The New Testament Greek Transcription Coding Scheme

 

 

BibleWorks contains a number of new transcriptions of Greek New Testament manuscripts. The searchable BibleWorks versions of these transcriptions can be identified by the "m-" prefix. The version ids are the string "m-" followed by the Gregory-Aland number for the manuscripts followed by a letter indicating the corrector level. Morphological versions are indicated by a further "-m" added to the version id. For example, the base morphological version of Sinaiticus is m-01a-m.

 

The tagging scheme used is the same as the BibleWorks Greek Coding Scheme (BLM,BNM,BGM)  with the addition of two sets of suffixes.

 

The +sxxx Suffix

 

In addition to the normal morphological tags, a number of new supplemental tags have been added to the Sinaiticus tagged text. The “+sxxx” tag indicates that the tagged word has special sigla associated with it. It consists of “+s” followed by three columns with the following meanings:

+s

Bracket

Text Type

Contraction

 

x = none

x = none

x = none

 

q = both

b = both

c = contraction

 

r = single

u = uncertain

 

 

p = double

m = missing

 


Thus, for example, <+sruc> would indicate that the word is inside a single bracket pair, has one or more characters tagged as uncertain, and has one or more characters tagged with the overbar contraction marker.

All words have the +S??? suffix. A +Sxxx suffix indicates no bracketed text, no missing or uncertain characters and no contractions.

The +txx Suffix

 

A further tag is indicted to indicate that a problem was encountered in parsing the word.

 

Code

Meaning

@u…+t??

= unparsable (mostly +tuc) 1

@…+tpx

= parsable (normal word, no problems) 2

@…+tpg

= parsable but ungrammatical 2

@…+tps

= parsable with minor spelling variant (not mere itacism) 2, 3

@…+tua

= unparsable; scribal intent very likely 2, 4

@…+tub

= unparsable; scribal intent likely 2, 4

@…+tuc

= unparsable; no scribal intent suggested 2, 4

@…+tud

= unparsable; dittography (multiple letters, within word) 2, 5, 6

@…+tuh

= unparsable; haplography (multiple letters, within word) 7

@…+tmx

= miscellaneous scribal issue

@…+tx

= some transcriptional problem [to be corrected] 8

@…+tj

= transcription joins words; first is parsed [to be corrected] 8

 

Notes:
1 a +t code must be added to a u morphcode.
2 "Parsable" means a single clear unambiguous parsing.
3 "Variant" means a spelling that would likely have been accepted as legitimate, not an error.
4 "Intent" should seem clear in itself; refrain from guesses & conforming to other readings.
5 Where only a single letter is doubled, it is not clear that dittography is the explanation.
6 Where dittography creates new parsable word(s), code each new word (usually +tpg)
7 Where only a single latter is involved, it is not clear that haplography is the explanation.

8 All +tx and +tj codes should be resolved and morph adjusted as necessary in the final draft. 

 

 

A lemma is always given when that much is certain, regardless of what the parsing problems may be.
 

These rules are not interpreted so rigidly as to override common sense (e.g. evpi,statai in 1Th 5:3), but err on the side of rigidity when parsing an original reading that has been corrected.

Flowchart for Coding Problem Words