Guide to Terms and Abbreviations

[Gaius Curtius Philo]

Salvete Cives!

I'm going to try and explain some terms out to you guys so that we are all on the same page here. So, without further ado:

Abbreviations

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RR - the Roman Republic
CC - Comitia Curiata, the assembly composed by Lictores that is responsible for investing people with Imperium
CCen - Comitia Centuriata, the assembly used to elect Praetores, Consules and Censores. It also approves laws
CT - Comitia Tributa, assembly used to elect Curule Aediles and Quaestores. They also approve laws.
CPleb - Concilium Plebis, the assembly responsible for electing Tribunes of the Plebs and Plebeian Aediles. Only the Plebs can vote on it.
CM - Curia Magistratuum, the place in the Senate where private discussions are made among the Magistrates and private items are voted upon.
CP - Collegium Pontificum, the College of Pontifices, the highest religious college in the RR.
CA - Collegium Augurum, the College of Augurs. An important religious College in the RR.

Terms

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Salve! - Greetings! (To one person)
Salvete!- Greetings! (To more then one person)
[Sender] [Receiver] Sal. - Sender says Greetings to Receiver.
[Sender] [Receiver] S.P.D. Sender says many greetings to Receiver.
Vale! - Goodbye! (To one person)
Valete! - Goodbye! (To more then one person)
Civis (pl. Cives) - Citizen (pl. Citizens)
Quirites - Specifically Roman Citizens

This is all for now, but I will expand this list as words and phrases occur to me. If anyone has any question needing answer, please tell me.

[Titus Papirius Carbo]

[Sender] [Receiver] Sal. - Sender says Greetings to Receiver.
[Sender] [Receiver] S.P.D. Sender says many greetings to Receiver.

T. Papirius C. Aurelio sal.

Forgive me if I am mistaken, but I believe that the [Receiver] needs to be in the dative case(-ae for feminine and -o for masculine). And that the [Sender] [Receiver] Sal. is short for [Sender] [Receiver] salutem dicit.

Vale.

Titus Papirius Carbo

[Lucius Aurelius Curio]

You are most likely correct in that. However, this guide was simplified for those not versed in Latin.

[Gaius Curtius Philo]

[Sender] [Receiver] Sal. - Sender says Greetings to Receiver.
[Sender] [Receiver] S.P.D. Sender says many greetings to Receiver.

T. Papirius C. Aurelio sal.

Forgive me if I am mistaken, but I believe that the [Receiver] needs to be in the dative case(-ae for feminine and -o for masculine). And that the [Sender] [Receiver] Sal. is short for [Sender] [Receiver] salutem dicit.

Vale.

Titus Papirius Carbo

Aurelius Papirio sal.

You are perfectly correct amice. This guide is just so people understand what they are seeing when they see this type of phrase in the forums. I know some people who are completely lost at latin terms so I decided to make a simple guide for them to understand what they are reading ^^

Vale!

[Lucius Curtius Philo]

Salvete!

If anyone writes a detailed article pertaining to Latin greetings and farewells along with other useful terminology regarding Roman names for the forum/email, I will offer denarii compensation.

Such an article should be added to the library; http://romanrepublic.org/bibliotheca/wiki/

Depending on the quality of the work I will offer between 20 and 80 denarii.

This offer expires December 20th.

valete.

Philo

[Publius Iunius Brutus]

Brutus CES. sal.

Here are some common Latin abbreviations reported in Latin epigraphy:

Consul - COS., CON., C.
Praetor - PRAET., PR., P.
Censor - CES., CEN., CENS.
Aedile - AED., A.
Curule Aedile - AED CVR., A CVR.
Plebeian Aedile - AED P., AED PL., A P., A PL.
Plebeian Tribune - TR., TRIB., TRIB PL., TRIB P., TR PL., TR P.
Quaestor - Q., QUAEST.
Quaestor Urbanus - Q URB., QUAEST URB.
Quaestor Consularis - Q COS., QUAEST COS.
Quaestor Provincialis - Q P., QUAEST P., Q PROV., QUAEST PROV.
Procurator - PROC.
Proconsul - PROCOS.
Propraetor - PROPR.
Tribunus Laticlavus - TR LATICL.
Senator - SENAT., SEN.
Princeps Senatus - PR. SEN., PRINC SEN., PR SENAT., PRINC SENAT.
Scriba - SCR., SCRIB.
Sacerdos - SAC., SACERD.
Flamen - FL., FLAM., F.
Pontifex - PONT.
Pontifex Maximus - PM., PONT MAX.
Augur - AUGUR.

You can search an epigraphic database to find more here: http://www.trismegistos.org/abb/search.php

[Lucia Horatia Adamas]

L. Horatia Adamas P. Junio Bruto L. Curtio Philoni C. Aurelio Victori T. Papirio Carboni omnibusque S.P.D.

Just happened upon this interesting topic. Carbo et al. are correct that the receiver's name must go into the dative when this longer, and more formal, greeting is used--but when the names are in the third declension, they will end in -i, not -æ or -o. There are several examples of that above. However, when one uses the simple 'salvé / salvéte' greeting, the name of the person addressed goes into the vocative, not the dative. Fortunately for us English speakers, the Latin vocative is identical with the nominative except in the second declension and a few oddities elsewhere, so feminine names are the same in the vocative as in the nominative, as are several third-declension cognomina for both genders. The only changes are in -us nouns and -ius nouns of the second declension: 'Marcus' becomes 'Marce' in the vocative, and 'Lucius' becomes 'Luci.' Similar names follow the same pattern. 'Deus' is an oddity in that it does not have a separate vocative, and the common adjective 'meus' (= my, mine) has a strange one: 'mi.' Cicero addresses his son as 'mi Cicero.' (note: not 'Marce,' his son's praenomen; the eldest son took the father's praenomen).

Be grateful; Greek has separate vocatives for everything, and so does Sanskrit. Latin is really easy...

Valete!