Expansion of symbol

2024-03-20

A word expanded, not from an abbreviation or suspension of letters in the text, but from a symbol or glyph on the stone/page. The symbol may or may not be recorded in the markup.

When an entire word is resolved by the editor on the basis not of an abbreviation per se, but of a symbolic mark or ideogram, such as the denarius symbol, the glyph for year or half, the solidus for a synonymous patronymic or freedman, Tyrolean 'et', and such symbols, a traditional edition generally does not represent the symbol itself, only showing the expanded word in parentheses. In the simplest case, EpiDoc can simply replicate this practice, using expan and ex to encode the expanded word without any abbr recorded.

It is preferable however, where possible, to encode fully the characters on the stone as well as the editor's interpretation of them. In this case the abbr element will be used, with the addition of an am (abbreviation mark), to indicate that the symbol, while part of the abbreviation, is not part of the resolved word.

POxy: (ἀρτάβης)

<expan>
 <ex>ἀρτάβης</ex>
</expan>

Transformation using the EpiDoc Reference stylesheets:

  • Default (Panciera) style: (ἀρτάβης)
  • Duke Databank style: (ἀρτάβης)
()
<expan>
 <abbr>
  <am>
   <g type="year">𐅹</g>
  </am>
 </abbr>
 <ex>ἔτους</ex>
</expan>

Transformation using the EpiDoc Reference stylesheets:

  • Default (Panciera) style: (ἔτους)
  • London style: (ἔτους)
()

Responsibility for this section

  1. Gabriel Bodard, author

EpiDoc version: 9.6

Date: 2024-03-20