V interesting, Paul ;) It confirms what I thought - that v, with or without the
full stop, has been long been in use.
Regards
Frank
-----Original message-----
From: "Paul Dodd"
Date: Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:02:53 +1000
To: "'Rob Geraghty'"
Subject: Accipiter v Accipiter
> For a little bit of fun I thought I'd contribute to this debate...
>
> Initially I thought that the distinction between "v" and "vs" as
> abbreviations was that legal practitioners tended to use "v" and
> sportspeople and others used "vs". Checking through the various documents
> from solicitors in the various cases that I've been involved in over the
> years (as a business owner, not a criminal!), in cases where my company has
> been the plaintiff, the documents are addressed as ...... (plaintiff) v.
> ...... (defendant) - where v. is the abbreviation for "versus", obviously.
> Curiously when my company is the defendant, the documents are addressed as
> ...... (defendant) a.t.s. ...... (plaintiff) - where a.t.s. is an
> abbreviation of "at the suit of" - an English expression!
>
> I then searched my mind for the Latin that I learnt at school many years
> ago. And in almost every case the common convention for the abbreviation of
> Latin expressions is the initial letter of each word followed by a period.
> For example:
>
> e.g. exempli gratia (for example)
> i.e. id est (that is)
> q.e.d quod erat demonstrandum (which was to be shown or demonstrated)
> A.D. Anno Domini (in the Year of the Lord)
>
> Modern usage tends to omit the periods between the letters, and often the
> period at the end.
>
> So what about "etc"? This is actually a concatenation of a Latin word "et"
> (meaning "and") and the abbreviation for another Latin word "cetera"
> (meaning "other unspecified things"). Over the years "et" and "c." have
> merged into "etc." or "etc".
>
> For the religious Christian-minded, another well-known Latin abbreviation is
> "INRI" - Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the
> Jews). Curiously, this phrase is often written without periods.
>
> Other Latin phrases are used today without abbreviation including "ad hoc",
> "ab initio", "ad infinitum", "annus horribilis", and so on.
>
> The only odd phrase I could find was "ad lib", which is a shortened form of
> "ad libitum" (at one's pleasure). A little more research indicated this
> phrase was always "ad libitum" until either 1919 or 1925 in America,
> depending on the reference one believes, when the phrase "adlib" was coined,
> as one word.
>
>
> So, in short, the "proper" abbreviation of "versus" is "v." with "vs" being
> a much more recent adoption.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of Rob Geraghty
> Sent: Tuesday, 9 June 2009 9:18 AM
> To:
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Accipiter v Accipiter
>
>
> Just a point of pedantry not related to birding - can anyone tell me when it
> became common to concatenate "versus" to "v" rather than "vs"? I am
> guessing it's something advertisers began to make headlines narrower, a bit
> like the new habit of leaving out the words "hundred" and "thousand" in
> advertising to make 17,990 sound smaller.
>
> This is not a criticism of anyone on the list. I'm honestly curious if
> anyone noticed when this use of "v" began.
>
> Rob
>
> PS Ob-birding: miserable weekend for birding in Canberra. Cold, windy, and
> the birds had very sensibly looked elsewhere for shelter. :(
> =======
> Rob Geraghty
>
>
>
>
>
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
> ===============================
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 8.5.339 / Virus Database: 270.12.56/2162 - Release Date: 06/08/09
> 17:59:00
>
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
> ===============================
>
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
