Aristarchian symbols are editorial marks developed during the Hellenistic period and the early Roman empire for annotating then-ancient Greek texts—mainly the works of Homer. They were used to highlight missing text, text which was discrepant between sources, and text which appeared in the wrong place.
Two main types of ancient Greek philological annotations can be distinguished: signs and explicit notes. Aristarchian symbols are signs.
The first philological sign (σημεῖον) invented by Zenodotos of Ephesos, the first head of the Alexandrinian Library, in his edition of Homer was the obelos (ὀβελός, a short horizontal dash -), which Zenodotos used to mark spurious lines. For this reason, the practice of using signs for textual criticism has been called 'obelism'.
A system of dots also credited to Aristophanes of Byzantium was developed in the 3rd century BCE. A hypostigme ('low dot') . marked an occasion for a short breath after a short phrase, a stigme mese ('middot') (στιγμή) · marked an occasion for a longer breath after a longer passage, and a stigme teleia ('high dot') ˙ marked a full stop at the end of a completed thought. Other writers employed two dot punctuation⁚ to mark the ends of sentences or changing speakers. Less often, arrangements of three ⁝, four ⁞⁘, and five ⁙ dots appeared.
System of Aristarchus
The number of the philological signs and in some cases their meanings were modified by Aristarchos of Samothrake (220–143 BCE), sixth head of the Alexandrinian Library. He used critical and exegetical signs in his editions of the Homeric poems.
A 'dotted lunate sigma' (σίγμα περιεστιγμένον) Ͼ was used by him as an editorial sign indicating that the line so-marked is at an incorrect position in the surrounding text; an antisigma, or 'reversed lunate sigma' Ͻ, may also mark an out of place line. A 'dotted antisigma' or 'dotted reversed sigma' (ἀντίσιγμα περιεστιγμένον) Ͽ indicates the line after which rearrangements should be made, or to variant readings of uncertain priority.
The diple> marked lines whose language or content was perhaps also exegetically noteworthy and pointed to a corresponding explanation in a commentary. The diple periestigmene (διπλῆ περιεστιγμένη) >· a dotted diple pointed to a verse in which Aristarchos' edition differs from that of Zenodotos. He used the obelos added to the asteriskos⁎- where the repeated line is out of place and the stigme (στιγμή) · indicated suspected spuriousness.
Continued use in late classical texts
Aristarchos's semeia were adopted early on by scholars in Rome, and became the standard philological signs for centuries to follow. Some papyrus fragments contain un-Aristarchian signs whose use was fairly consistent nevertheless. For instance, the so-called ancora, an anchor-shaped diagonal upward and downward pointer ⸔ or ⸕, often marks places where text had been omitted or draws attention to text-critical restoration in the top or bottom margin, respectively.
In addition to no punctuation, many original source texts in ancient Greek were written as an unbroken stream of letters, with no separation between words. The hypodiastole, a curved, comma-like mark ⸒, was used to disambiguate certain homonyms and marked the word-break in a sequence of letters that should be understood as two separate words. Its companion mark, the enotikon (ἐνωτικόν) ‿, served to show that a sequence of letters which might otherwise be read as two separate words, should instead be read as a single word. The paragraphos (see picture, right) marked a division in a text. The coronis⸎ was used to mark the ends of entire works, or the end of major sections in poetic and prose texts.[1][2][3][4][5]
Modern typesetting
Nine ancient Greek textual annotation symbols are included in the supplemental punctuation list of ISOIEC standard 10646 for character sets. Unicode encodes several more signs.
^Brill's Companion to Ancient Greek Scholarship. 2015. pp. 549–562.[full citation needed]
^Schironi, Francesca. The ambiguity of signs: critical σημεῖα from Zenodotus to Origen.[full citation needed]
^Nicolas, Nick (2005). . Thesaurus Linguae Graecae. University of California, Irvine. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
^Wegner, Paul D. (2006). A student's guide to textual criticism of the Bible. InterVarsity Press. p. 194. ISBN978-0-19-814747-3.
^Grube, George Maximilian Anthony (1965). The Greek and Roman critics. Hackett Publishing. p. 128. ISBN978-0-87220-310-5.
