# Acronyms and initialisms in history **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 9, 2024, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839 "2024-01-09T18:08:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/1 "2024-01-09T18:08:31Z")
When and why did they start? And why not earlier? Of course they require literacy, but I don’t see why ancient scribes and educated nobles couldn’t have been using TLAs since Babylonian times. SPQR is the oldest I’ve heard of, but I’m unclear to what extent it was actually used in ancient Rome. I’ve heard most instances seen in Rome today date to the Fascist era. There’s the text on the Pantheon, but that is more like abbreviations, I think, than acronyms. Muslims today say (PBUH) when referring to Mohammad, but I don’t know how long they’ve done that. The ampersand (&) and various English name abbreviations (like Wm, Jno. and Jos.) are the closest thing I can think of in the early modern era. But of course they’re abbreviations, not acronyms. Then you have to wait until around the 20th Century, when acronyms suddenly exploded in popularity, especially around WWII. ASAP, FUBAR, MGM, FBI, ASCAP, NAACP, AFL-CIO, etc. To be honest, I’m a little unclear when “USA” became common. My impression is that, prior to the 20th Century, it was usually spelled out in words. But “US” by itself was common earlier (though I believe it’s a myth that that is where the dollar sign $ came from?), on military uniform insignia and buttons I think. Can the teeming millions help me map out this historical development a little better? And help explain why it happened when it did, but not earlier or later? Does it depend on language and culture, or was it due more to technological development? Seems to have exploded around the time paper and paper-based information technology became cheap and mature. And of course kept right on steamrolling once computers took over. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/2 "2024-01-09T18:22:28Z")
INRI was used to abbreviate _Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum_. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/3 "2024-01-09T18:22:48Z")
> **[Acronym | Historical and current use](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym?useskin=vector#Historical_and_current_use)** > > Acronymy, like retronymy, is a linguistic process that has existed throughout history but for which there was little to no naming, conscious attention, or systematic analysis until relatively recent times. Like retronymy, it became much more common in the twentieth century than it had formerly been. > Ancient examples of acronymy (before the term "acronym" was invented) include the following: > 1.Acronyms were used in Rome before the Christian era. For example, the official name for the Roman Empir... > Acronyms were used in Rome before the Christian era > So-called _[nomina sacra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomina_sacra)_ (‘sacred names’) were used in many Greek biblical manuscripts. The common words God (Θεός), Jesus (Ιησούς), Christ (Χριστός), and some others, would be abbreviated by their first and last letters, marked with an overline. > The early Christians in Rome, most of whom were Greek rather than Latin speakers, used the image of a fish as a symbol for [Jesus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus) in part because of an acronym (or [backronym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym)): ‘fish’ in Greek is _[ichthys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthys)_ (ΙΧΘΥΣ) > The Hebrew language has a centuries-long history of acronyms pronounced as words ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/4 "2024-01-09T18:58:02Z")
Don’t overlook the fad for abbreviations before 1850: [https://www.straightdope.com/21341673/what-does-ok-stand-for](https://www.straightdope.com/21341673/what-does-ok-stand-for) ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/5 "2024-01-09T19:20:11Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > INRI was used to abbreviate _Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum_. With a quick search, I can find instances in middle ages crucifixion art from the 1300’s and later. The monks in the middle ages loved abbreviations since it made things faster when copying manuscripts by hand. I suppose acronyms are the ultimate abbreviations. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/6 "2024-01-09T20:53:50Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Muslims today say (PBUH) when referring to Mohammad Are you sure that phrase is ever abbreviated? There is even a special character code ﷺ ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/7 "2024-01-09T21:04:06Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Are you sure that phrase is ever abbreviated? There is even a special character code I’ve seen it used online, in English discussions, from time to time. I have no knowledge of Arabic and very little of Islam. I was just tossing it out there as another (potentially older) possibility. Okay, so acronyms existed in ancient times. But I’m not totally crazy, right? Their usage was minimal until the 20th Century? Or is it just a matter of fewer ancient texts surviving, and my own ignorance of the ones that have, creating a major bias? I consider myself fairly well versed in history, compared to the average layman, but I haven’t delved into many primary texts at all. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/8 "2024-01-09T22:15:20Z")
Apparently, the army needed to have inspectors verify that gunpowder met standards, and it stamped “U.S.A.” on the casks as a mark, starting in August 1776, ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/9 "2024-01-09T22:39:25Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Are you sure that phrase is ever abbreviated? There is even a special character code In an English-language newspaper, when a Muslim editorial writer is trying to explain things to non-Muslim readers, the abbreviation will be used a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/10 "2024-01-09T22:41:33Z")
