Abbreviations. Some of the principal abbreviations that will be met in Masonic writings are the follow­ing:

            AASR--Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.

            A&ASR--Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

            A. D.--Anno Domini; in the year of our Master or Lord.

            A. Dep.--Anno Depositionis; in the year of the deposit, as used in the Cryptic Rite.

            AFM--Ancient Freemasons.

            AF&AM--Ancient Free & Accepted Masons.

            A. Inv.--Anno Inventionis; in the year of the dis­covery, as used in the Royal Arch.

            A. L.--Anno Lucis; in the year of light, as used in Craft, Blue, Symbolic, or Grand Lodge Masonry.

            A. M.--Anno Mundi; in the year of the world, as used in the Scottish Rite.

            A. O.--Anno Ordinis; in the year of the order, as used by Knights Templar.

            AQC--Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, works of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 of London, Eng­land.

            AYM--Ancient York Masons, or Masonry.

            DDGM--District Deputy Grand Master.

            DGM--Deputy Grand Master.

            EA--Entered Apprentice.

            F&AM--Free & Accepted Masons.

            FC--Fellow Craft.

            Fm.--Freemasonry.

            G.--Geometry or God.

            GAOTU--Great, or Grand, Architect of the Universe.

            GM-- Grand Master.

            H. A. B.--Hiram Abif.

            H. K. T.--Hiram King of Tyre.

            H. R. D. M.--Heredom.

            Ill.--Illustrious.

            JW--Junior Warden.

            KM--Knight of Malta.

            KS--King Solomon.

            KT--Knight Templar.

            MM--Master Mason.

            MW--Most Worshipful.

            OB--Obligation.

            PC--Past Commander.

            PGM--Past Grand Master.

            PHP--Past High Priest.

            PM--Past Master.

            Pro GM--Pro-Grand Master.

            Prov. GM--Provincial Grand Master.

            QCA -- Quatuor Coronati Antigrapha.

            RA--Royal Arch.

            RAM--Royal Arch Masons.

            RE--Right Eminent.

            R. S. Y. C. S.--Rosy Cross.

            RW--Right Worshipful.

            R. W. M.--Right Worshipful Master.

            S. W.--Senior Warden.

            TGAOTU--The Great, or Grand, Archi­tect of the Universe.

            UD--Under Dispensation.

            VSL--Volume of Sacred Law.

            WM--Worshipful Master.

            Many others may occasionally be found but they are so numerous that duplications and, therefore, confusion necessarily occur if they are given stand­ard meanings. In those abbreviations which are less common, the meaning must be detected from the context. It is fashionable in some quarters to place, between and after the letters of an abbreviation, three dots in the form of an equilateral triangle in­stead of a period. This is evidently of European origin e.g. W.’B.’