Abbreviation for ablative, a grammatical case in Latin and other languages that indicates location, means, or agency.
A shortened form of 'ablative,' which comes from Latin 'ablatus' (taken away or removed). The abbreviation entered linguistic texts in the 20th century.
The ablative case is called 'taken away' because it originally described things separated or removed from others—your high school Latin teacher probably had you chant 'abl, abl, ablative!' to remember it.
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