Abbreviation

Example of abbreviations in a manuscript of the 15th century.

An abbreviation (from the Latin abbreviatura, from abbreviare, 'to make brief') is a type of abbreviation, that is, a spelling convention that shortens the writing of a certain term or expression, and consists of the written representation of a word or group of words with only one or more of its letters. To create it, the initial letter, uppercase or lowercase, is used by itself or accompanied by other letters, either from the middle or from the end of said word, and one or several points that indicate that the word is incomplete. It is then said of it that it is written abbreviatedly.

History

Antiquity

The abbreviations abound in Latin inscriptions, for example in the Pantheon (Rome) fronton read:
M[arcus]·AGRIPPA·L[ucii]·F[ilius]·CO[n]S[ul]·TERTIVM·FECIT
"Marco Agripa, son of Lucio, (being) consul for the third time (it did)"

Abbreviations were widely used in Greece and Rome. In this they became so abused that the Emperor Justinian was forced to prohibit their use. In France, King Felipe el Hermoso prohibited, in 1304, the use in notarial documents and, in general, in public instruments, those abbreviations that could lead to confusion or misinterpretation of the texts.

Among the Latin abbreviations most used by the Romans are those of the praenomen, the given name chosen by the Roman fathers from a rather limited range. Other common abbreviations are COS. ("consul"), which served to date the year; F. (filius, «son») that was placed after the name of the father of the person mentioned or D.M. (Dis Manibus, «for the Manes gods») that headed the tombstones.

Abbreviation Types

Any word can be abbreviated, so a distinction is usually made between "personal" abbreviations (those that any particular speaker generates for their own use in their private writing) and "conventional" (those recognized and commonly used by users of a language). Due to this faculty of the writer, it is usually a style norm that particular abbreviations or those of specific use are collected in a glossary at the beginning or end of the work (especially when it is extensive and has a book format).

Within the conventional abbreviations, some are of general use and others are used in particular contexts, as is the case, for example, of the abbreviations that an author uses within a book and that must be included at the beginning or at the end of the work in an explanatory list.

The abbreviation must be effective and, for this reason, it must delete at least two letters of the abbreviated word, although there are widespread examples in which only one is deleted: vid. by video ("see").

The use of conventional abbreviations is not free, but is limited to certain contexts and subject to certain rules; thus, in general, abbreviations cannot be used anywhere in the text: «*Suddenly, I looked to the right. and I saw them together." Title abbreviations should only be used when they precede the proper name ("Mr. González", "D.ª Juana", etc.). It is also not appropriate to write an amount with letters followed by the abbreviation of the quantified concept: "*twenty cts." for "twenty cents," "*five pts." for "five pesetas".

Shortcut Methods

Two forms of abbreviation are commonly known: truncation and contraction. The first involves removing the final or beginning part of the word (for example, av. for avenida or c. for street). Abbreviations obtained by truncation can never end in a vowel (for example, although in English it is very common, the abbreviation ave. for avenida is incorrect in Spanish). In the construction of abbreviations by contraction, the central letters of the word are eliminated and only the most representative letters are left (for example, avda. for avenida or cl. by street). In this second method, it is common to use a flown final letter or letters (for example, adm.or by administrator or # by number). These flown letters can be written underlined or without underlining. Traditionally the abbreviation period can be replaced by an underline, especially in handwriting. Underlined flown letters are considered archaic in current typefaces and this underlining tends to be dispensed with.

