Looking into old birth, death, and marriage records, I ran across dates such oas "on the 12th instant". Looking this up it [turns out][ref] to be shorthand for "the current month". Related terms: * Ultimo (the previous month, from Latin *ultimo mense*, abbreviated *ult*) * Instant (the current month, from Latin *instante mense*, abbreviated *inst*) * Proximo (the next month, from Latin *proximo mense*, abbreviated *prox*) [ref]: http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-ult2.htm [[!tag tags/fun]]