• TEI definition: abbr ; EpiDoc-specific customization: abbr
• TEI definition: ex ; EpiDoc-specific customization: ex
• TEI definition: expan ; EpiDoc-specific customization: expan

expan (expansion) contains the expansion of an abbreviation. The characters that form the entire expansion of an abbreviation (including both the charaters that are present on the original support and those added by the editor) should be encompassed within the expan. The characters that appear on the support are usually contained in abbr (although this is not obligatory).

ex (editorial expansion) contains a sequence of letters added by an editor or transcriber when expanding an abbreviation. The characters expanded or supplied by the editor (i.e. those characters that do not appear on the original support) are included in the ex. In the case of uncertainly expanded abbreviations, it is generally these expanded characters that are the source of the uncertainty, so the ex element carries a cert with a value of "low".

Where the expan contains more than one string of supplied or expanded characters, or the abbreviation itself contains characters that are lost but restored, then the uncertainty of the expansion may stem from some or all of these restorations. An editor may indicate this complexity by attaching cert="low" on one or more of these elements, or may simply record the uncertainty of the entire word by attaching cert to the expan (see example below).

Completely unresolved abbreviations are treated differently; see section Abbreviation not expanded at all for an explanation of how to mark up abbreviations for which the expansion is completely unknown (or where the editor is too uncertain even to offer an expansion).

Panciera 1991 X.1: a(bc?)

Sosin 2011: a(bc(?))

: [F]el(icitati)(?)