Sigel

The Sigel (more rarely the Sigle), Pl. Sigel or Siglen, is the abbreviation of one or more words by a fixed sign (abbreviation sign) or by letters or letter-digit combinations (abbreviation).

Examples of Sigel are the paragraph sign (§) or abbreviations like "e.g." for the words for example.

In shorthand, sigils are the abbreviations of the normal shorthand variants, sometimes in common form or as a private expression.

In philology and textual criticism, sigils are used to refer in a simple manner to individual textual witnesses (manuscripts, papyri, etc.). Traditionally, these sigils are based on the place of transmission or the name of the owning collection (e.g. B = Codex Bodleianus, M = Codex Medicaeus, P = Codex Palatinus). At the end or at the beginning of the works, these abbreviations are listed in a Sigelverzeichnis. A widely known sigel in German literary studies is, for example, "HA", which stands for the Hamburg edition of Goethe's works. When citing, the Sigel is used instead of the full names, for example to cite individual chapters of the Bible: "Mt" stands for Matthew, for example.

Sigels are also commonly used for libraries. Such library seals are used to identify libraries in short form so that they can be easily listed, especially in union catalogues and in interlibrary loan. At the international level, library labels have been integrated into the ISIL system in accordance with ISO 15511 since 2003.

Many journals are also abbreviated in this way, such as HZ for Historische Zeitschrift.

With the listing in the Verzeichnis lieferbarer Bücher des deutschen Buchhandels, intermediary booksellers indicate that they have the title in question in stock.

See also

• List of abbreviations of ancient authors and titles of works
• List of the order abbreviations (catholic)