ABBACY,

ABBA. abbots-sovereign, abbots-general, &c. and 26 lordsabbots sat in the English parliament. With the history of MONACHISM at large, that of the various orders of abbots is more properly associated, and to that article we therefore refer the reader. MOSHEIM'S Eccles. Hist. &c.

ABBOTS REGULAR, those which take the vow, and wear the habit of their order.

ABBOTS in COMMENDAM, seculars who have received tonsure, but are obliged by their-bulls to take orders when of proper age.

ABBOT is also a title given to bishops whose sees were formerly abbeys; and sometimes to the superiors or generals of some congregations of regular canons, as that of St. Genevieve at Paris, and of Montreal in Sicily. It was likewise usual, about the time of Charlemagne, for several lords to assume the title of countabbots, abba-commites; as superintendents of certain abbeys.

AB'BACY, n. AB'BESS, AB'BEY,

Abbas was introduced (says Skinner) into Europe from Syria with the Christian Religion. It is derived from AB'BOT. the Syriac Abba, Father. The application of this name to persons in monasteries was resisted by St. Jerome, as an infringement of the command to "call no man Father, upon the earth." Doztren he adde al so, Cecyly het that on The eldeste, that was at Carne nonne and abbesse. R. Gloucester, p. 370. To chyrche and to pouere men he zef vorst, as he ssolde, To abbeyes and to prioryes largylyche of hys golde.

Ib. p. 383.

For the abbot of Engelonde, and the abbesse ys nece, Shullen have a knok on here crownes, and incurable the wonde. Vision of Piers Plouhman, repr. 1813, p. 84. And in this time was geuen vnto the kyng by the consent of the great and fatte Abbottes, all religious houses that were of the value of three hundred marke and vnder, in hope, that their great monasteryes should haue continued still: but enen at that tyme one sayde in the parliament house, that these were as thornes, but the great Abbottes were putrifyed old okes, and they must needes folowe.

Grafton, vol. ii. p. 454.

The sovereigns in the different states of Europe endeavoured to recover the influence which they had once in the disposal of the great benefices of the church; by procuring, to the deans and chapters of each diocese, the restoration of their ancient right of electing the bishop; and to the monks of each abbacy, that of electing the abbot. Smith's Wealth of Nations.

ABBE', a kind of secular clergymen, once popular in France; and amongst whom arose several men of great literary merit. They enjoyed certain privileges in the church, but no fixed station; being considered as professed scholars and academics, and were principally occupied in public and private tuition. Some of them have risen to eminence in the state.

ABBESS, the superior of an abbey or convent of nuns, over whom she exercises nearly the same rights and authority as the abbots regular over their monks. Their powers were formerly very extensive; they are said to have assisted at ecclesiastical councils, and even to have been sometimes called to the English Wittenagemote, before the conquest. Some abbesses have had the right of commissioning a priest to act for them in those spiritual functions which their sex would not permit them to exercise; they have occasionally confessed their own nuns; and are allowed, by St. Basil, always to be present when the priest shall confess them. In

ABBEVILLE

the Russian church, the abbess is called Hegumina; a ABBACY. secular priest performs divine service in the chapel of the house, but the nuns read the lessons and sing the hymns. "The nunneries in Russia, at present," says Mr. Pinkerton, " are properly nothing but asylums for aged or unfortunate females, who thus spend the remainder of their days in retirement; most of them usefully employed: and it were altogether inconsistent with truth and justice to consider them as belonging to those retreats of licentiousness and vice, of which we have so many shocking accounts in ecclesiastical history." Present State of the Greek Church.

ABBEY, Sometimes written ABBATHEY; a religious house, governed by a superior, under the title of abbot or abbess.

