Latin abbreviations

Some of the abbreviations presented are very common in texts. Others are found only in scientific and scholarly texts. These latin abbreviations are 'international', hence you may find them in any written (western) language.

Watch out the use of the period. Not all short words are abbreviations!

Sources
Further links

Abbrev.	Full term	Example use	Meaning
c.	circa	Diameter: c. 12.5 mm	= about, around, approximately
cf.	confer	See page 26 cf.	refer to page xx and compare with current text
divis		from Monday – Friday	typographic character = n-dash
dto.	dito	property not important something dto.	= same as (with relation to something mentioned previously)
e. g.	ejusdem generis; exempli gratia	… e.g. Kanisius the Larger.	of a like kind; for example
ergo	= therefore	This paper is black ergo you can not see any print on it.
et al.	et alibi	The findings by Androwsky et al …	= and others; mostly used in bibliographic notations
et seq.	et sequens		= and following
etc.	et cetera	rabbits, wolfs, cows etc.	= and so on
f	folio = sheet	see pages 177f	the noted page and the one following (pages 177 and 178)
ff	foliae ???	see pages 177ff	the noted page and following (e.g. pages 177 - 180)
i. e.	id est		= that is
n. n.	nomen nominandum	Let us pray for our bishop N. N. and all bishops …	= name hither to unknown
p. s.	post scriptum	P. s.: Don't forget the …	Postscript; an addendum to an already terminated text.
q. e.	quod est		= which is
q.e.d.	quod erad demonstrandum	And the result is xxx q.e.d.	= which was to be proved (a highly academic expression)
re	in re	Re: our last meeting	= in this matter, concerning
recto	recto = straight forward	This picture must be printed recto	on the front side of a sheet (of paper). In german this is called schöndruck (on the pretty side)
s. l. et a.	sine loco et anno		Without location and year. Used in bibliographies
sic			Intentionally written so (indicative of intentional error especially in case of quoting misspelled words)
stet	stet		= let it stand. Ignore any existing editing marks
verso	vertere = to turn	Do not print this picture verso. All pages to be printed recto/verso	on the back side of a sheet. In german this is called widerdruck (on the opposite)1) In hot metal times the verso print was not as good as the recto print, because the recto print caused real bumps on the verso side.
vs.	versus	… FrameMaker vs. Word …	= against, in contrast to

Typography

To keep the short words together the first period is succeeded by a smaller space than used for inter-word-spacing. This also prevents the abbreviation from splitting on two lines.

Sources

• The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations, ISBN 0-19-280003-5
• Hiller, Helmut: Wörterbuch des Buches, ISBN 3-465-01384-0
• B. Kytzler/L. Redemund: Unser tägliches Latein, ISBN 3-89350-973-9

Further links

• www.fontsite.com