibus) (fol. 105rb), ꝗđ (quidem) (fol. 48ra), ꝗdā (quidam) (fol. 48ra), eꝗtatē (aequitatem) (fol. 105ra), eꝗtatiſ (aequitatis) (fol. 105rb), eꝗnoſ (equinos) (fol. 105rb), ꝓpīꝗ (propinqui) (fol. 105ra), reꝗeſcēt (requiescent) (fol. 105rb), reꝗrite (requirite) (fol. 105rb); and in the autograph manuscript MS Vat. lat. 9851, we find, for example: loꝗm^ꝛ (loquimur) (fol. 12va), ſeꝗt^ꝛ (sequitur) (fol. 12va), ꝗa (quia) (fol. 13rb).

47. See Pluta (2010).

48. See Pluta (2004).

49. The Abbreviationes™ Online Web site is available at https://abbreviationes.net/, accessed January 19, 2020.

50. You can use your smartphone (or laptop or netbook) anywhere in the world to access Abbreviationes™ through your university’s VPN or proxy server.

Bibliography

Álvarez de la Braña, R. 1884. Siglas y abreviaturas latinas con su significado por órden alfabético, seguidas del calendario romano y de un catálogo de las abreviaturas que de usan en los documentos pontificos. León: Garzo [repr. Hildesheim and New York: Olms, 1978].

Baring, Daniel Eberhard. 1737. Clavis diplomatica, specimina veterum scripturarum tradens, alphabeta nimirum varia, medii aevi compendia scribendi, notariorum veterum signa perplura et singula tabulis aeneis expressa. Praemissa est bibliotheca scriptorum rei diplomaticae. Iterata hac editione sic ab auctore recognita, emendata ac locupletata, ut novum opus videri possit. Hanover: Förster.

Bischoff, B. 1990. Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, trans. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín and David Ganz. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Boyle, L. E. 2005. “St. Thomas Aquinas and the Third Millennium.” In Omnia disce—Medieval Studies in Memory of Leonard Boyle, O.P. (Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West), ed. Anne J. Duggan, Joan Greatrex, and Brenda Bolton, 294. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Cappelli, A. 1899. Lexicon abbreviaturarum quae in lapidibus, codicibus et chartis praesertim medii-aevi occurrunt: Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane: usate nelle carte e codici specialmente del medio-evo riprodotte con oltre 13000 segni incisi; aggiuntovi uno studio sulla brachigrafia medioevale, un prontuario di Sigle Epigrafiche, l’antica numerazione romana ed arabica, i monogrammi, ed i segni indicanti monete, pesi, misure. Milan: Hoepli.

Cappelli, A. 1901. Lexicon abbreviaturarum: Wörterbuch lateinischer und italienischer Abkürzungen, wie sie in Urkunden und Handschriften besonders des Mittelalters gebräuchlich sind, dargestellt in über 16000 Zeichen, nebst einer Abhandlung über die mittelalterliche Kurzschrift, einer Zusammenstellung epigraphischer Sigel, der alten römischen und arabischen Zählung und der Zeichen für Münzen, Masse und Gewichte (Webers illustrierte Handbücher 3). Leipzig: Weber.

Cappelli, A. 1928. Lexicon abbreviaturarum: Wörterbuch lateinischer und italienischer Abkürzungen, wie sie in Urkunden und Handschriften besonders des Mittelalters gebräuchlich sind, dargestellt in über 14000 Holzschnittzeichen (Webers illustrierte Handbücher 3), 2nd ed. Leipzig: Weber.

Cappelli, A. 1982. The Elements of Abbreviation in Medieval Latin Paleography, trans. David Heimann and Richard Kay (University of Kansas Publications, Library Series 47). Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Libraries.

Cappelli, A. 2011. Lexicon abbreviaturarum: Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane usate nelle carte e codici specialmente del medio-evo riprodotte con oltre 14000 segni incisi con l’aggiunta di uno studio sulla brachigrafia medioevale, un prontuario di Sigle Epigrafiche, l’antica numerazione romana ed arabica ed i segni indicanti monete, pesi, misure, etc., 6th ed. with 9 plates. Milan: Ulrico Hoepli.

