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Abbreviationes

Note: This program is fully installed on the Power Macintosh near the door in the Etext Center. No CD-ROM or floppy disk is required to run the program.

I. BRIEF OVERVIEW OF STRUCTURE AND CONTENT:

Abbreviationes is an electronic dictionary of medieval Latin abbreviations. The database currently contains nearly 50,000 entries.

II. STARTING UP ABBREVIATIONES:

From the desktop, double-click on the following icons in turn:

  • The Calliope icon;
  • The Applications folder icon;
  • The Abbreviationes 1.6 folder icon;
  • The Abbreviationes icon.

If you do not see these icons, please ask a staff member for assistance.

III. USING ABBREVIATIONES:

Searching:

  • You will first see a window asking you to open a dictionary. Pull down the File menu to Open (shortcut: [apple-O]) and choose Query. Ignore Update and Share.

  • Select the Main Dictionary.

  • The default settings for your search are Abbreviation and Exact Match. If you wish, you can change Abbreviation to Word and Exact Match to Fuzzy Match.

  • You will see the message, "Please enter a value." As you will quickly detect, there is no need to press Return after you type.

    • Type subscript characters using the uppercase keys.
    • When you type the abridged form, ignore any special characters; just use the regular alphabet. There are two exceptions, however: press [option-C] for compilatio, and press [option-A] for all conventional signs like the common sign "=" for "esse."
    • Your input strings are not case sensitive. For example, if you type "blei," you will find "Burley." Ignore dashes, double dashes, and ligatures as well. For example, if you type "app" you will find "a parte post."

Your search should produce the following results in the left-hand screen:

  • The abbreviation;
  • The abridged form of the abbreviation in brackets;
  • The transcription;
  • The time when the abbreviation was used and (optional) a sample manuscript where you can find it.

Your search result displays the first match. Use the buttons below your entry section to scroll through the rest of the results. From left to right, the buttons function as follows: first, previous, next, and last.

For on-line help, press [apple-H]. You can also find detailed instructions in the manual.

IV. EXITING ABBREVIATIONES AND REMOVING THE CD-ROM:

Exit the program by pressing [apple-Q]. This will quit the application and return you to the desktop.