The second chapter outlines the history of abbreviations in the medieval West, pointing to two classical sources of the phenomenon, i.e. Latin and Greek. It accounts for the origin, motivations and applications of abbreviation symbols from late Antiquity to the Renaissance, plotting major lines of evolution of abbreviating practices in manuscript- and early print-based literacy of Western Europe, considering in detail the developments in the Insular system of scripts and its relationship to the (pan-)European standardising tendencies of the Carolingian and Gothic scripts. The chapter also provides a succinct account of typologies of abbreviation, introducing the major categories which provide the foundation for palaeographic accounts of scribal practices.