Wiktionary talk:Abbreviations in Webster

Abbr's in Webster
In the Etymology explainations in the Webster 1913 source, what do all the abbreviations mean? For example, OE., cf., F. Some of them I can guess are language names, but I'd rather not guess, and some like cf. I don't undrstand from context. Anyone have a pointer to the "key"?


 * I haven't been able to find the list. It looks as if Project Gutenberg only scanned the definitions, and omitted the section on "how to use this dictionary," if there was one.  I added an entry for cf into Wiktionary for you, though. Ortonmc 23:18, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * I agree that this has been a problem. cf. is the same as what you might find in in many scholarly works, and means "compare" or "confer", and is handy when you want to bring attention to some usage or other variation.  The language references require building up experience in their usage.  OE. is Old English; F. is French.  I make a point of always expanding them, but some still occasionally puzzle me; it's one advantage of a wiki not being paper. Eclecticology 07:18, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * What about

Apparel \Ap*par"el\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Appareled}, or {Apparelled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Appareling}, or {Apparelling}.]

I know v.t. is Transitive Verb, but what about imp., p.p., p.pr. and vb.n. ?

Maybe someone who has studied grammar more reciently than me will gleam those from context.


 * I believe the first three would be imperfect (imperative might be another possibility, but that doesn't seem to fit in context), past participle, and present participle. I don't know about vb. n.  Perhaps "verb used as noun" (i.e. gerund)?  Ortonmc 22:42, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)


 * It certainly fits the definition of gerund; I think that must be right. Thanks for your insight.  &mdash;Długosz


 * I've always interpreted it as "verbal noun", which comes to the same thing. I then proceed to delete the reference to it, since the form of the English present participle  and verbal noun are always the same.

Awesome -- thanks, guys.

Link to newer page?
This should probably link to the newer etymology templates, wherever it was that they were getting documented. --Connel MacKenzie 03:27, 29 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Here: Abbreviations_in_Webster Anthon.Eff (talk) 15:08, 23 November 2019 (UTC)