Handbook for translators of Spanish historical ... - University Library

HANDBOOK FOR TRANSLATORS OF SPAKISH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
1) By use of initial letters. The first system to "be
employed was the use of the initial letter, followed by a
period, to stand for a whole word. (Example: "L." for
"Licenciado")
2) By suspension. Complications soon arose, however,
because many words began with the same initial letter;
hence the abbreviated form might stand for any one of
them. Therefore writers began to add other letters at
the beginning of the word, likewise followed by a period,
to differentiate one abbreviation from another. This
practice was known as "abbreviation by suspension".
("Example: "Lie." for "Licenciado")
3) By contraction. In this case medial letters were
omitted and a dash was placed over the word to indicate
their absence. Typically the dash replaced the period in
this construction. (Example: "dho" for "dicho")
4) By use of superscript letters. In older documents
the superscript letters were employed to indicate
omissions within the word ("psente" for "presente," for
example) , but as a rule the translator will find them used
to indicate the termination of abbreviated words. The custom
was to place the first few letters on the line of writing
and the final letters above the line, with a period
beneath. (Example: "L.^°" for "Licenciado")
5) By use of special symbols. In addition to the various
methods explained above, there also existed the practice
of using special symbols to stand for letters or
words. For example: a line over a letter indicated the
omission of an "m" or "n" ; "8^^®" stood for "octubre";
"&" symbolized "etcetera"; and so on.
b. List of Abbreviations Used in Spanish
Historical Documents
Below is given a list of the abbreviations most commonly
used in Spanish historical documents. The list was
compiled chiefly from the collections of original Spanish
manuscripts upon which this book is based; some printed
sources were also used.
A. — Alteza, Aprobado a, aa — arroba, arrobas
a. — ^rea a/ — aceptaci6n
(a) — alias AA. — Autores, Altezas
A
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