The jurisdiction of Abbeys was first confined to the immediate lands and buildings in possession of the house. As these establishments increased in importance, and were brought into the neighbourhood of cities and populous towns, they exercised extensive powers over their respective neighbourhoods; and in some cases issued coins, and became courts of criminal justice. In other instances they gave birth to towns and cities. Abbeys, priories, and monasteries, differ principally in the extent of their particular powers and jurisdiction. All these establishments in the Greek church follow the rule of St. Basil. The Russian abbeys and nunneries have been an object of peculiar attention in the policy of that government since the time of Peter the Great, who brought the whole discipline of them under such peculiar restrictions, as have effectually remedied their grosser incoveniencies. The rage for entering into these retreats no longer exists; and, as all the higher ranks of the Russian clergy are taken from amongst them, it is a matter of just anxiety with the government, that such men only should be suffered to enter the order as may afterwards prove worthy of their important designation. Both the male and female establishments are divided into three classes, Stauropegia, Cænobia, and Laura. The first two are directly under the government of the holy synod, and the last under that of the archbishops and bishops of their respective dioceses.

ABBEVILLE, a city of France, the former capital of Ponthieu, and now of the arrondissement of Abbeville (which comprises the ancient counties of Ponthieu and Vimeux), in the department of the Somme, a noble river which runs through the town. Its situation is beautiful, and highly adapted to the extensive trade it carries on in cloths of all descriptions, velvet, cord, and soap; besides its exports of grain, oil, hemp, and flax, which abound in the neighbourhood. Here are cotton-mills, bleaching, and dying grounds; and a celebrated manufactory of fine woollen cloth, established in 1665, by M. Von Robais (a Dutchman, patronised by Colbert), whose family still conduct it. Abbeville contains upwards of 30,000 inhabitants. Before the revolution its ecclesiastical establishments were extensive and flourishing. It had a collegiate church, an abbey, a col-lege with a public library, and thirteen parish churches. The college is still of some celebrity. It is about 85 miles NW. of Paris, 52 S. of Calais, and 16 E. of the British Channel, from whence vessels of largeburden can be worked close up to the town. E. lon.. 2°, 6'. N. lat. 50°; 7'.

ABBRE. VIATE.

ABBREVIATE, v.

ABBREVIATE, n.
ABBREVIATION,
ABBREVIATOR,

ABBREVIATURE.

Ital. Abbreviare, from Lat. Brevis, which is from the Greek Boaxos, Aglo-Saxon Bræcan, to break.

To break or make short, to shorten, to abridge, to bring or reduce to a smaller space or compass by breaking off, or removing parts.

In all theyr wrytynge, [the Frenshe] when they come to any mater that soundyth any thynge to theyr honour, it is wrytten in the longest and mooste shewynge manoure to theyr honour and worshyp. But if it sounde any thynge to theyr dishonoure, than shall it be abreuyatyd or hyd, that the trouthe shall not be knowen. Fabyan, repr. 1811, p. 333. Of this Joseph, Trogus Pompeius, and also his abreuiator Justine do write in this manner: Joseph was the yongest among the brethren, whose excellent wit they fearing, solde him vnto straynge marchauntes, by whome he was brought into Egypt. Grafton, vol. i. p. 17. He that means to have his sickness turned into safety, and life into health and virtue, must make religion the employment of his sickness, and prayer the employment of his religion. For there are certain compendiums or abbreviatures, and shortenings of religion, fitted to several states. Taylor's Holy Living and Dying.

At the creation the original of mankind was in two persons, but after the flood, their propagation issued at least from six; against this we might very well set the length of their lives before the flood, which were abbreviated after, and in half this space contracted into hundreds and threescores. Brown's Vulgar Errours.

The following collection of ABBREVIATIONS most commonly found on the Roman monuments and coins, will be useful in reading ancient inscriptions:

A.

A. L. V. S. Animo libens votum solvit.

ABBRE

A. MILL. XXXV. A milliari triginta quinque, vel ad VIATION. milliaria triginta quinque.

A. M. XX. Ad milliare vigesimum.
AN. A. V. C. Anno ab urbe condita.
AN. C. H. S. Anno cent. hic situs est.

AN. DCLX. Anno sexcentesimo sexagesimo.

AN. II. S. Annos duos semis.
AN. IVL. Annos quadraginta sex.
AN. N. Annos natus.

ANN. LIII. H. S. E. Annorum quinquaginta. trium
hic situs est.

ANN. NAT. LXVI. Annos natus sexaginta sex.
ANN. P. Annonæ prefectus.

