What does 30thinst mean?

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Context:

But I have got into a long disquisition on politics, when I only meant to express my sympathy in the state of your health, and to tender you all the affections of public & private hospitality. I should be very happy indeed to see you here. I leave this about the 30thinst., to return about the twenty-fifth of April. If you do not leave Philadelphia before that, a little excursion hither would help your health. I should be much gratified with the possession of a guest I so much esteem, and should claim a right to lodge you, should you make such an excursion.

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http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/letter-to-priestley/

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 903 • Replies: 7

[+3] - contrex - 09/18/2014There should be a space between 30th and inst like this 30th inst. This is an old way of talking about dates, which has fallen out of use since approximately 50 years or more ago in Britain,...

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@oristarA,

No idea if this meant something, or was just a typo.

Since this was written 213 years ago, I wouldn't think it's very important anymore.

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@oristarA,

It seems to me to be a typo perhaps about the 30th (date). Regardless of the obvious typo, it is trivial transcription mistake that contributes little to nothing to the gist of the message. It's not worth getting hung up over.

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There should be a space between 30th and inst like this

30th inst.

This is an old way of talking about dates, which has fallen out of use since approximately 50 years or more ago in Britain, last seen in formal business letters. Inst. is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase instante mense (this month).

ult. (ultimo mense): "last month"
inst. (instante mense): "this month"
prox. (proximo mense): "next month"

In Britain business letters used to be very formal and stylised and employed archaic usages: "I have to hand yours of the 17th ult." meant "I have your letter dated the 17th of last month". An order e.g. for goods or services was often called an "esteemed favour". Your esteemed favour of the 6th inst. - your order of the 6th of this month.

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@contrex,

well I'll be. Learn something new every day.

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I think ult., inst. and prox. survived longer in India than anywhere else, but they have been considered archaic for maybe 60 or 70 years elsewhere.

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Contrex is excellent.

Here is another weird word (or misspelling?):

What is "thar"?

Quote:

The
infamous Magdalene Asylums, subject of Peter Mullan's film
The Magdalene Sisters, continued in existence until as late as 1996.
Forty years on, it is harder to get redress for floggings than for
sexual fondlings, and there is no shortage of lawyers actively
soliciting custom from victims who might not otherwise have raked
over the distant past. There's gold in them thar long-gone fumbles
in the vestry - some of them, indeed, so long gone that the alleged
offender is likely to be dead and unable to present his side of the
story. The Catholic Church worldwide has paid out more than a
billion dollars in compensation.
-Dawkins' God Delusion

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@oristarA,

In mid-1850s in the gold rush and prospecting days in the old southwest (as shown in movies), prospectors would say "there's gold in them thar hills". Thar would mean there (using a western accent)... as in "there's gold in them hills (over there)." Poor grammar and all.

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What does 30thinst mean?

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