Notes to Contributors

 
 
 
 
The only works that lie outside the scope of this database are Christian and other sectarian writings. The two testaments are included, however, on account of their interest for textual criticism.

If you are going to concentrate on a particular author, first have a look at open issues to see if someone is already working on it.

After editing a CSV file in your fork or clone, open a pull request. In the description field, record the secondary source(s) where you first learnt about the conjectures you are editing. Time permitting, check and record the original publication containing a conjecture. Add a link if it’s difficult to find.

The following notes provide more in-depth guidelines.

Clone the repo

If you prefer working from the command line, you can follow the steps below to keep the files you download to a minimum:

# Make sure you have git installed
$ git clone --single-branch --filter=blob:none --sparse --depth=1 git@github.com:t18d/attested-conjectures.git
$ cd attested-conjectures/
$ vim greek.csv

Use Clever/csvlint to lint the files you’ve edited before staging.

See also git Primer and our Unix tools page.

CSV syntax

Enclose fields containing commas in double quotes. Escape a double quote inside such fields by a preceding double quote.

Ref.

For Greek, use LSJ’s abbreviations and DGE’s numberings. When LSJ uses single-letter abbreviation for an author, switch to OCD’s. When an author or work is absent from both LSJ and DGE, try RE. For Byzantine works, see LBG.

For Latin, follow ThLL.

Instructions for specific works follow:

Fragments

Same tradition

If the conjecture on a fragmentary text is attested in sources belonging to the same tradition as the paradosis, record it under that tradition.

Multiple traditions

If it is attested in a different tradition, record it under the original author of the fragment.

Aristophanes

Follow OCD’s abbreviations.

Philo

Single-letter abbreviations

For authors with single-letter (grapheme) abbreviations in LSJ, use the abbreviations in OCD instead. Thus, Soph., Eur., Aesch., Thuc., Dem., are preferable to S., E., A., Th., D..

Paradosis

This column aims to capture not what other readings are available in the tradition but specifically the one(s) that was actually available to the critic at the time an emendation was made, whenever such information is available or can be inferred from the apparatus. This becomes difficult when an editor did not disclose the identity of his base text. Help with improving the accuracy on this front is most welcome.

Of the readings that have been thus identified, record only those that may be considered to have contributed to the conjecture in question.

Neighbouring words are given when they offer clues to how the corruption may have occurred.

NT

The text printed in NA²⁸ is used for NT conjectures, following upstream.

Superscript

Unicode superscript is preferable because it preserves the readability of raw CSV. When this is unavailable, enclose the letter with  tags.

Conjecture

This aims to capture the exact letters and accentuation as proposed by the critic, whilst the actual reading as found in manuscripts are recorded in Rem. if it is different. The two readings may be combined in this column, however, if this is unlikely to cause confusion.

Author

This is the name of the critic.

Spelling

If the critic already has entries in the database, follow the spelling of existing entries. (And open an issue in case there’s inconsistency.)

For new names, prefer the spelling that is going to turn up most information in the search engine. Vernacular spelling is particularly appropriate when a critic made waves outside scholarship.

The lemma on Wikipedia is usually a good choice if an article is available in the relevant language, except when it differs from the one commonly used in classical scholarship or is ill-formed (e.g. Turnèbe). Mark Ockerbloom’s Online Books Page is another useful resource, as the spelling adopted there tends to reflect what’s actually on the title-pages.

German names

The choice between c and k follows the critic’s own practice when signing in German.

Styling

A single given name is written out; otherwise, initials are used. A combination of given name and initials may be used to reflect a critic’s own preference. Note the following exceptions:

Famous critics

These are well-known names in classical scholarship that need no further identification. They are represented by surname alone.

Single initial

Critics identified with a single initial are of three kinds:

The namesakes

Less-known critics who have a famous name but who can still be easily identified, e.g. L. Dindorf, P. Manutius.

The unknown

These are names of which only the initial has been identified and for which a N&Q note would be welcome.

Living critics

These are frequently given with single initial when this is enough to find them through search engines.

Year

As a general rule, do not convert to Circumcision style or correct for secular difference. This makes it easier for the user to track down the same book from which a conjecture is taken. Where a correction is made for the purpose of establishing priority, document this in Rem.

Ad editores

Editors are urged to follow the best practice of disclosing a list of recentiorum commentationes or index philologorum and using superscripts after a name in the apparatus when the same critic has made conjectures in different publications.

Posthumous conjectures

Record the year or range of years during which a conjecture was actually made if this information is available in biographical materials.

Otherwise, record the year of posthumous publication. When priority may be at issue, however, indicate instead the period (see below) during which a conjecture was made.

Conjectures to be dated

Give the range of years when a conjecture is known to be made in a multi-volume work or one of several works but you haven’t yet found out which.

Leave the column blank when you believe a conjecture can be dated but haven’t been able to do it.

Undatable conjectures

Enter ‘n.d.’ when a conjecture is considered undatable.

For obscure critics, it would be helpful to indicate the period in which they flourished:

Self-reported conjectures

Self-reported conjectures cannot be verified and are therefore excluded from this database.

Attested Place

This aims to give just enough information to help locate the relevant source. For papyri, a Checklist-style citation is given whenever it is available.

Two forms of citation

A full citation is the shelfmark of a manuscript in the case of direct tradition, and the relevant author and passage in the case of indirect tradition.

Whenever possible, append the siglum adopted in the best available edition of the material at the time of the creation of an entry and enclose it in uncis, whilst qualifications should go in the Rem. column.

An abbreviated citation consists of sigla and their qualifications.

Give full citation if …

a single source is being cited and there is no qualification as to which hand wrote the reading in question or where it’s written.

Give abbreviated citation if …

two or more sources are cited, or a source requires qualification.

Superscripts indicating a hand are only necessary when the sigla themselves contain Arabic numerals. Use Unicode superscripts.

Too good to be true

If a critic’s conjectures coincide with readings of the same manuscript in a disproportionate way, it can be a sign that he had actually seen that copy or a similar one. Unless it is determined that the critic didn’t have access to such an additional source, delete the relevant entries and document the case in the commit message.

Multiple sources

Sources are reported selectively. In general, direct tradition takes precedence over indirect tradition; unqualified sources are cited over qualified ones. When manuscripts from different periods are available, report the earliest.

Conflicting reports

When the relevant manuscript reading is only reported in one recent edition, use abbreviated citation and append the name of that editor in uncis. If a different reading is reported or implied in the other recent editions, add the word teste in front of that name.

Correlatives

Two conjectures that form a pair of correlatives must appear in the same manuscript to be considered attested.

Conjectures in manuscript

It is likely that some of the manuscript readings cited here are themselves be the conjectures of the scribe or scholar. Where this is generally held to the case (e.g. Livineius’s ‘p’ or Paris. gr. 2886 for Sophocles), that manuscript is not considered evidence of attestation.

Rem.

This can record the exact papyrus reading, a qualification concerning a source (usually when full citation is given in the previous column), the relevant bibliography, or anything that is noteworthy about an emendation or critic.

When a conjecture is not made in the text, apparatus or running commentary, it would be helpful to record the page where it is found.

So as to encourage a basic familiarity with the history of scholarship, full citation should be given sparingly. Commentaries and adversaria are meant to be identified through author and year alone. Examples of the latter include Madvig (1871, 1873, 1884), Gronovius (1639, 1662) and Caspar von Barth (1624).

When a group of emendations on the same text come from a single source, reference may be given at the first entry.