Page:The practice of typography; correct composition; a treatise on spelling, abbreviations, the compounding and division of words, the proper use of figures and nummerals by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/63



A printer is seldom asked to abbreviate long words. If so required, to maintain uniformity in column matter, the abbreviations made, especially in Latin words, should end preferably on a consonant, as '''merc. cor.''' for mercurius corrosivus.

Many Latin words, as pro tempore and per centum, have been incorporated in the English language in their abbreviated forms pro tem, and per cent. They do not really need the abbreviating period, but if the author systematically uses the period the compositor must follow his method. They need not be in italic.

Medieval copyists made many abbreviations, but few of them have been reproduced by American type-founders, and those mainly for bodies of ten-eleven- and twelve-point roman. The few made and most used are cꝰ for cujus; n̄ for non; ꝑ for per, por, par; q̄ for qui; ꝗ for quod; qꝫ for que; ꝝ for rum; ꝫ for et. Made with many variations by different copyists and different printers, they were hard to decipher even in their own time. They are used now mainly by librarians for the exact rendering of the colophons or titles of old books.