The current Jewish year is 5774 however it is popularly abbreviated as 774 - תשע״ד. I would like to know why and how this abbreviation was adopted. I realize that to write out the number 5,000 would require several letters; if that is the only consideration then I can see how that would be done in casual writing but not in legal documents. Furthermore why stop at the hundreds column, why not just '74 - ע״ד instead?