What does this a. Mean?

Post your questions & get help from friendly LibriVoxers
Post Reply
BettyB
Posts: 3029
Joined: July 7th, 2015, 10:12 pm

Post by BettyB »

Could someone please tell me what the a. Means in this sentence:
Oscar Hammerstein (born in Berlin, 1847; a. 1863)

Thank you

Betty
TriciaG
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 60786
Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)

Post by TriciaG »

Does it have to do with him leaving his family and going on his own? "After Oscar went skating in a park one day, his father found out and whipped him as punishment, goading Hammerstein to flee his family. With the proceeds from the sale of his violin, Hammerstein purchased a ticket to Liverpool, from which he departed on a three-month-long cruise to the United States, arriving in New York City in 1864." (Wikipedia)
School fiction: David Blaize
America Exploration: The First Four Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
knotyouraveragejo
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 22127
Joined: November 18th, 2006, 4:37 pm

Post by knotyouraveragejo »

Not certain, but I suspect it stands for antecedent (i.e. previous or prior to 1863).
Jo
Rapunzelina
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 17789
Joined: November 15th, 2011, 3:47 am

Post by Rapunzelina »

Earlier in the Gutenberg text you're reading from it says
"Where biographical dates are given after the name of a person born in a foreign country, the date of arrival in the New World is often fully as important as that of birth or death. This date is indicated in the text by an a., which stands for arrived, as b. stands for born and d. for died."
:thumbs:
BettyB
Posts: 3029
Joined: July 7th, 2015, 10:12 pm

Post by BettyB »

Thanks for clarifying.. It really does make sense in the context of my chapter.

Betty
Post Reply