Chassant, A. A. L. 1846. Dictionnaire des abréviations latines et françaises usitées dans les inscriptions lapidaires et métalliques, les manuscrits et les chartes du Moyen Age. Évreux: Cornemillot [2nd ed. Paris: Aubry, 1862; 3rd ed. Paris: Aubry, 1866; 4th ed. Paris: Aubrey, 1876; 5th ed. Paris: Martin, 1884; repr. of 5th ed. Paris 1884: Hildesheim and New York: Olms, 1965].

Derolez, A. 2003. The Palaeography of Gothic Manuscript Books: From the Twelfth to the Early Sixteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dondaine, H. F. and H. V. Shooner. 1967. Codices manuscripti operum Thomae de Aquino, vol. 1. Rome: Commissio Leonina.

Feenstra, R. 1998. “La Genèse du ‘Modus legendi abbreviaturas in utroque iure.’ Éditions incunables et manuscripts.” In Life, Law and Letters: Historical Studies in Honour of Antonio García y García, vol. 1 (Studia Gratiana 28), ed. Peter Linehan, 221–48. Rome: Libreria Ateneo Salesiano.

Frugoni, C. 2003. Books, Banks, Buttons, and Other Inventions from the Middle Ages, trans. William McCuaig. New York: Columbia University Press.

Horst, K. van der. 1984. Handschriften en Oude Drukken van de Utrechtse Universiteitsbibliotheek: Samengesteld bij jet 400-jarig bestaan van de bibliotheek der Rijksuniversiteit, 1584–1984, 2nd ed. Utrecht: Universiteitsbibliotheek.

Horst, K. van der. 1989. Illuminated and Decorated Medieval Manuscripts in the University Library, Utrecht: An Illustrated Catalogue. Maarssen’s-Gravenhage: Gary Schwartz.

Lehmann, P. 1929. Sammlungen und Erörterungen lateinischer Abkürzungen in Altertum und Mittelalter (Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-historische Abteilung. Neue Folge, 3). Munich: Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Manutius, A. 1566. De veterum notarum explanatione quae in antiquis monumentis occurrunt. Venice [repr. Milan: La Goliardica, 1971].

Meersseman, G. G. 1955. “Einige Siglen der mittelalterlichen Logik.” Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie 2: 87–9.

Melis, F. 1972. Documenti per la storia economica dei secoli XIII–XVI, Con una nota di Paleografia Commerciale a cura di Elena Cecchi (Istituto internazionale di storia economica “F. Datini”, Prato—Pubblicazioni Serie I: Documenti, vol. 1). Florence: Olschki.

Migne, J. P. 1864. Patrologiae cursus completus…Series Latina, vol. 106. Paris: Garnier and J. P. Migne.

Modvs legendi abbreviatvras passim in ivre tam civili, qvam pontificio occvrrrentes. 1623. Rome: Facciotti. [repr. Bononia: Forni, 1989, http://works.bepress.com/david_freidenreich/28, accessed January 18, 2020].

Nuova regoletta nella quale troverai ogni sorta de abbreviatura usuale. 1534. Brescia: Damiano e Jacobo Philippo fratelli.

Omont, H. 1902. “Dictionnaire d’abréviations latines publié à Brescia en 1534.” Bibliothèque de l’École des Chartes 63: 5–9.

Paap, A. H. R. E. 1959. Nomina Sacra in the Greek Papyri of the First Five Centuries A.D.: The Sources and Some Deductions (Papyrologica Lugduno-Batava 8). Leiden: Brill.

Pelzer, A. 1966. Abréviations latines médiévales. Supplément au Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane de Adriano Cappelli (Centre de Wulf-Mansion, Recherches de philosophie ancienne et médiévale), 2nd ed. Louvain: Publications Universitaires and Paris: Béatrice-Nauwelaerts.

Peter of Ailly. 1987. “Tractatus de anima (ed. Pluta).” In Olaf Pluta, Die philosophische Psychologie des Peter von Ailly: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Philosophie des späten Mittelalters (Bochumer Studien zur Philosophie 6, Part II (Edition)). Amsterdam: Grüner.

