Q: symbols and abbreviations

[Larry Trask]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Space permitting (and I anticipate some interesting conversations with
my editor), I hope to include in my dictionary entries for the
symbols, abbreviations and Graeco-Latin phrases commonly used in
philological work, since these little beggars are often hard to look
up.  Below is a list of the entries I have so far.  Are there any
obvious omissions or errors?  All advice gratefully received.
Naturally, items in common use outside our field will not be entered.
 
Symbols:
 
angle bracket `<' or `>': shows direction of an etymology
 
angle brackets `< >': sets off material inserted in an edition of a
text because it appears to have been omitted by the scribe
 
asterisk `*': (1) (also `+') marks reconstructed form (double asterisk
sometimes used to mark reconstruction based on reconstructions); (2)
marks "expected" but unattested form; (3) marks form as impossible
(double asterisk occasionally used here)
 
capital letter: represents generic segment in reconstructed form, such
as N for `unspecified nasal' or V for `unspecified vowel'
 
dagger: (1) marks word as having no known etymology; (2) marks
language as extinct
 
exclamation mark `!': marks proposed etymology as implausible or absurd
 
parentheses `( )': (1) marks variant forms compactly, as in
"<mintz(a)>" = "<mintz> or <mintza>"; (2) = square brackets (sense 1);
(3) sets off non-cognate material in comparanda
 
pipe `|': indicates uncertain segment in reconstructed form; e.g.,
*<lap|ba> = *<lapa> or *<laba>
 
plus sign `+': (1) in an etymology, indicates sequence of forms
themselves otherwise explained; (2) = asterisk (sense 1)
 
question mark `?': marks almost anything as doubtful
 
slash `/': = swung dash
 
square brackets `[ ]': (1) in a reconstructed form, marks material of
doubtful or variable presence, as in "*<mil[i]ga>" = "*<miliga> or
*<milga>"; (2) (also parentheses) sets off lacuna in edition of a
text, possibly filled by editor's suggestion; single bracket used if
lacuna occurs at end of line
 
swung dash (tilde) `~' (also slash): separates variant forms
 
Abbreviations
 
cf.: introduces cognate of cited form [I want to put this in because
most of my students believe it means "comes from", and wind up telling
me that half the words of English are taken from Sanskrit]
 
id.: same meaning as last form glossed
 
s.v. (s.u.): look up this word in the reference cited
 
vel sim.: or something similar
 
Phrases:
 
hapax (legomenon): word or form recorded only once
 
lectio difficilior: that one of several variants which is hardest to
account for
 
lucus a non lucendo: deriving a word from one of more-or-less opposite
meaning
 
(maybe also `punctum delens', but I can't generally include terms
specific to writing systems)
 
I hope I've already got all the traditional and IE stuff like
`tenuis', `media aspirata', `muta cum liquida', `schwa secundum' and
`s-mobile'.
 
Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
England
 
larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk