Help:Common SCA Abbreviations
Typical of modern groups, the jargon of the Society for Creative Anachronism contains many abbreviations and acronyms. The most obvious acronym in use is the abbreviation of the unwieldy society name to "S.C.A." The kingdom name "Caid" was also originally an acronym for the four original baronies of the principality, Calafia, Angels, Isles and Dreiburgen, arranged in an order to spell an Arabic word meaning "fortress".
Name Suffixes
It is common to see names of people and groups listed with a string of letters following the proper name. These are abbreviations of various awards the person or group has been granted through their SCA career. This mimics the system in use in England and other real-world nations, though this practice was certainly invented after the SCA period of study. For this reason, and for clarity, the use of award "alphabet soup" should be strongly discouraged in formal writing. One can argue, however, that Compendium Caidis is very clearly a post-period publication, where abbreviations are perhaps more appropriate.
- AoA - Recipient of an Award of Arms. This award is implied in the more period style of address, "Lord [name]" or "Lady [name]".
- KSCA - Knight of the Society for Creative Anachronism. This award is implied in the more period style of address, "Sir [name]".
- OL - Companion of the Order of the Laurel. More period alternatives include "Mistress [name], Companion of the Laurel", "Lord Laurel [name]", "[name] Lady of the Laurel", etc.
- OP - Companion of the Order of the Pelican. More period alternatives include "Master [name], Companion of the Pelican", "Lady Pelican [name]", "[name] Lord of the Pelican", etc.
- OWS - Companion of the Order of the White Scarf. In any rapier combat context, this award is implied by the more period style of address, "Don [name]" or "Doña [name]" (though those forms of address are not reserved specifically for companions of the order)
Since Kingdom Law does not specify which abbreviation to use for each award, some have more than one in use, adding to confusion. Abbreviations of Caidan awards should not be used outside of Caid because they will be unfamiliar to most residents of other kingdoms. They may even be confused with awards native to other kingdoms.
- LoC - Legion of Courtesy (or Legionnaire of Courtesy)
- OAA (or AA) - Order of the Argent Arrow (not to be confused with AoA)
- OCS (or CS) - Order of the Crescent Sword
- OD (or ODC) - Order of the Dolphin
- OG (or OGC) - Order of the Gauntlet
- OHA (or HA) - Harp Argent
- OLC (or LC) - Order of the Lux Caidis
- RRE - Royal Recognition of Excellence
Name Prefixes
Often titles, normally placed before a name, are abbreviated.
- B&B - "Baron and Baroness"
- HE - "His Excellency" or "Her Excellency"; a baron, baroness, count or countess.
- HG - "His Grace" or "Her Grace"; a duke or duchess, respectively
- HRH - "His Royal Highness" or "Her Royal Highness", the Crown Prince or Crown Princess, respectively
- HRM - "His Royal Majesty" or "Her Royal Majesty", the King or Queen, respectively. "HRM [kingdom name]" refers to a King or Queen of a different kingdom.
- K&Q - "King and Queen"
- Ld. - "Lord" or "Lady", a recipient of an Award of Arms
- Ldy. - Sometimes "Lady" is abbreviated this way, particularly when a Lord and Lady are listed together
- M'lord or M'lady - a new member of the Society that has not yet received an Award of Arms
- P&P - "Prince and Princess"
- TE - "Their Excellencies"; the Baron and Baroness of a territory, when listed together.
- THL - "The Honorable Lord" or "The Honorable Lady". A form of address for any recipient of a grant level award. As this is a post-period form of address, some who are entitled to this style of address prefer simply "Lord" or "Lady" or some other title they are also entitled to.
- TRH - "Their Royal Highnesses"; the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, listed together.
- TRM - "Their Royal Majesties"; the King and Queen, listed together. "TRM [kingdom name]" refers to the King and Queen of a different kingdom.
Other Notable Abbreviations in Caid
- A&S ("A 'n S") - Arts & Sciences. This abbreviation should be avoided in spoken presentations.
- CRAC - A "bacronym" for "Caidan Royal Artillery Corps", which also is a reference to "Crac des Chevaliers", a Crusader castle in Syria. Unfortunately, nobody initially noticed the internal inconsistency in the bacronym: artillery units are organized into batteries, not corps.
- OP - Order of Precedence, not to be confused with "Order of the Pelican"
- PH - Principal Herald -- in the case of Caid, Crescent Principal Herlad
