Title: Abbreviations and Signs
Author: Frederick W. Hamilton
Release date: October 1, 2010 [eBook #33828]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Keith Edkins and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net
| Transcriber's note: | A few typographical errors have been corrected. They appear in the text like this, and the explanation will appear when the mouse pointer is moved over the marked passage. |
TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES—PART VI, NO. 37
EDUCATIONAL DIRECTOR
UNITED TYPOTHETÆ OF AMERICA
PUBLISHED BY THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
UNITED TYPOTHETAE OF AMERICA
1918
Copyright, 1918
United Typothetae of America
Chicago, Ill.
The use of abbreviations and signs is often a convenience and sometimes a temptation. It is a saving of time and labor which is entirely justifiable under certain conditions, one of which is that all such short cuts should be sufficiently conventional and familiar to be intelligible to any person likely to read the printed matter in which they occur. Scientific and technical signs and abbreviations are part of the nomenclature of the subject to which they belong and must be learned by students of it. General readers are not particularly concerned with them.
The use of abbreviations and signs is partly a matter of office style and partly a matter of author's preference. Certain fairly well established rules have, however, emerged from the varieties of usage in vogue. An attempt has been made in the following pages to state these rules clearly and concisely and to illustrate their application.
Classified lists of the most common abbreviations and signs have been inserted and will be found useful for reference and practice. Sources of further information on these points will be found under the head of Supplementary Reading.
| 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 |
INTRODUCTION
The use of abbreviations is as old as the use of alphabets. In inscriptions and on coins and in other places where room is limited they have always been used in order to save space. The words GUILIELMUS QUARTUS DEI GRATIA REX BRITANNIARUM FIDEI DEFENSOR would hardly go around the circumference of a sixpence, three quarters of an inch in diameter. Therefore, we find them written GUILIELMUS IIII D: G: BRITANNIAR: REX F: D: In the manuscript period abbreviations were very extensively used. This was done partly to lighten the great labor of hand copying and partly to effect a double saving of expense, in labor and in costly material. Certain of these abbreviations were in common use and perfectly intelligible. Unfortunately the copyists did not limit their abbreviations to these, but devised others for their own use much to the discomfort of their readers, especially after the lapse of centuries.
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.
I. GENERAL RULES.
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 (many of these abbreviations not appearing in the dictionary lists) 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.
II. DATES.
Dates are not generally abbreviated in regular text matter; The Declaration of Independence was signed on July the fourth, 1776. The word the is sometimes omitted. The date might be written July fourth but never July four.
The abbreviations ult. inst. and prox. with a numeral (meaning the 25th of last month, the 25th of this month, the 25th of next month) are often used in letters, but should not be used in print unless the literal reproduction of a letter is intended.
Do not use st, d, rd, or th after a date given in figures; August the sixth, not August 6th.
The accepted abbreviations for the months are:
| Jan. | Apr. | July | Oct. |
| Feb. | May | Aug. | Nov. |
| Mar. | June | Sept. | Dec. |
The accepted abbreviations for the days of the week are:
| Sun. | Tues. | Thurs. | Sat. |
| Mon. | Wed. | Fri. |
The accepted abbreviations may be used for the months when the day is given, but not when the month and year alone are given;
Jan. 15, 1916, but January 1916.
Some good authorities prefer the order day, month, year; 15 Jan., 1916, but this is a matter of office style. Generally speaking the more common order is the better quite regardless of the logical character because it requires less mental effort on the part of the reader. For example in writing addresses English speaking people put the number before the street, 59 Wall St., while others put the number after the street, Wall St., 59. This is the logical order, because one goes to the street and then finds the number, but it gives to the American reader a curious sensation of mentally standing on one's head.
There is another set of abbreviations, known as the Dewey dates, as follows:
| Months | Days of Week | |||||
| Ja. | Apr. | Ju. | O. | Su. | W. | S. |
| F. | My. | Ag. | N. | M. | Th. | |
| Mr. | Je. | S. | D. | Tu. | F. | |
These may be used in tables and in other places where very great condensation is necessary, but not elsewhere.
In general, much greater abbreviation is permissible in the tables, notes, and other condensed matter than in the body of the text.
