47
votes
Accepted
Why is the Roman acronym SPQR and not SPR?
It appears that -que was treated much like a word.
Especially Ovidius does not treat it as an enclitic, but more as an independent word.
This becomes evident in quotes, where -que is outside the quote ...
- 111k
30
votes
Accepted
Abbreviations used by Romans in their inscriptions
This is a list of three names of freedmen (former slaves that were released by their master).
Roman male names for free citizens in classical time usually consisted of three parts (known as tria ...
- 32.7k
27
votes
Accepted
What does the Latin abbreviation "A. O. R." stand for?
According to this list of abbreviations A.O.R. stands for Anno Orbis Redempti, roughly "in the year since the world was redeemed". It seems to be one of an interesting set of obsolete synonyms to Anno ...
- 30.9k
18
votes
Accepted
Meaning of "S. P. D." in letters
SPD is likely an acronym for Salutem Plurimam Dicit. When used in the phrase
[Person X] salutem plurimam dicit [Person Y]
it literally becomes
Person X sends many greetings to Person Y
Person ...
- 2,500
17
votes
Why is the Roman acronym SPQR and not SPR?
The consensus seems to be that SPQR means Senatus Populusque Romanus, but there is also the theory that SPQR did not mean Senatus Populusque Romanus.
It could also may have been Senatus Populus ...
- 361
17
votes
Meaning of "S. P. D." in letters
I'll just expand slightly on @HDE226868's excellent and correct answer and say that the literal translation of salutem plurimam dicit is "says very much health."
Another version you're likely to see ...
- 16.4k
17
votes
Accepted
What does „fecerunt pedes“ mean in Latin inscriptions?
In afraid you shouldn't have glossed over the numerals so easily. The first inscription does not, in fact, say
M. and S. made the/these feet
but in fact:
M. and S. made 100 feet
The foot was used ...
- 32.7k
15
votes
Accepted
How often were medieval scribal abbreviations used?
Yes, Cappelli is basically right (which is perhaps not surprising, he being an authoritative figure in the field of palaeography).
Every third word is probably above average, but in most documents ...
- 19.8k
15
votes
15
votes
Accepted
Does the abbreviation “ſ.” in this 1755 work mean “sine”?
If you look closely, you will note that the 's' is in blackletter script. According to long-standing German printing tradition, German words are in blackletter, Latin words in Antiqua.
The German word ...
- 32.7k
14
votes
Accepted
Abbreviations in Latin dictionaries, especially Lewis and Short
You can find the abbreviations for Lewis & Short in the Latin Lexicon 'Numen' online:
http://latinlexicon.org/LNS_abbreviations.php
First you will find the abbreviations of ancient authors and ...
- 19.8k
14
votes
Accepted
Why might "Philosophiae Doctor" (the source of "Ph.D.") have been preferred over "Doctor Philosophiae"?
There is no significance to the word order, and both are perfectly acceptable in Latin. In fact, it is only in English translation that there is a difference felt. The genitive in Latin is perfectly ...
cmw♦
- 52.2k
13
votes
Accepted
Latin abbreviation "plagg."
It means plagulae, printing sheets. These are not pages (one sheet contains several pages). 23 plagulae are one bookbinder's alphabet (as the sheets are labelled with the letters A–Z, no J, V, W). The ...
- 32.7k
12
votes
Accepted
What does Q.B.V.D. stand for on the title page of a dissertation?
It's also – more commonly, I believe – given as Q. D. B. V. = quod Deus bene vertat, 'May God cause this to turn out well'/'May God grant this success.'
This use of verto is under definition 18 in ...
- 19.3k
11
votes
How often were medieval scribal abbreviations used?
The proportion of abbreviated words in a medieval manuscript depends on the time when it was written and also the individual scribe, but could generally be quite high. I believe that the estimate by ...