ANN. PL. M. X. Annos vel annis plus minus decem,
AN. O. XVI. Anno defunctus decimo sexto.
AN. V. XX. Annos vixit viginti.
AN. P. M. Annorum plus minus.
A. XII. Annis duodecim.

A. N. TR. Argentum novum trevirense.
AN. P. M. L. Annorum plus minus quinquaginta
AN. P. R. C. Anno post Romam conditam.
AN. V. P. M. II. Annis vixit plus minus duobus.
AN. XXV. STIP. VIII. Annorum viginti quinque sti-
pendii, vel stipendiorum octo.

A. P. M. Amico posuit monumentum,
A. P. V. C. Annorum post urbem conditam.
A.P.T. Amico posuit titulum.

APVD. L. V. CONV. Apud lapidem quintum conve

nerunt.

A. A. auro argento.

AB. AUG. M. P. XXXXI. Ab Augustâ millia passuum quadraginta unum.

AB. AUGUSTOB. M. P. X. Ab Augustobrigâ millia passuum decem.

A.B.M. Anima bene merenti.

ABN. Abnepos.

A. CAMB. M. P. XI. A Camboduno millia passuum undecim.

ACCENS. COS. accensus consulis.

A.COMP. XIIII. A Compluto quatuor decem.

A. C. P. VI. A capite, vel ad caput pedes sex.
A. D. Ante diem. Agris dandis.

ADJECT. H-S. IX. Adjectis sestertiis novem mille.
A.D.P. Ante diem pridie.

ADQ. Adquiescit vel adquisita pro acquisita.

ÆD. II. II. VIR. II. Ædilis iterum, duumvir iterum. ED. II. VIR. QUINQ. Edilis duumvir quinquennalis.

ED. Q. II. VIR. Ædilis quinquennalis duumvir.
EL. Ælius, Ælia.

EM. vel AIM. Æmilius, Emilia.

AER. ærarium Arum, pro stipendio.

A. K. Ante kalendas.

A. G. Animo grato: Aulus Gellius.

AG. Ager, vel Agrippa.

ALA. I. Ala prima.

A. L. P. Animo libens posuit.

AR. P. Aram posuit.

ARG. P. X. Argenti pondo decem.

A. RION. à rationibus.

A. V. B. A viro bono.

A. V. C. Ab urbe conditâ.

A. V. L. annos vixit quinquaginta, animo vovit libens. AVSP. S. auspicante sacrum.

A. XX. H. EST. annorum viginti hic est.

C. C. F. Caius Caii filius.

C. B. Commune bonum.

C. D. Comitialibus diebus.

C. H. Custos hortorum vel hæredum.

C. I. C. Caius Julius Cæsar.

CC. VV. Clarissimi viri.

CEN. Censor, centuria, centurio.

E

E. C. F. Ejus causa fecit.

E. Ejus, ergo, esse, est, erexit, exactum, &c.

E. D. Ejus domus.
ED. Edictum.

E. E. Ex edicto.

EE. N. P. Esse non potest.

EG. Egit, egregius.

E. H. Ejus hæres.

EID. Idus.
EIM. Ejusmodi.

E. L. Ea lege.

E. M. Elexit vel erexit monumentum.

Romæ conditum.

C. F. C. clavi figendi causâ.

D.

EQ. O. Equester ordo.

EX. A. D. K. Ex antè diem kalendas.

EX. A. D. V. K. DEC. AD. PRID. K. IAN. Ex antè diem quinto kalendas Decembris ad pridie kalendas Januarius.

EX. H-S. X. P. F. I. Ex stertiis decem parvis seefir jussit.

EX. H-S. GION. Ex sestertiis mille nummûm.
EX. H-S. ∞∞∞∞ Ex sestertiis quatuor millia.

EX. H-S. N. CC. L. ∞ D. XL. Ex sestertiis nummorum ducentis quinquaginta millibus, quingentis quadraginta.

EX. H-S. DC. D. XX. Ex sestertiis sexcentis millibus, quingentis viginti.

EX. KAL. IAN. AD. KAL. IAN. Ex kalendis Januarii ad kalendas Januarii.

F

devotus, dies, divus, Deus, dii Dominus, domus,

donum, datum, decretum, &c.

