4 ms·

What does "cf." mean?

• hencq 10y ago
  It means compare. So typically you'd use it to give a contrasting example. In this case it seems to be (mis)used to mean 'see' though.
• Veen 10y ago
  In this case it seems to mean viz. or e.g. Cf. is an abbreviation of "confer" which is Latin for compare and is used to introduce material that should be compared to assertions made previously. Viz. is an abbreviation of "vidilcet" which is Latin for "namely" or "as follows" and is used to indicate a more complete statement or example of something that has just been asserted, whereas e.g. precedes examples that illustrate a point. Viz. and cf. are often confused, as in this case.
  • taejo 10y ago
    I don't think "viz." is correct here, either, which isn't surprising given the total absence of hyperlinks in the Latin corpus. A plain "see" would be best.