Secretary Anglicana: Abbreviations

There are a fair number of abbreviations in this page. Some are peculiar to English-language manuscripts:

English Language Abbreviations
Contractions :
This stands for þat.
This sign stands for and.
This sign stands for pre. In more formal bookhands it is a straight line drawn horizontally over the top of the p. This word is prest, 'priest'.
This is the familiar abbreviation sign indicating that an m or n has been left out. It can be either arched or flat. Here the word is prisoun.
Sometimes, however, it appears to be used as a meaningless flourish. There seems to be no grammatical reason why there should be an extra n or m on the end of either on or woman.
This leads to the whole question of how far in later fifteenth-century English writing some signs which once were meaningful abbreviation marks had become mere ornamental flourishes, perhaps because the ending which they once denoted was no longer pronounced.
Suspensions
This flourish, here seen on m, stands for er. You see it here in merci, 'mercy'.
This smaller version, here growing out of the cross-stroke of a t, seems also to indicate an abbreviation of er, on the word after.
However, here it seems merely to be a flourish, or an alternative form of final e. The word is apparently singe.

Latin Abbreviations :
You have met this sign before: it stands for per. Here it appears in Latin opera, 'works'.
This stands for misericordie, 'of mercy'.
This stands for versus, 'verse'. Here it draws the reader's attention to a useful Latin verse in which should help them to remember the names of the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy.
...... The flourish above the v is an er abbreviation: the 9-shaped sign after the tall s stands for us.
This stands for spiritualia, 'spiritual'. You have seen sps for spiritus before.

Return to Question Page.



Return to Index Page.

© MEG TWYCROSS 2000