Abbreviation ofLatinfoliō(“on the (next) page”), ablative offolium(“leaf, page”).
ff.
- and the following (pages, paragraphs etc.)
- The abbreviationff. is used in citation to refer to a section for which no final page number can usefully be given. If there is only a single section following,f. may be used instead.
- More properly, it is still used, as originally, to refer to the next page or pages in a citation. As such,Hornblower 258 f. would refer to pages 258–259, whereas258 ff. would refer to an undetermined number of pages following page 258.
ff.
- ff. (and the following pages)
Originally the plural of the abbreviation of New Latinfoliō(“on the (next) page”), ablative offolium(“leaf, page”). Later also explained as an abbreviation offolgende.
ff. (indeclinable)
- (of pages)abbreviation offolgende(n) pl(“following, subsequent”):ff.,et seqq.(the wordfortfolgend has been coined as a folk-etymological explanation of this abbreviation and is not commonly encountered in other use than this fanciful explanation, which is in fact abackronym)
- 1926–8,Leumann–Hofmann–Szantyr,Lateinische Grammatik I:Lateinische Laut- und Formenlehre (2nd ed., 1977),Formenlehre Nomen II.B, § 273:1.d,page 290:
Lit. zu den Gentilicia (aus Patronymika):Schulze, EN 385 f.-eius, 432ff.-eius (bei etrusk. Namenstämmen älter noch-aeus), 457 f.-eius und-uleius; dazu 284lēguleiussterteius.- Literature pertaining to nomina gentilicia (from patronyms):Schulze, EN 385 f.-eius, 432ff.-eius (older still in Etruscan name stems-aeus), 457 f.-eius and-uleius; as in 284lēguleiussterteius.
