External apparatus criticus

2024-03-20

An external division of the edition in which all apparatus criticus features and notes are explicitly tagged.

The simplest entry in an epigraphic or papyrological apparatus criticus is a general comment on the text as a whole, with no specific line reference or textual feature described. (Like all external apparatus features described in this page, this example should appear in the <div type="apparatus">, and perhaps be grouped together in a listApp.)

<div type="apparatus">
 <listApp>
  <app>
   <note>The face is very weathered, all readings are uncertain.</note>
  </app>
 </listApp>
</div>

The second example is of a simple comment, but tied to a particular line or text fragment (using in this case the attribute loc, which contains a human-readable or "canonical" citation for the line referenced):

<app loc="a 7">
 <note>The erasure in this line is ineffective but indubitably deliberate.</note>
</app>

Alternative restorations, perhaps recording the opinion of previous editors or attributing current readings to them, may also be tagged explicitly in the external apparatus division:

<app loc="i 3">
 <lem>καθο<supplied reason="lost">σίωσις</supplied>
 </lem>
 <rdg source="#tdb1971">καθ<supplied reason="lost">όλου</supplied>
 </rdg>
</app>

An app element in the external apparatus may also point directly to a feature tagged within the text transcription division, in order to comment upon it, or simply to display the marked-up feature without duplicating the markup. (Similar to the practice of inline apparatus discussed elsewhere.)

<choice xml:id="choice3">
 <corr>σύμπαντα</corr>
 <sic>σινπαταν</sic>
</choice>
<!-- ... -->
<app loc="12from="#choice3">
 <note>so Mommsen, without comment.</note>
</app>

Variant readings may also arise not from a disagreement among editors, but from genuine ambiguity in reading. An unclear letter with several possible interpretations might appear in the apparatus (or in the text itself) as:

<choice xml:id="choice4">
 <unclear>τ</unclear>
 <unclear>γ</unclear>
 <unclear>ε</unclear>
 <unclear>ζ</unclear>
 <unclear>ξ</unclear>
 <unclear>π</unclear>
 <unclear>σ</unclear>
</choice>
<!-- ... -->
<app loc="4from="#choice4">
 <note>What survives of the last letter before the break is consonant with Τ, Γ, Ε, Ζ, Ξ, Π, Σ</note>
</app>

External Apparatus can also be provided for translations when and where necessary.

Notes that provide alternative translations, can also be provided in a dedicated apparatus

<div type="translationxml:id="CSAI_415">
 <p>
  <lb n="1"/>Ṣbḥhmw son of ʿms²fq, of the family Rs²wn,
 <lb n="2"/>the one from Nashq, dedicated to ʾlmqh master of
 <lb n="3"/>Myfʿm the inscription and its support (?), all
 <lb n="4"/>his sons and all his properties in Nashqum and in its
 <lb n="5"/>territory, when he fought with Sabaʾ and Rkbn
 <lb n="6"/>on an expedition (?) and overcame the army of Maʿīn in the lower
 <lb n="7"/>part of ʾtmy; and when he fought with his tribe
 <lb n="8"/>Rkbn with the army of Sabaʾ into the land of
 <lb n="9"/>Ḥaḍramawt and they destroyed three [... ...]
   .....
 </p>
</div>
<div type="apparatussubtype="translation"
 corresp="#CSAI_415">

 <listApp>
  <app loc="3">
   <note>hwṯb-hw: alternative translation "and set it".</note>
  </app>
  <app loc="5, 8">
   <note>rkbn: "soldats montés" (Robin).</note>
  </app>
 </listApp>
</div>

Notes that discuss the meaning of a lexical item or a sentence might be encoded as follows

<div type="translationxml:id="CSAI-415">
 <p> ...
 <lb n="13"/>and when he traded and led a caravan to Dedan and Gaza
 <lb n="14"/>and the towns of Judah; and when he was safe
 <lb n="15"/>and sound, he who went from Gaza to Kition, during the war
 <lb n="16"/>between Chaldea and Ionia; and when Ydʿʾl Byn
 <lb n="17"/>son of Yṯʿʾmr king of Sabaʾ appointed him and sent
 <lb n="18"/>him as a messenger to the land of Ḏkrm and
 <lb n="19"/>Lḥyn and ʾbʾs¹ and Ḥnk in those fourteen
 <lb n="20"/>expeditions (?) and he accomplished all with which
 <lb n="21"/>Ydʿʾl had charged him as a messenger and for which he had appointed him.
   ...
 </p>
</div>
<div type="apparatussubtype="translation"
 corresp="#CSAI-415">

 <listApp>
  <app loc="19-20">
   <note>ḥnk ʾlhn ʾrbʿ ʿs²r-hw ʾrglm: Bron translates "et il consacra au dieu quatorze fantassins", suggesting a parallel with the Heb. ḤNK "to consecrate". However, the verb in Heb. is used for the consecration of a temple to the god. Robin interprets the word a name of place and ʾlhn as a previously unattested form of the pronoun ʾln.</note>
  </app>
 </listApp>
</div>

Apparatus might be used as in the following example also to report partial translations provided by the editors

<div type="translationxml:id="CSAI_1268">
 <p>
  <lb n="1"/>qnt wkrm ḏ-Ḥrnm ḏ-yts¹yn W—
 <lb n="2"/>hbṯwn ḏ-Nḍḥm l-ʾlkrb ḏ-Qs²bn—
 <lb n="3"/>bn wkr b-ʿm-hw l-ḏ-Grfm w-k—
 <lb n="4"/>wn ḏn ʾs¹ynn l-wrḫ ḏ-Ks²bm
 <lb n="5"/>ḏ-ḫrf ʾbkrb bn Ḥyw bn Ḥ—
 <lb n="6"/>zfrm Whbṯwn w Mfḍg
 </p>
</div>
<div type="apparatussubtype="translation"
 corresp="#CSAI_1268">

 <listApp>
  <app loc="1-3">
   <note>Ein qnt(=Maßeinheit) Sorghum (nach dem Maß) des (Tempels) Ḥrnm, welches Whbṯwn aus (der Sippe) Nḍḥm dem ʾlkrb aus (der Sippe) Qs²bn garantiert, von dem Sorghum, welches bei ihm (=zu seinen Lasten) ist zugunsten der (Sippe) ḏ-Grfm" (Stein).</note>
  </app>
 </listApp>
</div>

Note that when entirely different translations are available, they should be inserted using a <div type="apparatus">.

Responsibility for this section

  1. Gabriel Bodard, author
  2. Daniele Marotta, author

EpiDoc version: 9.6

Date: 2024-03-20