Dom Froger Ontology

Dummy ontology based on Dom J. Froger, La critique des textes et son automatisation, Dunon, Paris, 1968.

• original work = the work as the author composed it, this concept is not absolutely clear-cut
  • internal discourse
  • fixed on text ⇐= we consider this the original work, LRMoo manifestation
    • from the hand of the author (autograph)
    • from another hand
      • revised by the author
      • not revised by the author

Work can be:

• finished
• unfinished

• locus = a passage or place of the text
• lectio = the form and tenor of a locus (what we read there)
  • authentic lectio = lectio of the original
  • inauthentic lectio = deformation due to a defective transmission of the text
  • good lectio = lectio that is correct syntactically, grammatically, ecc. in relation to the usus scribendi
  • bad lectio = lectio that is not correct syntactically, grammatically, ecc. in relation to the usus scribendi
  • authenticity vs quality: an authentic lectio can be good or bad (author's error). Also: inauthentic lectio usually bad, but could be good if it corrects the author's error
• manuscript = collection or set of lectiones, as elements of text on different levels (chapter, paragraph, sentence, word, syllable, letter, sign of punctuation and accents)

1. Genesis
2. birth ⇒ original
3. survival ⇒ transmission ⇒ copies

• text transmission by copy as human genealogy:
  • model = father
  • copy = son
  • family of a given work and sub-families
• relations between mss represented with a schema in the form of a genealogical tree = stemma

Text transmission history ⇒ alterations = transmission's errors (by hypothesis, inauthentic lectiones)

1. internal : concern the form of a text ⇒ events: addition omission, substitution or alteration, inversion (words, passages), one or more inauthentic lectiones
2. external: not concerning the form of the text ⇒ events affecting the ms as object, its material characteristics

Alterations that do not change the meaning, but improve style:

• substitution with synonym (from a banal to a niche term)
• omission of small words not indispensable
• addition of explanatory words
• inversions

• Correct evident errors (blunders, gaffes)

Saut du même au même

• backward = dittography
• forward = omission

• Occasion of errors: paleographical errors due to incorrect deciphering of script

Agents:

• copyst
• corrector/revisor
• chance

⇒ the first two are functions, not persons and each is a cause or agent of errors

• Different genealogical relations of mss: normal vs anormal
• Normal genealogy = only agent is copyst (no revisor or chance)
• each copy contains the errors of its model and adds its own
• collaterals (independent copies) have different errors ⇒ diverging branches
• common errors in mss ⇒ branch
• own errors in a ms ⇒ oppose either the ms to its model or the branch to its collaterals

Anomaly:

1. ms lacks its model's errors ⇒ remove ms from its branch
2. collaterals have common errors ⇒ converge different branches
3. anomalies are due to either the correctors or chance, but they can end in absolutely normal effects

⇒ the more anomalies, the worst

Corrections:

• ex libro (an exemplar)
  • the same model
  • another exemplar ⇒ contamination, but not necessarily anomaly
    • on coypsts errors ⇒ ok
    • on model errors ⇒ anomaly
    • fake common error from collateral
• ex ingenio
  • on authentic lectio ⇒ normal
  • on inauthentic lectio (real error)
    • on copysts error ⇒ ok
    • on model error ⇒ anomaly [cascade de fautes]

• Chance sometimes as normal sometimes as anomaly
• It is possible that collaterals make different errors in the same places ⇒ parallel errors ⇒ ok (if different)
• When substituing an inhauthentic lectio with another inauthentic lectio ⇒ fautes en cascade ⇒ anomaly if the remplaced lectio was in an ancestor (copy lack an error it should have)
• It is possible that 2 copysts make the same error independently ⇒ anomaly, since collaterals have common errors (seems a contamination, but is only chance)
• The same for 2 revisors

• A ms with correction is like a second exemplar ⇒ there are as many examplars as corrections layers [a.c. and p.c.] and each can start a new branch ⇒ contamination source and mixted texts