- 863
11
votes
Accepted
Representing medieval latin abbreviation symbols in Unicode
There are two Unicode blocks in particular filled with mediaeval abbreviations, if you (and your readers!) have the appropriate fonts.
The Combining Diacritical Marks Supplement (chart) provides ...
- 65.1k
11
votes
Accepted
Why does the Misal rico de Cisneros uses the word "Qiſſa", and what is it supposed to mean? Why not "Miſſa" (Missa)?
I agree with brianpck's comment: I don't understand why you're reading this glyph as a Q. In isolation, it might look like a Q, but considering the context, it appears to be a variant of M (it's not ...
- 27.3k
10
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of the abbreviations “h.e.” and “h.l.”?
h.e. = hoc est
ad h.l. = ad hunc locum
- 17.5k
10
votes
Accepted
Books of reading medieval Latin manuscripts
The UK National Archive runs a two part course which gives immediate feedback and quickly introduces .1. dating of mss .2. different styles of writing (book script, private notes, .3. post classical ...
- 8,643
10
votes
Accepted
what does the abbreviation "h. l." (or "h. 1.") stand for?
The abbreviation h. l. means hoc loco – “here, in this place, in this instance.” This is a common abbreviation which you can find in various books.
The abbreviation h. e. probably means hoc est or ...
- 32.7k
10
votes
Accepted
Latin date abbreviation meanings
That's a superscript a, indicating that these are ordinal numbers rather than cardinal numbers.
Specifically, it's showing the ending of the word to disambiguate different ways of reading the number. ...
- 65.1k
9
votes
Why is the Roman acronym SPQR and not SPR?
The source referenced in a Wikipedia-entry:
SPQR är en förkortning för Senatus Populusque Romanus, [se'na:tus popu'luskwe ro'ma:nus], vilket betyder "senaten och det romerska folket". Eller ...
- 191
9
votes
Do different truncation signs have different connotations?
Cappelli is the most reliable source in the field of Latin palaeography. What he says in the description of the signs of truncation also matches my experience. So there are hardly any different ...
- 19.8k
9
votes
Are there any recorded classical Roman abbreviations of "et cetera"?
First of all, the history of the ampersand (deriving from a ligature of a cursive et) is too short to be relevant to Classical Latin as @JoonasIlmavirta points out.
Wikipedia lists ZC (zetera et ...
- 1,775
9
votes
Accepted
The medieval abbreviation eccƚie
In Classical Latin the Genitive and Dative, first declension are -ae but in Medieval Latin, -e. So this is the abbreviated form of ecclesie. "of the church."
Not all through-strikes have the same ...
- 8,643
9
votes
Accepted
What does D.D.P. mean in this inscription? (see image)
According to Sandys's Latin Epigraphy: An Introduction to the Study of Latin Inscriptions, "D.D.P." stands for:
decreto decurionum publice
The last "P" is sometimes replaced with "P.P." or "PEC ...
- 39.4k
9
votes
What do three diagonal dots above a letter mean in the "Misal rico de Cisneros" (Spain, 1518)?
These triple dots appear to be serving two separate purposes.
The passive -ur ending: In your first image, the word intended is perficientur, and the same triple dot is used on page 224 for ...
- 39.4k
9
votes
Accepted
I with superscript ma
Prima (first). It’s a combination of a Roman numeral plus termination so you know what case/number it’s in.
The work referred to is here: http://dl.ub.uni-freiburg.de/diglit/brenkman1722/0489?sid=...
- 6,279
8
votes
What does "Scat." stands for in Latin?
In a word, yes.
D.scat. means detur scatula (“let a box be given”) just like the following S. means signetur or scribatur (“let the following be prescribed”). It is also possible to interpret them ...
- 3,246
8
votes
Does "Op. cit." stand for "opus citatum" or "opere citato"?
Both, or either!
Opus citātum and opere citātō are different inflections of the same phrase, depending how they're used in the sentence.
If something comes from the cited work, for example, that ...
- 65.1k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible