Common Abbreviations
A Guide to Editorial Sigla
All Latin and Greek texts, even those inscribed on stone, began as handwritten copies (often damaged) of lost authorial originals and so contain errors, interpolations, and omissions. Editors use the surviving copies to recreate the original by choosing the variant readings likeliest to be correct and emending doubtful readings by conjecture. Loeb editors use sigla within the text and in notes beneath the text (usually in Latin, by convention) to flag variants and conjectures that significantly affect its translation or interpretation. The following list explains the sigla most frequently encountered; readers interested in more detail should consult the particular editor’s review of the history of the text in the work's introduction.
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In continuous text |
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|---|---|
| [ ] or { } | words that the editor considers spurious. If the latter is used, the former encloses additional information such as references to other texts |
| *** | missing or indecipherable letters or text |
| < > | words added by the editor |
| [[ ]] | words that the ancient or medieval copyist deleted |
| ( ) | parenthetical words / phrases or expanded abbreviations, e.g. M(arcus) Cicero s(alutem) d(ixit) |
| † † | a †word or †words† that the editor considers corrupt but never satisfactorily emended |
| | or || | section or page breaks in texts keyed to reference editions, e.g. Aristotle and Plato |
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In papyri |
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| [β] or [β or β] | mark off parts of the text lost through physical damage |
| ⌊ ⌋ | mark off parts of the text lost through physical damage but supplied from another source (thus not conjectural) |
| ` ΄ | enclose insertions made by a scribe after he wrote the original line |
| . . . | a dot beneath a letter indicates that the letter is uncertainly deciphered, beneath a blank space that a letter is indecipherable |
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In textual notes |
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| a.c. | before correction |
| ad | at or on, of someone citing a text |
| add. | added |
| al. or alii or alia | others |
| ante | before or preceding |
| ap(ud) | at or within |
| cett. | other manuscripts |
| cf. or cp. | compare |
| ci. or cj. or conj. | conjectured |
| cod(d). | manuscript(s) |
| corr. | corrected |
| damn. | considered corrupt |
| deest or desunt | is / are missing |
| def. | defended |
| del(evit) | deleted |
| dub. | doubtful / doubted |
| e(x) | from or on the basis of |
| edd. | editors |
| em. | emended |
| exp. | deleted |
| fere | in general, virtually |
| fort. or fors. | perhaps |
| gl. | gloss (often a marginal or interlinear explanation that a scribe mistakenly inserted into the text) |
| γρ. | identified as a variant by the scribe himself |
| h.v. | this verse |
| iam | already |
| marg. or mg. | in the margin |
| ins. | inserted |
| interl. or lin. | interlinear |
| lac(una) | a gap in the transmitted text |
| lect(io) | a transmitted reading |
| ll. or litt. | letters |
| loc. | place |
| ms(s). | manuscript(s) |
| nonnulli | some editors |
| nota | notation, e.g. of a speaker in drama |
| om(m). | omit(s) |
| P(ap). or Π | papyrus |
| p.c. | after correction |
| (in) ras. | on top of an erasure |
| recc. | younger manuscripts |
| rell. | the remaining manuscripts |
| Σ or Schol. | scholium (marginal commentary) |
| ΣA | scholium in manuscript A |
| scripsi(t) | I have (he has) written |
| secl. | has considered misplaced |
| sim. | similar(ly) |
| s.l. | above the line |
| sq(q). | following word(s) |
| suppl. | supplied |
| susp. | suspect(ed) to be corrupt |
| s.v. | under the word (in a lexicon) or heading |
| tent. | conjectured tentatively |
| trai. | transferred from one place in the text to another |
| transp. | changed the word or line order |
| trib. | attributed |
| v(v). | verse(s) |
| vel sim. | or something similar |
| vett. | the older manuscripts |
| vide | see or consult |
| v.l(l). | variant reading(s) |
| vulg(o) | commonly, in the ordinary manuscript tradition |
| : or | | separate the variants or conjectures reported |
| ] | follows the word(s) printed in the text and separates them from variants and conjectures |