Pluta, O. 2004. “Abbreviationes™: A Database of Medieval Latin Abbreviations.” In Mediaevistik und Neue Medien, ed. Klaus van Eickels, Ruth Weichselbaumer, and Ingrid Bennewitz, 183–9. Stuttgart: Jan Thorbecke.

Pluta, O. 2010. “Quaedam regulae de modo titulandi seu apificandi pro novellis scriptoribus copulatae: A Late Medieval Tutorial for Novice Scribes.” In Teaching Writing, Learning to Write: (Proceedings of the XVIth Colloquium of the Comité International de Paléographie Latine, Held at the Institute of English Studies, University of London, 2–5 September 2008) (King’s College London Medieval Studies, XXII), ed. Pamela R. Robinson, 241–71. London: King’s College London, Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies.

Putallaz, F.-X. 1998. “Cherchez l’auteur! Un curieux manuscrit du XIV^e siècle.” In Was ist Philosophie im Mittelalter? Qu’est-ce que la philosophie au Moyen Âge? (What Is Philosophy in the Middle Ages?) (Akten des X. Internationalen Kongresses für mittelalterliche Philosophie der Société Internationale pour l’Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale, 25 bis 30 August 1997 in Erfurt, Miscellanea Mediaevalia 26), ed. Jan A. Aertsen and Andreas Speer, 304–11. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter.

Sawicki, J. T. 1973. “Der ‘Modus legendi abbreviaturas in utroque iure’ in der Breslauer Handschrift I Q 69: Ein Denkmal der populären Rechtsliteratur und der juristischen Paläographie in Polen aus dem XV. Jahrhundert.” Bulletin of Medieval Canon Law, n.s. 3: 109–34.

Schiaparelli, L. 1914. “Note paleografiche: Segni tachigrafici nelle Notae iuris.” Archivio storico italiano 72/1: 241–75.

Schiaparelli, L. 1915. “Le Notae iuris e il sistema delle abbreviature medievali.” Archivio storico italiano 73/1: 275–322.

Schiaparelli, L. 1928. “Tachigrafia sillabica latina in Italia.” Bollettino della Accademia di Stenografia 4: 11–18, 80–90, 157–68.

Schiaparelli, L. 1969. Note paleografiche (1910–1932), ed. Giorgio Cencetti. Turin: Bottega d’Erasmo.

Steffan, H., ed. 1980. “Magistri Theodorici Ordinis Fratrum Praedicatorum Tractatus de cognitione entium separatorum et maxime animarum separatarum, Einleitung, III. Paläographischer Exkurs zu einem Sigel in D.” In Dietrich von Freiberg, Schriften zur Metaphysik und Theologie, with an Introduction by Kurt Flasch [=Dietrich von Freiberg, Opera Omnia, II], 155–7. Hamburg: Meiner.

Tombeur, P., ed. 1998. Thesaurus Formarum Totius Latinitatis, Cetedoc Index of Latin Forms: Database for the Study of the Vocabulary of the Entire Latin World/Base de données pour l’étude du vocabulaire de toute la latinité. Brepols: Catholic University of Leuven.

Traube, L. 1907. Nomina sacra: Versuch einer Geschichte der christlichen Kürzung (Quellen und Untersuchungen zur lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters, 2). Munich: Beck [repr. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1967].

Traube, L. 1909. “Lehre und Geschichte der Abkürzungen (Vorgetragen in der historischen Klasse der K. B. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München am 4. Februar 1899).” In L. Traube, Zur Paläographie und Handschriftenkunde, ed. P. Lehmann, 129–56. Munich: Beck [repr. =Ludwig Traube, Vorlesungen und Abhandlungen. ed. Franz Boll, 1. Munich: Beck, 1965].

Walther, J. L. 1745–7. Lexicon Diplomaticum, abbreviationes syllabarum et vocum in diplomatibus et codicibus a saeculo viii. ad xvi. usque occurrentes exponens, iunctis alphabetis et scripturae speciminibus integris. Göttingen: Schmid [repr. Ulm: Gaum, 1756; New York: Franklin, 1966 (Burt Franklin bibliography and reference series, 101); Hildesheim and New York: Olms, 1973].

Weidemann, H. 1981. “Zur Semantik der Modalbegriffe bei Peter Abaelard.” Medioevo 7: 1–40.