Et cetera

The &c (et ceterarum, "[Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland] and of others") shows that Oliver Cromwell did not renounce the English claims on France.

Et cetera (in English contexts pronounced /ɛtˈsɛtərə/) is a Latin expression that means "and other things", or "and so forth". It is taken directly from the Latin expression which literally means "and the rest (of such things)" and is a loan-translation of the Greek "καὶ τὰ ἕτερα" (kai ta hetera; "and the other things". The more usual Greek form is "καἱ τἁ λοιπἀ": "and the remainder"). Et means "and"; cētera means "the rest".

The one-word spelling "etcetera" is commonly used, and is accepted as correct by many dictionaries. It is also sometimes spelled et caetera or et cætera, and is often abbreviated to etc.. Archaic abbreviations, most commonly used in legislation, notations for mathematics or qualifications, include &c., &/c., &e., &ct., and &ca.. Note that the ampersand is a ligature of "et".

The phrase et cetera is often used to delete the logical continuation of some sort of series of descriptions. For example, in the following expression...

We will need a lot of bread: wheat, granary, wholemeal, etc.

... the "etc." stands for "and other types of bread". It is an error to say or write "and etc." in which the word "and" would be redundant. This would translate as "and and the rest".

Typically, the abbreviated versions should always be followed by a full stop (period), and it is customary—even in British English where the serial comma is typically not used—that "etc." always be preceded by a comma. Thus:

A, B, C, etc.

not:

A, B, C etc

At the end of a list ", et cetera" or ", etc." may be indicated by "..." as in:

We need a lot of fruit: apples, bananas, oranges... for the luncheon.

At the end of a sentence it should be followed by a period as in ", et cetera." or ", etc." or indicated by three periods (an ellipsis) as in:

We need a lot of fruit: apples, bananas, oranges...

Some publishing house styles (particularly in Britain) no longer require either the preceding comma or the following stop. In general, writers are advised to use the traditional style unless circumstances dictate otherwise.

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Usage by monarchs

European monarchs, who sometimes have lengthy titles due to dynastic claims to territories accumulated over the centuries (and also as a matter of prestige), often shorten their full titles by concluding it with "et cetera"; even then the phrase would often be repeated in order to emphasize the monarchs' grandeur.

A prime example of this usage would be from Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, who traditionally began his proclamations with his shortened (but still long) title: "We, Nicholas II, By the Grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera".

In the 1956 film The King and I, Yul Brynner, who played King Mongkut of Siam, repeatedly used the phrase "et cetera, et cetera, et cetera" to characterise the King as wanting to impress with his great knowledge of many things and his importance in not having to detail them.[1] This was based upon the usage in the book Anna and the King of Siam which related the real king's playful interest in numerous things, with the phrase, "&c, &c".[1]

Similar Latin expressions

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Maryann Overstreet (1999), Whales, candlelight, and stuff like that, p. 130, ISBN 9780195125740, http://books.google.com/?id=iqvJBmQWuJ8C&pg=PA130