Latin: Nota bene (or ; plural: Latin: notate bene) is the Latin phrase meaning note well.[1] In manuscripts, nota bene is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of nota bene and notate bene first appeared in the English style of writing around the year 1711.[2] [3] [4] In Modern English, since the 14th century, the editorial usage of NB is common to the legal style of writing of documents to direct the reader's attention to a thematically relevant aspect of the subject that qualifies the matter being litigated,[5] whereas in academic writing, the editorial abbreviation n.b. is a casual synonym for footnote.
In medieval manuscripts, the editorial marks used to draw the reader's attention to a supporting text also are called Latin: nota bene marks, however, the catalogue of medieval editorial marks does not include the NB abbreviation. The medieval equivalents to the n.b.-mark are anagrams derived from the four letters of the Latin word Latin: nota, thus the abbreviation DM for Latin: dignum memoria ("worth remembering") and the typographic index symbol of the manicule (☞), the little hand that indicates the start of the relevant supporting text.[6]