Transcription Assignments

Each student will prepare transcriptions of a Psalm (chosen in consultation with the instructor) from two sources:

Each student will prepare a transcription of twenty-five lines of a Latin or vernacular travel text (chosen in consultation with the instructor) from one of the manuscript sources reproduced in the digital resource Medieval Travel Writing; due March 18.

Transcription Guidelines

The 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. These principles are adapted from those advocated by Clemens and Graham (pp. 75-77) to restrict the characters in the transcription to those available on a standard American keyboard.

Transcribe majuscule scripts (rustic capitals, uncial, and most display scripts) as capital letters.

Transcribe minuscule 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 and subscript letters on the line.

Transcribe each ligature (including the ampersand for et) as its constituent letters.

Transcribe e-caudata as (a)e.

Follow the capitalization found in the manuscript. Occasional majuscule forms in medial or final position in a minuscule context, however, should be transcribed as lower case, and occasional minuscule forms in display scripts as capital letters (see above).

Normalize word separation.

Transcribe hyphens in the manuscript (whether single or double) as hyphens. When hyphens are not present in the manuscript, use a hyphen in parentheses at the end of a line to show that a word continues on the next line.

Identify letters supplied in expanding abbreviations by placing them in parentheses. If you cannot determine how to expand an abbreviation, include an apostrophe in place of the abbreviation mark.

Transcribe the Greek characters of the nomina sacra as they are generally written in Latin-language medieval manuscripts:
χ (chi) = x
ρ (rho) = p
ς (final sigma) = c or s
ι (iota) = i
η (eta) = h

Transcribe punctuation as it appears in the manuscript insofar as a modern keyboard will allow, being certain always to transcribe a given mark of punctuation in the same way throughout the text. There is no need to place punctuation above the base line in the transcription.

Provide commentary on difficult readings, erasures, the unusual order of a text’s presentation, interlinear and marginal insertions, &c. in notes.

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