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:

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)

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)

internal : concern the form of a text ⇒ events: addition omission, substitution or alteration, inversion (words, passages), one or more inauthentic lectiones
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:

Saut du même au même

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

Agents:

⇒ 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:

ms lacks its model's errors ⇒ remove ms from its branch
collaterals have common errors ⇒ converge different branches
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