( ; plural: ) is the Latin phrase meaning note well. In manuscripts, nota bene is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of nota bene and notate bene first appeared in English around the year 1711. In Modern English, since the 14th century, the editorial usage of NB is common in legal writing to direct the reader's attention to a thematically relevant aspect of the subject that qualifies the matter being litigated.
In medieval manuscripts, the editorial marks used to draw the reader's attention to a supporting text also are called marks; however, the catalogue of medieval editorial marks does not include the NB abbreviation. The medieval equivalents to the n.b.-mark are anagrams derived from the four letters of the Latin word , thus the abbreviation DM for ("worth remembering") and the typographic index symbol of the manicule (☞), the little hand that indicates the start of the relevant supporting text.Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham, Introduction to Manuscript Studies (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007), p. 44.
See also
List of Latin abbreviations List of Latin phrases List of legal Latin terms
References