Site Dictionary
This page is for defining terms for use on the site, though I hope it ends up being generally useful for everybody. If you have any questions or want to take issue with any of my definitions, please contact me.
- Apographa
This word, from the plural of the greek adjective ἀπόγραφος which means "copied", refers to the copies of a literary work as opposed to the original compositions (autographa)themselves.
- Autographa
This word, from the plural form greek adjective αὐτόγραφος which means "written in one's own hand", refers to the originals as opposed to the copies (apographa) of literary works. This word is generally spelled "autograph" for the singular and "autographs" for the plural.
- Critical Text
In the realm of textual criticism, refers to the edition of a work that is a composite, reconstructed from various witnesses. This text is not representative of a single actual manuscript of a literary work (that would be a diplomatic text), but a theoretial reconstruction by textual critics. All examples of modern Greek New Testaments (that I know of) are critical texts.
- Diplomatic Text
In the realm of textual criticism, refers to the edition of a work that is based on a single manuscript of a literary work, as opposed to a composite text reconstructed from various witnesses(that would be a critical text). Greek New Testaments are pretty much always critical texts, though the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (the modern commonly used Hebrew Bible by the scholarly community) is a diplomatic text, based on the Leningrad Codex.
- Gregory-Aland Number
A Gregory-Aland number is a catalog number that the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung assigns to a manuscript so that the manuscript can be uniquely identified. This numbering system is now the one used as a standard by all modern editions of the Greek New Testament that I know of.
- Incipit
The term "incipit" is used to refer to the introducing a lection in a lectionary. This often involves the changing of the biblical text to provide a smooth beginning for the lection.
- Itacism
In the context of Textual Criticism, an itacism refers to the confusion of a sound in a word (involving a single letter or a diphthong) with another.
- Lectionary
When used in the context of New Testament Textual Criticism, refers to class of manuscripts that arrange various sections of the New Testament for weekly or daily reading. About 2,500 lectionary manuscripts are known to exist. It is the second-most common New Testament manuscript, second only to minuscules, and only by a few hundred.
- Ligature
Combination of more than one letter in a manuscript that looks different than the simple combination of those two letters. Sometimes these ligatures will resemble their original letterforms. Sometimes the ligature will be symbol that bears no resemblance at all.
- Majuscule
Refers to something written in all upper-case and is essentially synonymous with uncial in the context of New Testament Textual Criticism. See the entry on uncial for more information.
- Minuscule
Means "cursive script", though often is used to refer to a manuscript written in cursive script. It is also used to mean "lower-case" in contrast to majuscule, which refers to something written in capital letters. This script came into common use around the 9th century.
- Papyri
Plural of "papyrus", used in New Testament Textual Criticism to refer to those manuscripts that are written on papyrus. Because papyrus is not a very sturdy medium, manuscripts written on papyrus are rare. There are over 120 papyri that contain the documents (generally just fragments) of the New Testament, but this makes up a very small percentage of the almost 6,000 manuscripts of the New Testament. Papyri manuscripts are generally regarded as especially important because they make up the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament.
- Textual Criticism
The study of copies of a written work (which itself is no longer extant) with the goal of ascertaining the wording of that original text. In other words, it is the task of getting back to a writing of which we no longer have the original by comparing and studying existing copies. In the area of New Testament Textual Criticism, this is the process of doing this for New Testament documents. Textual criticism is a discipline that is relevant for any work which has an original that is no longer known to exist but has copies that do.
- Textus Receptus
Latin for "received text" (and often abbreviated "TR"), it refers to the Greek text of the New Testament created by Erasmus. The TR was the standard text used by the protestant church for a very long time and is the text that stands behind the King James Version translation.
- Uncial
Refers to something written in script that employs all upper-case letters. This script was especially common before the 9th century, when minuscule script became the most common script. Uncial manuscripts are those that are written in an uncial script. The only exception to this are the papyri. In the circles of New Testament Textual Criticism the papyri are separated because they are of such great importance, despite the fact that most are written in an uncial script.
- Vorlage
German word generally meaning "something which comes before", but in the context of New Testament Textual Criticism means the document from which the current one is a copy. It is a great word to use if you want to sound smart. That's why I use it.
