![]() In modern times, ⟨Þ⟩ was often used (in the form ⟨y⟩) for promotional reasons, as in Y e Olde Tea Shoppe. In the Early Modern English period, between the 15th and 17th centuries, the thorn Þ was used for th, as in Þ e ('the'). ![]() Warden of Merton College, University of Oxford in Registrum Annalium Collegii Mertonensis, 1503. And wherɔ y wrot to you the last wyke that y trouyde itt good to differrɔ thelectionɔ ovɔ to quīdenaɔ tinitatis y have be thougħt me synɔ that itt woll be thenɔ a bowte mydsomɔ. While this may seem trivial, it was symptomatic of an attempt by people manually reproducing academic texts to reduce the copy time. For example, sequences like ‹er› were replaced with ‹ɔ›, as in ‹mastɔ› for master and ‹exacɔbate› for exacerbate. At first, abbreviations were sometimes represented with various suspension signs, not only periods. The standardisation of English in the 15th through 17th centuries included a growth in the use of such abbreviations. Manuscripts of copies of the Old English poem Beowulf used many abbreviations, for example the Tironian et ( ⁊) or & for and, and y for since, so that "not much space is wasted". plural consules.Ībbreviations were frequently used in English from its earliest days. (For example, ⟨A⟩ can be an abbreviation for many words, such as ager, amicus, annus, as, Aulus, Aurelius, aurum and avus.)" Many frequent abbreviations consisted of more than one letter: for example COS for consul and COSS for its nominative etc. However, "some could have more than one meaning, depending on their context. In Roman inscriptions, "Words were commonly abbreviated by using the initial letter or letters of words, and most inscriptions have at least one abbreviation". In both Greece and Rome the reduction of words to single letters was common. This might be done to save time and space (given that many inscriptions were carved in stone) and also to provide secrecy. They were created to avoid spelling out whole words. Examples of contractions are "li'l" (for "little"), "I'm" (for "I am"), and "he'd've" (for "he would have").Ībbreviations have a long history. Often, but not always, the contraction includes the first and last letters or elements. ![]() Consequently, contractions are a subset of abbreviations. FBI ( /ˌɛf.biːˈaɪ/), USA ( /ˌjuː.ɛsˈeɪ/), IBM ( /ˌaɪ.biːˈɛm/), BBC ( /ˌbiː.biːˈsiː/)Ī contraction is a reduction in the length of a word or phrase made by omitting certain of its letters or syllables. : p167Īn initialism is an abbreviation pronounced by spelling out each letter, i.e. Some types of abbreviations are acronyms (some pronounceable, some initialisms) or grammatical contractions or crasis.Īn abbreviation is a shortening by any of these or other methods.Īcronyms, initialisms, contractions and crasis share some semantic and phonetic functions, and all four are connected by the term "abbreviation" in loose parlance. It may also consist of initials only, a mixture of initials and words, or words or letters representing words in another language (for example, e.g., i.e. ![]() NPO, for nil (or nothing) per (by) os (mouth) is an abbreviated medical instruction. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase for example, the word abbreviation can itself be represented by the abbreviation abbr., abbrv., or abbrev. JSTOR ( May 2008) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Įxample of 15th-century Latin manuscript text with scribal abbreviationsĪn abbreviation (from Latin brevis, meaning short ) is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method.Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
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