Alphonse Chassant, Dictionnaire des abréviations latines et françaises, explains the transition from Latin abbreviations used in manuscripts (from Antiquity through the Middle Ages) to print culture in the 16th century, and how versions of these Latin abbreviations slipped into French printed texts. The phenomenon of such abbreviation disappeared over the course of the 17th century, but one of its latest manifestations was on engravings, where there was at times little room for the desired text.

There are not really named glyphs for these abbreviations when used in French, but we can say that they follow the tradition used in Latin of contractions and ellipsis, for example; these are two the forms of abbreviation we commonly find in the engravings in our corpus. Building on that Latin tradition, Chassant shows specific examples that cover all of the instances listed below. The page number in his book is given in each case.

(N.B.: Chassant also shows how a horizontal line could replace an "m" or an "n" in Latin abbreviations, the only abbreviation that remained common in print in 17th-century France, usually marked by a tilde. There are six such examples in the "mariage" engravings, but I have not listed them as this abbreviation is not only common throughout the corpus, it also is qualitatively different from the others, replacing a letter rather than indicating a specific word.)

For the following abbreviations, I think the best strategy will be to include a note in the transcriptions, but I'll talk with MH about this before making any moves. (AC = Chassant. Full reference: Alphonse Chassant, Dictionnaire des abréviations latines et françaisesusitées dans les inscriptions lapidaires et métallique, les manuscrits et chartes, 2e édition, Paris, Auguste Aubry, 1862. Google Livres, 6 août 2011.)

0619645 Dame recevant un billet doux "nous" x 4 (AC, p. 132); "qu'il" (AC, p. 136)

72-B-59070 La femme qui fouette son mary "vous" x 11 (AC, p. xxxii--a form of the Latin abbreviation for "us"); "pour" (AC, p. 134); "votre" x 2 (AC, p. 139)

G-153297 Le massacre de Lustucru (Larmessin) "pour" x 2 (AC, p. 134); "vous" x 4 (AC, p. xxxii--a form of the Latin abbreviation for "us" = 9); "votre" (AC, p. 139)

G-157562 Bonheur des uns "que" (AC, p. 136)

P123-IFFNo.190 Opérateur céphalique "pour" (AC, p. 134)