Abbreviations             

Abbreviations in Genealogical Records 

One real challenge for the reader of documents is the frequent use of abbreviations. Words, including names and places especially, are often abbreviated in the documents. You may refer to the following list of common abbreviations for help in deciphering some of the abbreviations you come across.

Available Lists 

Given Names Use this list to learn the many abbreviations of given names.

Common​ Words Italian handwritten documents are full of abbreviations.  Use this list to learn many of them.

Abbreviations

Everyone agrees that one of the most complicating factors of reading old handwritten records is the common use of abbreviations. Because of the repeated use of the same words in records of the same type, most scribes would speed up the recording process and save paper, ink and time by abbreviating common given names, last names, and other words using certain abbreviating conventions.

Because there are several types of abbreviations, there are also several symbols used to mark abbreviations. In the case of abbreviations by superposition, some scribes would write a line under the superscripted letters, others would include a double line, and others a colon. Some would add a dot or period in the place of the letters that have been omitted in an abbreviation by contraction, others would use a colon instead, and others would write all the letters together adding a tilde-like symbol, or a straight or a curved line above the abbreviated word. Some abbreviations may have no symbol indicating that they have been abbreviated. View examples included below.

Below are brief explanations of the most common processes used to abbreviate words.

Contractions

An abbreviation by contraction is formed by writing the first and last letters of the word and eliminating the middle letters. For example, the word fratello could be abbreviated f.llo with or without a period to indicate the abbreviation. The name Domenico could be abbreviated Domco, often with a tilde-like symbol or a straight line above the abbreviation. Below are some examples of this type of abbreviations taken from the records. For more examples, refer to the List of Abbreviations included in this site.

Abbreviation	Meaning	Samples from Document
Domco	Domenico
Franco	Francesco
Gio Batta	Giovanni Battista

Superpositions

This may be considered a variation of the process of contraction. The first letters are written on the bas​e line and the last one or two letters are written above the base line in a smaller size. For example, the name Francesco would be abbreviated Fran^co with the superscripted letters having a line, a double line, a colon or no symbol underneath. Below are some examples of this type of abbreviations taken from the records. For more examples, refer to to the List of Abbreviations included in this site.

Abbreviation	Meaning	Samples from Document
Ant.o	Antonio
Fran.co	Francesco
Catta	Catterina

Suspensions 

An abbreviation by contraction is formed by writing the first part of the word and eliminating the last part. For example, figlio would be abbreviated fig. or fig, and legittimo would be leg. or leg. Below are some examples of this type of abbreviations taken from the records. For more examples, refer to to the List of Abbreviations included in this site.

Abbreviation	Meaning	Samples from Document
id	idem [Latin]
antim. - ant.	antimeridiane
calz.	calzolaio

Acronyms 

These could be considered a type of suspension where the first letter of a word has come to stand for the entire word. Common examples: S.M.E. stands for the Latin phrase Sancta Mater Ecclesia or S.V. stands for Segnoria Vostra, and A.D.for Anno Domini. Frequently, such abbreviations are doubled in the case of plurals or superlatives. For example, SSmeans santissimo. Below are some examples of this type of abbreviations taken from the records. For more examples, refer to to the List of Abbreviations included in this site.

Abbreviation	Meaning	Samples from Document
S.R.	Santa Religione
S.V.	Segnoria Vostra
SS.	Santissimo

Conventionalisms

Usually found in older documents, these are symbols that represent entire words or syllables. The most common is the use of X or Xpo or Xpto to represent Cristo (Christ). This particular conventionalism is used in the abbreviation of the name Cristoforo as Xptoforo.

There are many syllables that may appear abbreviated using conventionalisms, such as: per, par, por, pro, mer, ser, ver, vir, etc. Usually these symbols consist of the initial letter of the syllable with a curl or a line crossing the letter.

A particular kind of abbreviations using conventions is exemplified by the use of numbers to abbreviate the first part of some of the months of the year, such as: 7bre for settembre, 8bre for ottobre, 9bre for novembre, and 10bre or Xbre for dicembre.

Abbreviation	Meaning	Samples from Document
Xpofano	Cristofano
ßnardo	Bernardo
ƒvitore	Servitore
p​	per
8brio	ottobrio (in dialect) ottobre (in Italian)
9brio	novembrio (in dialect) novembre (in Italian)
9bre	novembre
9mbre	novembre
Xbrio	decembrio (in dialect) dicembre (in Italian)
10brio	decembrio (in dialect) dicembre (in Italian)