Olaf Pluta has updated his marvelous on-line manuscript abbreviation system, aptly named Abbreviationes. Abbreviationes Online 2.5 now goes both ways (you can input a word and look for its abbreviation, or input an abbreviation, and get some good expansions. Here is what Olaf says:

Abbreviationes Online 2.5 has been greatly enhanced. The complete Abbreviationes database is now available online. You can search for words matching a given abbreviation and for abbreviations matching a given word. You can choose from a variety of search options (is equal to, contains, begins with, ends with). And you can switch between different views on the data (list view, detail view).

Abbreviationes Online 2.5 supersedes the original Abbreviationes database (available for Mac OS and Windows), and you may wish to switch to the online version. For details, point your Web browser at http://abbreviationes.net or at http://abbrev.net, for short, and have a look at the demos. To go to Abbreviationes Online, click on the link at the bottom of this page and then choose one of the available Web servers.

A wonderful service, if you’re at a machine that’s licenced. The basic program, Abbreviationes, is a Mac program, so you’d need a Mac emulator to run it in MS Windows (see the specifics).

A personal wish: a native MS Windows version, with OpenType support. But that’s easy for me to say, because I wouldn’t have to code the thing!

Thanks, Olaf, for showing how computers might actually help to make academics more productive.