III. TIME.
Statements of time should not be abbreviated in ordinary reading matter; at half past two o'clock in the afternoon. If the context makes it clear whether forenoon or afternoon is meant one may write:
at three, at seven o' clock.
This form is used statistically, in enumerations, in tables, and the like.
IV. OTHER ABBREVIATIONS INVOLVING THE USE OF NUMERALS.
The use of numerals and the spelling of numbers in full will be found treated at length in the Printer's Manual of Style (No. 42). As the use of the numeral is in a sense an abbreviation a few general rules may properly be given here.
1. Spell out ages;
eighty-two years and four months old.
in his eighty-third year.
children between the ages of six and fourteen.
2. Spell out references to decades;
in the early eighties.
The form in the '80s, is very objectionable.
3. Spell out numbers of centuries, of sessions of Congress, of military bodies, of political divisions, of Egyptian Dynasties, of streets, and the like unless lack of space renders the abbreviation absolutely necessary.
Twentieth century.
Forty-second Congress.
One hundred and first Pennsylvania Infantry.
Eighteenth Dynasty.
Ninth Ward.
Fifth Avenue.
In case numerals are used, Egyptian Dynasties are always designated by Roman numerals. Writers on Egypt usually use this form:
XVIIIth Dynasty.
4. Spell out sums of money when occurring in ordinary reading matter in isolated cases:
That press cost five thousand dollars.
When several such numbers occur close together, and in all statistical matter, use figures.
Those three presses cost $2,500, $3,600, and $5,000.
5. Spell out round numbers, that is, approximate numbers in units of 100 in numbers of less than 1000 and in units of 1000 if the numbers are more.
An army corps numbers forty thousand men.
The Fifth Corps numbers 37,462.
There are about five hundred officers.
Write fifteen hundred and the like when the phrase is in common use, not one thousand five hundred.
6. Spell out all numbers, no matter how high, when they begin a sentence.
Four thousand nine hundred and sixty-four soldiers, 109 officers, and 10,000 civilians were surrendered with the fort.
7. Spell out in ordinary reading matter all numbers of less than three digits, unless they are of a statistical or technical character or occur in groups of six or more in close connection.
There are sixty cities in the United States with a population of 100,000 or over.
a ninety-ton engine.
five pounds of butter.
He lived only two years, one month, and twenty days.
He spent 137 days in prison.
A ratio of 16 to 1.
The death rate varies from 1 in 15 to 1 in 65.
Send home:
2 pounds of butter
1 pound of sugar
½ pound of coffee
¼ pound of tea
2 pecks of potatoes
1 pound of salt pork
2 pounds of lard
1 quart of milk
Treat all numbers in collected groups alike if possible, that is use either the long or the short form for all. If the largest contains three or more digits use figures for all.
They came in groups of 50, 80, 100, and even 200.
8. Express in figures as a rule decimals, degrees, dimensions, distances, enumerations, money, (but see 4 above), percentage, weights, and the like.
.542, 98°, 9 cubic yards, 37 miles, 24 pages, $1000,
6 per cent (or 6% but never six %), 175 pounds.
V. GEOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS.
Geographical names are ordinarily not abbreviated in text matter. The abbreviations in the subjoined lists are commonly recognized and may be used in lists, bibliographical matter, and elsewhere where condensation is desired.