The rule of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) is that abbreviations always end in a period, with the exception of symbols —which are not abbreviations, although they are often confused— and initials. Also excepted from this rule are those abbreviations in which the point is replaced by a slash (/), as in the cases of calle (c/), checking account (c/c) or each one (c/u). As seen in the previous example, when the abbreviation consists of two words, the second point and the space that separates both words are also removed. Another exception to the period rule is that of abbreviations that are written between parentheses (for example (a) for alias). On the contrary, you must write the point before the flown letters (for example, Sr.ª for ma'am or art.º for article), and this includes the use of it in abbreviations with numerals (for example, 3rd for third party or 1. er for primer). On the other hand, when the abbreviation is the last word of the sentence, the point that marks the end of the sentence replaces the corresponding point of the abbreviation (for example: He brought chisel, hammer, keys, etc.). However, if the sentence ends with some other punctuation mark (typically, the question mark or exclamation mark, or the ellipsis [even if there are four points in a row]), the use of the point is considered necessary to ensure the understanding of the sentence. abbreviation.

Abbreviations keep the accents of their source words (for example, p. for page or admin. for administration ), even in their flown forms (for example in C.ía).

In general, capitalization of abbreviations corresponds to the context in which they appear. For example, a. C. (and not B.C.) for before Christ, or a. D. g. for thank God. However, there are situations where this rule is not followed; for example: titles (D., Sr., S. A. R.) are always written with capital letters, and some very common abbreviations (such as P.V.P. or D.E.P.) are always capitalized.

The plural forms of abbreviations depend on their construction method. If the abbreviation was obtained by the truncation procedure, the normal way to use it in the plural is by adding an -s to the end (for example, pp.). If the truncation only left one letter (maximum truncation), the plural is expressed by doubling that letter (for example USA for United States). In abbreviations obtained by contraction, the usual rules for forming plurals in Spanish are applicable: -s if the abbreviation ends in a vowel and -es if it ends in a consonant. There are, however, some exceptions, such as the usual abbreviated plural form of the word you, which is Uds. or Vds., and the usual abbreviated plural form of the word peseta, which is pts. and not ptas. The flown letters used in the formation of plurals must also represent number agreement, such that the correct abbreviated plural form of number is n.os.

When the abbreviation has been constructed by the contraction procedure, the gender of the abbreviations (in words with a double ending) can be reflected by adding an o or an a, depending on whether it is masculine or feminine (for example, abg.do By abogado and abg.da by lawyer). In the case of words whose form in the masculine gender ends in a consonant and which are obtained by truncation, the normal way of writing them is by adding a flown a at the end of the abbreviation (for example, the recommended form by the RAE the abbreviation for profesora is Prof.ª), although it is not uncommon to detect cases in which the added a has no form flown (derived from the difficulty in the use of flown characters that existed in the old typewriters). Words that end in a consonant and are obtained by contraction can use any of the above possibilities.

The use of abbreviations is strongly linked to the printed presentation of the writing. Thus, the use of an abbreviation should be avoided when it is the only word that appears on a line of text (in which case it should be replaced by the non-abbreviated word), and its use is not allowed for expressions that abbreviate several words when the complete abbreviation it cannot be written on the same line of the text. Of course, this already suggests that splitting an abbreviation at the end of a line is not allowed.

Conventional Abbreviations

Many abbreviations have such a widespread conventional form that their use is almost universal. In these types of abbreviations, it is important to pay attention to the letters they consist of (for example, Av. or Avda.) and the way they are written (in uppercase or lowercase, singular or plural, with or without period...). Here are some examples of conventional abbreviations:

• before Christ: a. C. (also) a. C.)
• Anno Dómini: A. D.
• administration: admon.
• et cetera: etc.
• adverb: adv.
• adjective: adj.
• for example (lat.: verbi gratia(c): v. g. or v. gr.more commonly e.g. or e.g.

Actually, it would be too long to detail in this article all the conventional abbreviations (the list offered by the RAE contains almost 350 abbreviations of this type). In fact, there are many more. Many are used on a daily basis and even end up being incorporated into spoken language and into the RAE's regulatory dictionary as legal words (as in the case of facsimile, whose abbreviated form fax It was added to the dictionary in the 1992 edition).

