English 3450 (Fall 2008): Paleography Assignment
Introduction
There are two parts to this exercise:
1 Diplomatic Transcription
Produce a diplomatic transcription of the first 5 lines of the left page image found at this link (the page is password protected: use the same class ID number and password you used to subscribe to this course on Turnitin. This information can be found on our WebCT/Blackboard page).
In producing your transcription, follow my transcription guidelines. An example transcription is found below.
The goal of a diplomatic transcription is to provide an accurate, symbolic, transcription of a text as it appears in an individual manuscript. A reader using your transcription should come away with a good sense of the number and type of erasures, additions, odd spacing and line division. The text will not necessary make much sense.
2 Edition
Produce an edition of the text you transcribed for the first part of this exercise. For this section, the goal is to provide a text that modern audiences can read: use modern punctuation, word-division, and lineation. In an edition you do not need to keep track of additions or erasures; you can expand abbreviations. You can also make corrections if the text is flawed in some way.
Submission
Submit your transcription and edition via turnitin. Due date is 12 December.
Examples
Diplomatic Transcription
Here is a diplomatic transcription of the text in the right hand margin of the manuscript on my home page:
Nuƿe sculon herıa〈n〉|
herı[1] heofon rıces ƿ〈e〉[ard][2]|
metoddes mıhte ⁊h[ıs][3]|
mod ge þanc ƿeorc ƿ〈u〉[l]|
dor fæder4 sƿa he ƿu[n]|
dra ge hƿılc ece drıh[ten]|
ƿord astealde he [æ]|
ræst5 ge scop· ylda [bear]|
nū heofe\o/n to rofe [halıg][6]|
scıppend mıddan ear[de][7]|
mann cynnes ƿeard8|
ece drıhten æfter tıd[a]|
fyrum onfoldum|
frea o{:} ealmıhtı·[9]|
Notes
[1]herıa〈n〉|herı] Left descender of
[2]ƿ〈e〉[ard]|] The left loop of the
[3]h[ıs]|] <ı> partially visible in margin.
[4]ƿ〈u〉[l]|dor fæder] Left descender of visible in margin.
[5][æ]|ræst] Bottom left of loop of <æ> just visible in margin.
[6][halıg]|] Left descender of
[7]mıddan ear[de]|] de is assumed on the basis of all other witnesses to this tradition.
[8]ƿeard|] Loop and top of the ascender of
[9]frea o{:} ealmıhtı·|] A letter (probably
Edition
And here’s an edition of the same text:
Nu ƿe sculon herian heofonrices ƿeard
metodes mihte ond h[is] modgeþanc
ƿeorc ƿu[l]dorfæder sƿa he ƿu[n]dra gehƿilc
ece drıh[ten] ƿord astealde.
5 He [æ]ræst gescop· ylda [bear]num
heofon to rofe [halig] scippend
middanear[de] manncynnes ƿeard
ece drihten æfter tid[a]
fyrum on foldum frea ealmihti.
