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following general principles should be followed in preparing the
transcription assignments. These are guiding principles only.
They do not provide answers to every dilemma raised in preparing
a transcription. The sort of transcription called for here is
known as “semi-diplomatic,” because it gives a good
sense of how the text appears on the manuscript page without replicating
or reporting every nuance of the presentation.
Transcribe majuscule
scripts (rustic capitals, uncial, and most display scripts) as
capital letters.
Transcribe quadrilateral
scripts as lower case letters.
Start a new line in
the transcription for each new line of text in the manuscript.
Angled u (v)
and long i (j) should appear in the transcription
only if the scribe of the manuscript has written two forms of
the letters u and i.
Transcribe superscript
letters on the line.
Transcribe each ligature
(including the ampersand for et) as its constituent letters.
Follow the capitalization
found in the manuscript, including the use of occasional majuscule
forms in a minuscule context. Occasional minuscule forms in display
scripts, however, should be transcribed as capital letters (see
above).
Normalize word separation.
Use a hyphen to show
that a word continues on the next line.
Underline letters supplied
in expanding abbreviations in the manuscript. If you cannot determine
how to expand an abbreviation, include an apostrophe in place
of the abbreviation mark in the manuscript.
Transcribe the Greek
characters of the nomina sacra as they are generally
written in Latin-language medieval manuscripts:
chi = x
rho = p
final sigma = c
Transcribe punctuation
as it appears in the manuscript, but there is no need to place
it above the base line.
Provide commentary
on difficult readings, erasures, the unusual order of a text’s
presentation, interlinear and marginal insertions, &c. in
notes.
The sources
for the transcription assignments are (all in the Rare
Book Room):
Facsimile of the
Utrecht Psalter [Cage BX2033 .A35 U86 1982] (due February 7)
Facsimile of the Vespasian Psalter [Oversize BX 2033 .A35 V47
1967] (due February 14)
Facsimile of the Dagulf Psalter [BX2033 .A35 P763] (due February
21)
Facsimile of the Stuttgart Psalter [ND3357 .S7 A32] (due March
14)
Kalamazoo, on deposit at Western Michigan University, MS Gethsemani
34 (due March 21)
Also useful
are the following edition and secondary sources:
Biblia sacra.
Ed. B. Fischer et al. 3rd ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft,
1983. [Waldo Library, Reserve: BS75 1983; also the 1994 ed.
in the RRC: BS75 1994]
Kuhn, Sherman M.,
ed. The Vespasian Psalter. Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press, 1965. [Waldo Library, Reserve: BX2033 .A3 V4
1965; also in the RRC]
Salmon, Pierre. Les
“Tituli psalmorum” des manuscrits latins. Rome:
Libreria Vaticana, 1959. [Waldo Library, Reserve: BS1442 .24x]
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