Abbreviations
7.1 Abbreviations
We list abbreviations below for titles and terms that appear frequently in ISE pages and editions. If you use other abbreviations in your edition and/or contribution, submit a file that lists the abbreviations you have used, apart from familiar usages such as "ed.," "fol.," "conj.." Remember that the electronic format does not force you to cramp your space, so where it does not involve inelegant repetition or wordiness you can spell items out in full.
7.1.1 Abbreviations for Play Titles
7.1.1.1 Abbreviations for ISE plays
For abbreviated titles of works by Shakespeare, please use the following abbreviations and record them in your list of abbreviations (they are the standard ones listed in the MLA Handbook, listed here as a computer will sort them). Note the additional abbreviations for quartos of multiple texts.
1H4 | The First Part of King Henry the Fourth | |
1H6 | The First Part of King Henry the Sixth | |
2H4 | The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth | |
2H6 | The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth | |
3H6 | The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth | |
Ado | Much Ado About Nothing | |
Ant | Antony and Cleopatra | |
AWW | All's Well That Ends Well | |
AYL | As You Like It | |
Cor | Coriolanus | |
Cym | Cymbeline | |
Edw | Edward III | |
Err | The Comedy of Errors | |
H5 | King Henry the Fifth | |
H8 | King Henry the Eighth | |
Ham | Hamlet | |
JC | Julius Caesar | |
Jn | King John | |
LC | A Lover's Complaint | |
LLL | Love's Labour's Lost | |
Lr | King Lear | |
Luc | The Rape of Lucrece | |
Mac | Macbeth | |
MM | Measure for Measure | |
MND | A Midsummer Night's Dream | |
MV | The Merchant of Venice | |
Oth | Othello | |
Per | Pericles | |
PhT | The Phoenix and Turtle | |
PP | The Passionate Pilgrim | |
R2 | King Richard the Second | |
R3 | King Richard the Third | |
Rom | Romeo and Juliet | |
Shr | The Taming of the Shrew | |
Son | Sonnets | |
STM | Sir Thomas More | |
TGV | The Two Gentlemen of Verona | |
Tim | Timon of Athens | |
Tit | Titus Andronicus | |
Tmp | The Tempest | |
TN | Twelfth Night | |
TNK | The Two Noble Kinsmen | |
Tro | Troilus and Cressida | |
Ven | Venus and Adonis | |
Wiv | The Merry Wives of Windsor | |
WT | The Winter's Tale | |
----- | ----- | |
Ham_Q1 | Hamlet (Q1) | |
Ham_Q2 | Hamlet (Q2) | |
Ham_F1 | Hamlet (Folio) | |
Lr_Q1 | King Lear (Quarto) | |
Lr_F1 | King Lear (Folio) | |
Wiv_Q1 | The Merry Wives of Windsor (Quarto) | |
Wiv_F1 | The Merry Wives of Windsor (Folio) | |
Oth_Q1 | Othello (Quarto) | |
Oth_F1 | Othello (Folio) | |
Rom_Q1 | Romeo and Juliet (Q1) | |
Rom_Q2 | Romeo and Juliet (Q2) |
7.1.1.2. Abbreviations for QME and DRE plays
Plays published by the Queen's Men Editions and Digital Renaissance Editions will each have a short, unique, identifier. As with ISE plays, these can be further identified: in addition to quarto, folio, and modern versions, they may use MS for manuscript.
Plays published to date.
QME
FV | The Famous Victories of Henry V |
FBFB | Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay |
Leir | The History of King Leir |
3L3L | The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London |
3LL | The Three Ladies of London |
OWT | The Old Wives Tale |
TRKJ | The Troublesome Reign of King John |
TTR3 | The True Tragedy of Richard III |
DRE
1HW | The Honest Whore, Part 1 |
2HW | The Honest Whore, Part 2 |
AHDM | An Humorous Day's Mirth |
CoC | The Conflict of Conscience |
DaP | Damon and Pithias |
TrWid | The Triumphant Widow |
EMFMM | Englishmen For My Money, or A Woman Will Have Her Will |
WoB | The Whore of Babylon |
7.1.1.3. Other works
Apocrypha
Yrk | A Yorkshire Tragedy |
Loc | The Tragedy of Locrine |
Old | Sir John Oldcastle |
Cro | Sir Oliver Cromwell |
LP | The London Prodigal |
Pur | The Puritan |
Others
For other works and plays not by Shakespeare, abbreviate only if you are referring to them continuously, in which case you should use generally recognized abbreviations, e.g. SMT (Second Maiden's Tragedy), Span. Trag. (The Spanish Tragedy), etc., and list them in the Abbreviations. Remember, however, that in the electronic world you are not limited by space, so can spell works out in full even if you refer to them frequently. Where works are published by the Queen's Men Editions or Digital Renaissance Editions, use the abbreviation for plays in those series in all links even if you use a different form in your introductory materials.
7.1.2. Other common forms of abbreviation
Where possible, follow MLA style. a) Examples of common abbreviations used for in-text citation:
(OED Boggle v. 3) Note that the abbreviations ("n.," "v.," etc.) in OED citations should be italic. (Note also that ISE style prefers a to sb.)
(Dent W241)
(Tilley C696)
(Abbott 334)
(North 306). Book or article with page reference.
(Bullough 2: 122). Book with more than one volume.
Marlowe, I Tamburlaine, Prologue
Ham. 3.3.15 (TLN 2288) [with ilink: (<ilink component="text" href="Ham/EM#tln-2288>TLN 2288</ilink>)]
(Wells, Re-Editing 87). Book where the author has more than one entry in your Bibliograpy.
(Hunter, "Flatcaps," 18-20). Article where the author has more than one entry in your Bibliograpy.
(Textual Introduction 11). Paragraph 11 of your Textual Introduction.
(2 Peter, 3.13).
(Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.640-78)
Use commas in abbreviated references, thus: ." . . in SMT, 3.4.5, it is . . ." (not ." . . in SMT 3.4.5 it is . . .).
b) Recto and verso Recto and verso folios (etc.) should be designated by "r" and "v," using roman, not italic, letters. Thus: fol. 6v.; Sig. A1r.
7.1.3. Abbreviations that need not be listed
Specific
abbreviations you may use (but which are not to be included in the list of abbreviations):
adj. (adjective)
adv. (adverb)
c. (circa)
ch. (chapter)
ed. and edd. (editor, edition; editors, editions)
f. (following page or line)
ff. (following pages or lines)
fol. and fols. (folio, folios)
e.g. (for example) (not to be followed by a comma)
i.e. (id est: that is)
n. (note) Thus: line 63n. line 63n.5
n. (noun) (preferred to sb.)
no. (number)
OED Oxford English Dictionary
SD (stage direction)
SP (speech prefix)
st. (stanza)
UP University Press
v. (verb)
vol. and vols. (volume, volumes)
Do not abbreviate "cited"; do not use v. (for "vide"); where necessary use "see." Do not use sv. Other abbreviations commonly found in OED citations that may be used when quoting such citations include:
ppl., adj., int., pa., pple., vbl., arch., dial., poss., pron., obs., conj., quasi-sb., sig., sigs.