January 13, 2023
aristarchian, symbols, editorial, marks, developed, during, hellenistic, period, early, roman, empire, annotating, then, ancient, greek, texts, mainly, works, homer, they, were, used, highlight, missing, text, text, which, discrepant, between, sources, text, w. Aristarchian symbols are editorial marks developed during the Hellenistic period and the early Roman empire for annotating then ancient Greek texts mainly the works of Homer They were used to highlight missing text text which was discrepant between sources and text which appeared in the wrong place Two main types of ancient Greek philological annotations can be distinguished signs and explicit notes Aristarchian symbols are signs Contents 1 Early development 2 System of Aristarchus 3 Continued use in late classical texts 4 Modern typesetting 5 Cultural references 6 See also 7 ReferencesEarly development EditThe first philological sign shmeῖon invented by Zenodotos of Ephesos the first head of the Alexandrinian Library in his edition of Homer was the obelos ὀbelos a short horizontal dash which Zenodotos used to mark spurious lines For this reason the practice of using signs for textual criticism has been called obelism Aristophanes of Byzantium invented later the asterisk ἀsteriskos to mark lines that are duplicated from another place citation needed as well as the lunate sigma sigma Ϲ and the antisigma ἀntisigma Ͻ for two consecutive and interchangeable lines of the same content A system of dots also credited to Aristophanes of Byzantium was developed in the 3rd century BCE A hypostigme low dot marked an occasion for a short breath after a short phrase a stigme mese middot stigmh marked an occasion for a longer breath after a longer passage and a stigme teleia high dot marked a full stop at the end of a completed thought Other writers employed two dot punctuation to mark the ends of sentences or changing speakers Less often arrangements of three four and five dots appeared System of Aristarchus EditThe number of the philological signs and in some cases their meanings were modified by Aristarchos of Samothrake 220 143 BCE sixth head of the Alexandrinian Library He used critical and exegetical signs in his editions of the Homeric poems A dotted lunate sigma sigma periestigmenon Ͼ was used by him as an editorial sign indicating that the line so marked is at an incorrect position in the surrounding text an antisigma or reversed lunate sigma Ͻ may also mark an out of place line A dotted antisigma or dotted reversed sigma ἀntisigma periestigmenon Ͽ indicates the line after which rearrangements should be made or to variant readings of uncertain priority The diple gt marked lines whose language or content was perhaps also exegetically noteworthy and pointed to a corresponding explanation in a commentary The diple periestigmene diplῆ periestigmenh gt a dotted diple pointed to a verse in which Aristarchos edition differs from that of Zenodotos He used the obelos added to the asteriskos where the repeated line is out of place and the stigme stigmh indicated suspected spuriousness Continued use in late classical texts EditAristarchos s semeia were adopted early on by scholars in Rome and became the standard philological signs for centuries to follow Some papyrus fragments contain un Aristarchian signs whose use was fairly consistent nevertheless For instance the so called ancora an anchor shaped diagonal upward and downward pointer or often marks places where text had been omitted or draws attention to text critical restoration in the top or bottom margin respectively Three different forms of paragraphos mark In addition to no punctuation many original source texts in ancient Greek were written as an unbroken stream of letters with no separation between words The hypodiastole a curved comma like mark was used to disambiguate certain homonyms and marked the word break in a sequence of letters that should be understood as two separate words Its companion mark the enotikon ἐnwtikon served to show that a sequence of letters which might otherwise be read as two separate words should instead be read as a single word The paragraphos see picture right marked a division in a text The coronis was used to mark the ends of entire works or the end of major sections in poetic and prose texts 1 2 3 4 5 Modern typesetting EditNine ancient Greek textual annotation symbols are included in the supplemental punctuation list of ISO IEC standard 10646 for character sets Unicode encodes several more signs Cultural references EditThe names of the characters Asterix and Obelix in the French comic series The Adventures of Asterix by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo are derived from the Aristarchian symbols See also EditDagger typography Comma Textual criticism Annotation Marginalia Proofreading marksReferences Edit Brill s Companion to Ancient Greek Scholarship 2015 pp 549 562 full citation needed Schironi Francesca The ambiguity of signs critical shmeῖa from Zenodotus to Origen full citation needed Nicolas Nick 2005 Greek Unicode Issues Punctuation Thesaurus Linguae Graecae University of California Irvine Archived from the original on 10 October 2014 Retrieved 7 October 2014 Wegner Paul D 2006 A student s guide to textual criticism of the Bible InterVarsity Press p 194 ISBN 978 0 19 814747 3 Grube George Maximilian Anthony 1965 The Greek and Roman critics Hackett Publishing p 128 ISBN 978 0 87220 310 5 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Aristarchian symbols amp oldid 1125002296, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
