ABBOTTABAD, a town of British India, 4120 ft. above sea-level, 63 m. from Rawalpindi, the headquarters of the Hazara district in the N.W. Frontier Province, called after its founder, Sir James Abbott, who settled this wild district after the annexation of the Punjab. It is an important military cantonment and sanatorium, being the headquarters of a brigade in the second division of the northern army corps. In 1901 the population of the town and cantonment was 7764. ABBREVIATION (Lat. brevis, short), strictly a shortening; more particularly, an “abbreviation” is a letter or group of letters, taken from a word or words, and employed to represent them for the sake of brevity. Abbreviations, both of single words and of phrases, having a meaning more or less fixed and recognized, are common in ancient writings and inscriptions (see Palaeography and Diplomatic), and very many are in use at the present time. A distinction is to be observed between abbreviations and the contractions that are frequently to be met with in old manuscripts, and even in early printed books, whereby letters are dropped out here and there, or particular collocations of letters represented by somewhat arbitrary symbols. The commonest form of abbreviation is the substitution for a word of its initial letter; but, with a view to prevent ambiguity, one or more of the other letters are frequently added. Letters are often doubled to indicate a plural or a superlative.

I. Classical Abbreviations.—The following list contains a selection from the abbreviations that occur in the writings and inscriptions of the Romans:—

1. ↑ Describing the function of the triumviri monetales.