That Wikipedia article cited by @Joey_P is a good history; some inferences can be made from the facts cited. Who needed acronyms? The same people who wanted to lessen the repetition in or magnitude of their work. In the early days those were usually scribes. Another article talks about [scribal abbreviation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribal_abbreviation), a convenience that was probably reinvented independently in many languages and times. Scribes were literate people communicating with other literate people; they could assume their audience would understand the shortened words. Not many acronyms as we understand today arose from scribal abbreviation, but we can apply the same logic. Who needed shorthand because of mass and repetition? As Wiki mentions, corporations in the 19th century and the military in the 20th century used acronyms because they functioned at a scale many times larger than previous norms. I would add newspapers, who needed short but familiar labels in their headlines. The New Deal, as mentioned, generated multiple agencies: the newspapers were the ones to make acronyms of their names familiar to the general public. Once these words were disseminated to a mass, general public, they became part of the language, a useful innovation that quickly spread, again, to many languages and cultures. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/11 "2024-01-10T05:24:52Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > > [@DPRK](#): > > > > Are you sure that phrase is ever abbreviated? There is even a special character code > > In an English-language newspaper, when a Muslim editorial writer is trying to explain things to non-Muslim readers, the abbreviation will be used a lot. OK, but that is not ancient, does not reflect contemporary usage _in Arabic_ [unless it is abbreviated in Arabic somewhere; please let me know if you know of such a thing], and while a Muslim would know what it meant, or could work it out, how could a non-Muslim guess what it means? I do know of a bunch of acronyms in Hebrew, like RMBM = Maimonides, but that is not ancient either (Maimonides was born in the 12th century) ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/12 "2024-01-10T06:02:34Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Okay, so acronyms existed in ancient times. But I’m not totally crazy, right? Their usage was minimal until the 20th Century? Not in Hebrew, where they are quite old. Many medieval or older rabbis have acronym names. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/13 "2024-01-10T06:03:39Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I do know of a bunch of acronyms in Hebrew, like RMBM = Maimonides, but that is not ancient either (Maimonides was born in the 12th century) Rashbi? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/14 "2024-01-10T15:35:52Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > and while a Muslim would know what it meant, or could work it out, how could a non-Muslim guess what it means? First time it is used in the article, you use the full words. Afterwards, you use the initials. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/15 "2024-01-10T17:23:16Z")
I do not know enough to comment about this subject, but this blog post > **[Where Do Hebrew Acronyms Come From? » Mosaic](https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/uncategorized/2018/06/where-do-hebrew-acronyms-come-from/)** > > Medieval and modern Hebrew are unusually rich in abbreviations, but in a manner that is the reverse of English. argues that > …acronyms were first developed by ancient Greek and Latin stenographers and, though known to the rabbis of the Talmud, adopted by Hebrew only in a subsequent age. thus not ancient in Hebrew. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/16 "2024-01-10T17:46:28Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > RMBM = Maimonides Rambam without the vowels? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/17 "2024-01-10T17:55:59Z")
It’s an acronym (no vowels at all): **ר** בי **מ** שה **ב** ן **מ** ימון but people do stick some in when they say it as a word; it’s not a JFK type of acronym. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/18 "2024-01-10T18:01:07Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > argues that > > > …acronyms were first developed by ancient Greek and Latin stenographers and, though known to the rabbis of the Talmud, adopted by Hebrew only in a subsequent age. > > thus not ancient in Hebrew. **R** abbi **S** himon **B** ar **Y** ochai Is a 2nd century rabbi. However, I have no idea when he started being referred to by that acronym. Older sources just call him “Rabbi Shimon”. So, it perhaps is a medieval custom. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/19 "2024-01-10T18:04:38Z")
The ancient Romans certainly used abbreviations commonly, presumably because carving a message in stone is difficult, so the shorter the better. One common one on funerary memorials was DM - Dis Manibus (to the spirits of the departed). Another was F - Filius (son of) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839/20 "2024-01-10T18:43:14Z")
Not acronyms, but abbreviations were very common in the Middle ages (by monks copying manuscripts – _You_ try writing the Old Testament by hand with a quill pen and see how long it takes before you start using abbreviations) and later (Classical Roman coins and Renaissance coins often abbreviated things too long and complex to be squeezed in around the border) > **[Scribal abbreviation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribal_abbreviation)** > > Scribal abbreviations or sigla (singular: siglum) are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. > In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mechanical) sigla are the symbols used to indicate the source manuscript (e.g. variations in text between different such manuscripts). > Abbreviated writing, using sigla, arose partly from the limitations of the workable nature of the materials (stone, metal, parchme... [https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/abb.html](https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/abb.html) Incidentally – this answers a question asked above – “SPQR” showed up on coins. It also appeared on Roman standards and the carrying posts. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acronyms-and-initialisms-in-history/995839.md?page=2)