The abbreviations of the ordinals also follow a standardized convention: the corresponding numeral is written and after the period the ending is added in a flown form (depending on whether the word ends in -or or - a, shortened -er as shown in the ordinals section of the RAE); for example:

• first, first (supplied), first: 1.or, 1.♪, 1.a
• Second: 2.a
• Third (coupled): 3.♪
• vigesimoquinto: 25.or

Use of abbreviations

According to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), its use must not be indiscriminate and must be effective. For example, any abbreviation must delete at least two letters of the abbreviated word, respecting the initial letter, followed by one or more letters that contain the word, although there are some general-use abbreviations that do not comply with this rule. It is also not appropriate to use them with quantities when they are expressed in words. For example, it is incorrect to write fifty eur.; it is more appropriate to use the full word: fifty euros. Another style rule consists of not using treatment abbreviations when the abbreviated word does not precede the proper name. For example, its use in ... a Mr. was... is incorrect, and in this case it is necessary to use the non-abbreviated form. This rule is also applicable to the use of abbreviations that refer to the type of road.

Symbols, initials and acronyms

As indicated before, there are some abbreviations and abbreviations that follow their own rules of use, such as symbols, initials and acronyms.

The symbols are scientific-technical abbreviations. They do not have a period at the end, nor can they be changed to capital letters, nor are the following pluralized:

• The symbols of the magnitudes of the decimal metric system, such as the kilogram (kg), the forms being incorrect *kg.♪Kg♪kg or any other.
• The symbols of the cardinal points: N, S, E, O, SO, etc., being incorrect the finished form in point (e.g., *E.).
• The monetary symbols such as that of the euro (€), that of the peseta (Pts), that of the weight ($), that of the sterling pound (£), the yen (¥) or the French franc (F).
• The symbols of the Elements Periodic System: He, Fe, Cu, etc.
• The ISO symbols for the name of countries and currencies. They consist of three capital letters, in the case of countries (COL=Colombia; ESP=Spain; USA=United States of America; MEX=Mexico; PE=Peru; CHL=Chile; ARG=Argentina; GRB=United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; VEN=Venezuela), or of two letters and a sign for coins (EUR=Euro; USD=US Dollar; AV=Venezuela).

An obvious example of what happens when we use capital letters in a symbol is the change in meaning that can be given to the symbol: the difference between the millimeter (mm) and the megameter (Mm). Although not a common unit, one mm is equivalent to one million meters (one thousand kilometers).

Acronyms are abbreviations that use the initial letters of the words they represent: IVSS is, for example, the acronym for Venezuelan Institute of Social Security.

Acronyms are abbreviations formed by the concatenation of elements of two or more words. For example, teleserie or Imserso. Acronyms are also acronyms that can be pronounced as one word, such as NATO, talgo or ovni (from OVNI); or abbreviations that, instead of using the initial letters, also use intermediate letters. Many acronyms from other languages are incorporated as words into Spanish, such as: radar or láser, and some have been formed from the translation of the corresponding acronyms of these languages, such as AIDS.

Examples

• srio./secretary.
• No.
• ise./left.
• dre/right.
• av./avenida.
• Uoi./you.
• e.g./example.
• abbreviation, abbreviation.
• adj./adjective.
• courier.
• Dr./doctor
• DPC./Public consumer rights

• Sra./señora
• Mr.
• col./colony
• att./atentamente

Dictionaries of Abbreviations

There are several abbreviation dictionaries on the market, and even reverse abbreviation dictionaries. Among them are:

• Dictionary of abbreviations, acronyms and acronyms, by Miguel Murcia Grau, with ISBN 8483075008, 9788483075005 (1998)
• Dictionary of medical acronyms and other abbreviationspublished by the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs in 2003
• Trinxet Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations and Acronymswritten by Salvador Trinxet,

ISBN 1624680003 and 978-1-62468-000-7 (2011)

• General Dictionary of Spanish Abbreviationby Juan Carlos Galende Díaz (2001)