( ;
plural: ) is the
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
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 the
English style of writing around the year 1711.
In
Modern English
Modern English, sometimes called New English (NE) or present-day English (PDE) as opposed to Middle and Old English, is the form of the English language that has been spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England
England is a Count ...
, since the 14th century, the editorial usage of ''NB'' is common to the
legal style of writing of documents to direct the reader's attention to a thematically relevant aspect of the subject that qualifies the matter being litigated,
whereas in
academic writing
Academic writing or scholarly writing refers primarily to nonfiction writing that is produced as part of academic work in accordance with the standards of a particular academic subject or discipline, including:
* reports on empirical fieldwork o ...
, the editorial abbreviation ''n.b.'' is a casual synonym for ''
footnote
In publishing, a note is a brief text in which the author comments on the subject and themes of the book and names supporting citations. In the editorial production of books and documents, typographically, a note is usually several lines of tex ...
''.

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
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line spacing, letter spacin ...
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
The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. It is currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, maki ...
, 2007), p. 44.
See also
*
Annotation
An annotation is extra information associated with a particular point in a document or other piece of information. It can be a note that includes a comment or explanation. Annotations are sometimes presented Marginalia, in the margin of book page ...
* ''
Obiter dictum
''Obiter dictum'' (usually used in the plural, ''obiter dicta'') is a Latin phrase meaning "said in passing",'' Black's Law Dictionary'', p. 967 (5th ed. 1979). that is, any remark in a legal opinion that is "said in passing" by a judge or arbitr ...
''
* ''
Postscript
PostScript (PS) is a page description language and dynamically typed, stack-based programming language. It is most commonly used in the electronic publishing and desktop publishing realm, but as a Turing complete programming language, it c ...
''
* ''
Quod vide
This article lists direct English translations of common Latin phrases. Some of the phrases are themselves translations of Greek phrases.
This list is a combination of the twenty page-by-page "List of Latin phrases" articles:
A
B
C
D
E
F
...
''
*
List of Latin abbreviations
This is a list of common Latin abbreviations. Nearly all the abbreviations below have been adopted by Modern English. However, with some exceptions (for example, ''versus'' or '' modus operandi''), most of the Latin referent words and phrases a ...
*
List of Latin phrases
This is a list of Wikipedia articles of Latin phrases and their translation into English.
To view all phrases on a single, lengthy document, see: List of Latin phrases (full).
Lists of pages
* List of Latin phrases (A)
* List of Latin phrases ( ...
*
List of legal Latin terms
A number of Latin terms are used in legal terminology and legal maxims. This is a partial list of these terms, which are wholly or substantially drawn from Latin, or anglicized Law Latin.
__TOC__
Common law
Civil law
Ecclesiasti ...
References
Latin literary phrases
Legal terminology
{{Latin-vocab-stub