letters, or alphabeic dipthongs; and prefixes, suffixes, and syllabic
references are represented by a single preceding dash; thus, -x,
or -xxx.

4) (Especially for the complex discussion of alphabetic evolution
in Ch. XIV: Measuring and Writing). Ideographic references,
meaning pointers to the form of representation itself rather than
to its content, are represented as -"id:xxxx"-. "id:" stands for
"ideograph", and indicates that the reader should form a picture
based on the following "xxxx"; which may be a single symbol, a
word, or an attempt at a picture composed of ASCII characters. E.
g. --"id:GAMMA gamma"-- indicates an uppercase Greek gamma-form
followed by the form in lowercase. Some such exotic parsing as
this is necessary to explain alphabetic development because a single
symbol may have been used for a number of sounds in a number of
languages, or even for a number of sounds in the same language at
different times. Thus, -"id:GAMMA gamma" might very well refer to
a Phoenician construct that in appearance resembles the form that
eventually stabilized as an uppercase Greek "gamma" juxtaposed to
one of lowercase. Also, a construct such as --"id:E" indicates
a symbol that with ASCII resembles most closely a Roman uppercase
"E", but, in fact, is actually drawn more crudely.

5) Dr. Mommsen has given his dates in terms of Roman usage, A.U.C.;
that is, from the founding of Rome, conventionally taken to be 753
B. C. The preparer of this document has appended to the end of
this combined text (Books I-V) a table of conversion between the
two systems.