United States and Territories
| Ala. | Alabama | N. D. | North Dakota |
| Alaska | Alaska | Neb. | Nebraska |
| Ariz. | Arizona | Nev. | Nevada |
| Ark. | Arkansas | N. H. | New Hampshire |
| Cal. | California | N. J. | New Jersey |
| Colo. | Colorado | N. M. | New Mexico |
| Conn. | Connecticut | N. Y. | New York |
| D. C. | District of Columbia | Ohio | Ohio |
| Del. | Delaware | Okla. | Oklahoma |
| Fla. | Florida | Ore. | Oregon |
| Ga. | Georgia | Pa. | Pennsylvania |
| H. I. | Hawaiian Islands | P. I. | Philippine Islands |
| Idaho | Idaho | P. R. | Porto Rico |
| Ill. | Illinois | R. I. | Rhode Island |
| Ind. | Indiana | Samoa | Samoa |
| Ia. | Iowa | S. C. | South Carolina |
| Kan. | Kansas | S. D. | South Dakota |
| Ky. | Kentucky | Tenn. | Tennessee |
| La. | Louisiana | Tex. | Texas |
| Me. | Maine | T. H. | Territory of Hawaii |
| Mass. | Massachusetts | Utah | Utah |
| Md. | Maryland | Vt. | Vermont |
| Mich. | Michigan | Va. | Virginia |
| Minn. | Minnesota | Wash. | Washington |
| Mo. | Missouri | Wis. | Wisconsin |
| Mont. | Montana | W. Va. | West Virginia |
| N. C. | North Carolina | Wyo. | Wyoming |
Foreign Countries
VI. NAMES.
1. Abbreviate Saint in names of persons, cities, streets, churches, etc.
St. John Chrysostom, St. Paul, St. Botolph Street,
The Church of SS (Saints) Peter and Paul.
The word Saint is now omitted in speaking of the evangelists, the apostles, or the church fathers.
The Gospel according to Luke.
Paul's doctrine of salvation.
Augustine's "City of God."
2. In technical matter (footnotes, references etc.) use Co., Bros., and ampersand (&) in firm names and names of corporations.
The Rand-McNalley Co.
Macmillan & Co.
Harper Bros.
New York, New Haven, & Hartford Railroad.
In text matter not of a technical character it is better not to abbreviate.
Harper Brothers have published.
It was printed by the Rand-McNalley Company.
The romantic history of the East India Company.
Do not use ampersand except with names of persons.
John Brown & Co.
The Brown Printing and Publishing Co.
When railroad names or other long names are abbreviated, use no spaces between the letters.
N.Y.N.H. & H.R.R.
U.T. & F.C. of A.
3. Do not abbreviate United States except:
(a) in immediate connection with the name of an officer in the army or navy.
Capt. John Smith, U.S.A.
Lieut. William Brown, U.S.N.
(b) When it is part of the name of an organization.
First Regiment, U.S.V.
(c) When preceding the name of a ship.
U.S.S. Texas.
4. Christian names should be spelled in full in text matter, except in an original signature or when following copy in a quotation.
The following is a list of the accepted abbreviations of the more common Christian names.
Alex. Alexander Fred. Frederick And. Andrew Geo. George Anth. Anthony Herbt. Herbert Ap. Appius Hos. Hosea Arch. Archibald Jas. James Aug. August, Augustus Jona. Jonathan Benj. Benjamin Jos. Joseph C. Cæsar Josh. Joshua Cæs. Aug. Cæsar Augustus Matt. Matthew Cath. Catherine Nath. Nathaniel Chas. Charles Pet. Peter Dan. Daniel Phil. Philip, Philander Eben. Ebenezer Phile. Philemon Edm. Edmund Reg. Reginald Edw. Edward Richd. Richard Eliz. Elizabeth Robt. Robert Esd. Esdras Sam. Samuel Esth. Esther Theo. Theodore Ez. Ezra Thos. Thomas Ezek. Ezekiel Tim. Timothy Ferd. Ferdinand Wm. William Fran. Francis Alex, Ben, Ed, Fred, Sam, and Tom are not always abbreviations and copy should be followed as regards the period. Any unusual abbreviations used by an individual should be followed in giving an original signature.
Go. Washington.
VII. TITLES.
1. As a rule titles prefixed to a name should not be abbreviated except Mr., Messrs., Mrs. (French M., MM., Mme., Mlle.), Dr., Rev., and Hon.
Professor, Colonel, General and some others may be abbreviated when the initials of the name are used;
Professor Smith Prof. J. T. Smith General Grant Gen. U. S. Grant Hon. and Rev., which are similarly used, need special attention as they are often used wrongly. The following is the correct use;
The Reverend John Smith (formal reference)
The Rev. John Smith (quotation or correspondence)
Rev. Mr. Smith
Rev. John Smith
Rev. Smith is wrong and should never be used except as any illiterate form may be used in a quotation. When the names of sovereigns are mentioned only occasionally such names may be given in full.
George the Fifth, William the Second.
When such names occur frequently, as in historical writing, they may be printed with Roman numerals without a period;
George V, William II
Other titles following a name are abbreviated in accordance with the following list.
VIII. SIZES OF BOOKS.
The shorter names for book sizes are usually written out;