Manu propria
Latin expression meaning by one's own hand
Manu propria (Latin for '[signed] with one's own hand'; abbreviated m.p., mpp, mppr., or mppria) is a phrase sometimes used at the end of typewritten or printed documents when there is no handwritten signature. It is typically found just after the name(s) of the person(s) who would have signed the document if it had not been printed or typewritten.
It is also found in several ancient documents in front of or after the writer's signature at the end of the document.
History
Medieval period
Richly decorated manu propria signs were frequently used by medieval dignitaries and literates to verify the authenticity of handwritten documents.
18th century
mppria was commonly used in the 18th century. However, it was not only used for Latin documents.
Full autograph title-page of Symphony no.97 by Joseph Haydn which reads 'Sinfonia in C/di me giuseppe Haydn mppria.
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Nobility Diploma André Falquet
From the 19th century
Later, official documents were routinely accompanied by this abbreviation, for example, the declaration of war on Serbia by Emperor Franz Joseph from 1914 ends with m.p.
Usage today
By country
Some of the countries that still regularly use manu propria include:
Albania in official documents: d.v. (Albanian: dora vetë),
Austria: e.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Manu propria” as latin expression meaning by one's own hand. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as latin expression meaning by one's own hand. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q289135. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1914.
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This entry incorporates text from “Manu propria” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.