D. A. Divus Augustus.

D. B. I. Diis benè juvantibus.

D. B. S. De bonis suis.

DCT. Detractum.

DDVIT. Dedicavit.

fastus, Februarius, feliciter, felix, fides, fieri, fit, femina, filia, filius, frater, finis, flamen, forum, fluvius, faustum, fuit.

F. A. Filio amantissimo vel filiæ amantissimæ.

F. AN. X. F. C. Filio vel filiæ annorum decem faciundum curavit.

F. C. Fieri vel faciendum curavit, fidei commissum.

F. D. Flamen Dialis, filius dedit, factum dedicavit.
F. D. Fide jussor, fundum.

FEA. Femina.

FE. C. Fermè centum.

IA. Intra.

I. AG. In agro.

I. AGL. In angulo.

IAD. Jamdudum.

IAN. Janus.

IA. RI. Jam respondi.

I. C. Juris consultus, Julius Cæsar, judex cognitionum. IC. Hic.

I. D. Inferiis diis, Jovi dedicatum, Isidi deæ, jussu deæ. ID. Idus.

I. D. M. Jovi Deo

magno.

I. F. vel I. FO. In foro.

IF. Interfuit. IFT. Intersuerunt.

I. FNT. In fronte."

IG. Igitur.

I. H. Jacet hic.

I. I. In jure.

IM. Imago, immortalis, imperator.

I. M. CT. In medio civitatis.

IMM. Immolavit, immortalis, immunis. IN. Inimicus, inscripsit, interea.

IN. A. P. XX. In agro pedes viginti.

I. R. Jovi regi, Juoni regiæ, jure rogavit. I. S. vel I. SN. In senatum.

KR. Chorus.

KR. AM. N. Carus amicus noster.

L

L. Lucius, Lucia, Lælius, Lollius, lares Latinus, latum, legavit, lex, legio, libens vel lubens, liber, libera, libertus, liberta, libra, locavit, &c.

L. A. Lex alia.

LA. C. Latini coloni.

L. A. D. Locus alteri datus.

L. AG. Lex agraria.

L. AN. Lucius Annius, vel quinquaginta annis.

L. AP. Ludi Apollinares.

LAT. P. VIII. É. S. Latum pedes octo et semis.

LONG. P. VII. L. P. III. Longum pedes septem, latum pedes tres.

L. ADQ. Locus adquisitus.

L. D. D. D. Locus datus decreto decurionum. LECTIST. Lectisternium.

LEG. I. Legio prima.

L. E. D. Lege ejus damnatus.
LEG. PROV. Legatus provinciæ.
LIC. Licinius.
LICT. Lictor.

LL. Libentissimè, liberi, libertas.
L. L. 00. linquæ orientales.
LVD. SEC. Ludi sæculares.
LVPERC. Lupercalia.

LV. P. F. Ludos publicos fecit.

M

M. Marcus, Marca, Martius, Mutius, maceria, magister, magistratus, magnus, manes, mancipium, marmoreus, marti, mater, maximus, memor, memoria, mensis, meus, miles, militavit, militiâ, mille, missus, monumentum, mortuus, &c.

MAG. EQ. Magister equitum.
MAR. VLT. Mars ultor.
MAX. POT. Maximus pontifex.
MD. Mandatum, mille quingenti.
MED. Medicus, medius.

MER. Mercurius, mercator.

MERK. Mercurialia, mercatus.

MES. VII. DIEB. XI. Mensibus septem, diebus undecim.

M. I. Maximo Jovi, matri Ideæ vel Isidi, militiæ jus, monumentum jussit.

MIL. COH. Miles cohortis.

MIN. vel MINER. Minerva.

M. MON. MNT. MONET. Moneta.

M. vel MS. Mensis vel menses.

MNF. Manifestus.

MNM. Manumissus.

M. O. P. marito obsequens posuit,
M. P. II. Millia passuum duo.

MV. MN. MVN. MVNIC, Municipium vel municeps.

N

VIATION.

N. Neptunus, Numerius, Numeria, Nonius, Nero, nam, non, natus, natio, nefastus, nepos, neptis, niger, nomen, nonæ, noster, numerarius, numerator, numerus, nummus vel numisma, numen.