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I am glad, that we rarely need to consult the apparatus for normal translation work. But every so often, since we are looking at many (francophone) Bible editions regularly, we have differences and I feel a need to give some background and re-assurance to our local team and take notes for our few local decisions about verses included/translated or not.

I know of course where to click and bring up the apparatus for any specific verse. But I have searched all over and cannot find the key for the abbreviations. If this is trivial, please forgive and tell. It is not in the onboard-help.

I understand that presently in PT we are using UBS5 with “5th rev. edition 2014, ed. by B. and K. Aland, J. Karavidopoulos, C.M. Martini, B.M. Metzger; in co-operation with the Institute for New Testament Textiual Research, Münster”

Now I looked it up online and normally (say with a printed edition) the Textual Apparatus and also all the keys to use it are included:

Various Appendices:
List of manuscripts
Index of quotations and allusions
Index of symbols and abbreviations (English)

I can only guess that the list of manuscripts and symbols is available somewhere in PT, because ressources were spent to make the apparatus easily available by simple click. It would be rather sad, to have it “use-less” for lack of the key.

(During our training we used “the other one”, namely the Nestle-Aland version and that is also several decades ago. I am reading online that much progress has been made since and that each edition is using its own apparatus. So my question here is not just some nerdism; I would really like to find and use that key or list of symbols and manuscripts.)

(I have a hunch, that I have already posed this question once before, but cannot find that here. Maybe I use the tool within PT? Or I never found time. But questions that keep popping up need answers. In my notes I do not have anything about where to bring up the key in PT.)

Paratext by (855 points)
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6 Answers

+1 vote
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I found the key / symbols / abbreviations for the UBS5-apparatus and make them visible here as a temporary fix. The right to look at this data is normally included with any licence or printed copy of the UBS5. Please find a way to place this needed information into PT, so that all users can really use the apparatus as intended.

Note: I tried including the data as preformatted text, but it is so complex that even the copy&paste into the box here has messed up certain aspects. This is the best I could do for now. Please note that there are many superscripts (that were lost) as you see them in the apparatus; for example all that follows the various “cop” like “bo” and “fey” are all normally superscripted. Sorry about that.

VI. Master List of Symbols and Abbreviations

{ } enclose a letter A, B, C, D which indicates the relative degree of certainty for the reading adopted in the text.
[ ] in the text enclose words whose presence or position in the text is regarded as disputed; in the critical apparatus, immediately following the symbol Byz, enclose the symbols for certain Byzantine witnesses (cf. p. 10*).
⟦⟧ enclose passages which are regarded as later additions to the text, but which are of evident antiquity and importance.
:diamonds: precedes a word or passage where two different variants could equally well be adopted as the reconstructed initial text. If there is an apparatus unit the same sign will be found at the citation of the variant in the apparatus seen as equal to the reading text.
( ) in the critical apparatus, indicate that a witness supports the reading for which it is cited, but with minor differences; in the Discourse Segmentation Apparatus, indicate minor differences of detail in segmentation, while the authority supports in general the segmentation for which it is cited.
[( )] indicate negligible differences in the witness of selected Byzantine manuscripts to the reading attested.
* the reading of the original hand of a manuscript.
? indicates that an early version is probably in support of a reading, but that owing to the grammatical structure of the language there is some doubt.
?, ? the possible support of a version for various readings in contrast to the exclusion of its support for other readings.
1/2, 2/3, 5/7 etc. indicate the statistics for variant readings in multiple instances of a passage. The second number indicates the number of times the passage occurs in a lectionary manuscript or a Church Father; the first number indicates how many times the reading attested is supported.
1,2,3,c successive correctors of a manuscript in chronological sequence. The symbol c at the end of the sequence refers to the latest corrector.
a indicates that a text manuscript contains the Acts of the Apostles; or that a lectionary manuscript contains lessons from Acts and the Epistles.
acc. to indicates the source of a citation.
AD Apostoliki Diakonia (i. e., B. Antoniadis’ edition of the New Testament, 1988).
app critical apparatus.
arab Arabic version of a Greek Church Father.
arm Armenian version, or an Armenian translation of a Greek Church Father.
BJ La Bible de Jérusalem (1998).
BTI Biblia Traducción Interconfesional (2008).
Byz the reading of the majority of the Byzantine witnesses.
Byzpt a part of the Byzantine manuscript tradition.
c indicates that a manuscript contains all or part of the Catholic or General Epistles.
c indicates the corrector or the last of successive correctors of a manuscript.
com citation in the commentary section of a manuscript where the reading differs from the accompanying Greek text; also used to designate the New Testament text cited in the commentary of a Church Father, when the citation differs from the accompanying New Testament text.
copach Achmimic (Rösch).
copach2 Sub-Achmimic (Thompson).
copbo Bohairic (Horner).
copfay Fayyumic (various fragments).
copmeg Middle Egyptian (Schenke).
copmf Middle Egyptian Fayyumic (Husselmann).
coppbo Proto-Bohairic (Kasser).
copsa Sahidic (Hintze/Schenke; Horner; Kasser; Quecke; Schüssler; Thompson).
copv Dialect V (Schenke).
DHH Dios Habla Hoy (1996).
Diatessaron Diatessaron quotations preserved in the commentary by Ephraem Syrus.
Diatessaronarm citation from the Armenian version of Ephraem’s commentary where it differs from the Syriac text.
Diatessaronsyr citation from the Syriac text of Ephraem’s commentary where it differs from the Armenian version.
dub a citation from the work of a Church Father to whom its attribution is dubious.
e indicates that a manuscript contains all or part of the Gospels.
ed the reading from an edition of a Church Father when it differs from a reading in the papyrus tradition of his text.
eth Ethiopic version.
ethms the Hackspill edition of the manuscript Paris, Ms. Eth. n. 32.
ethpp the Pell Platt edition of the Ethiopic version.
ethro the Rome edition of the Ethiopic version.
ethTH the Takla Hāymānot edition of the Ethiopic version.
EU Einheitsübersetzung der Heiligen Schrift (1999).
f1 “Family 1,” a group of Greek manuscripts first described by K. Lake (see p. 25*).
f13 “Family 13,” a group of Greek manuscripts first described by W. H. Ferrar (see p. 25*).
geo Georgian version.
geo1,2 two revisions of the Georgian tradition.
geoA,B manuscripts which form the basis of geo2.
GNB Good News Bible (1992).
gr a citation from a Greek fragment of the work of a Greek Church Father which is preserved complete only in a translation.
it Old Latin (Itala) version. Superscript letters identify individual manuscripts; see p. 31*ff.
l a lectionary manuscript, identified by the number following it.
l AD reading of the lectionary edition of the Apostoliki Diakonia, Athens.
l 8661/2 shows the relative frequency of a reading in the multiple occurrence of the same passage in a single lectionary manuscript. The second number of the fraction indicates the number of times the passage occurs in the manuscript; the first number indicates how many times it supports the reading attested.
lat the Latin translation of a Greek Church Father.
LB Lutherbibel (1999).
Lect the reading of the majority of the lectionaries selected, together with the text of the edition published by Apostoliki Diakonia, Athens.
Lectpt a part of the lectionary manuscript tradition (at least 10 manuscripts) which differs from the rest (also designated Lectpt). This symbol always appears in pairs in the critical apparatus.
Lectpt,AD a part of the lectionary manuscript tradition in agreement with the lectionary text of the Greek Church (i. e., the edition by Apostoliki Diakonia, Athens).
lem in the Church Fathers, a citation from a lemma, i. e., the text of the New Testament which precedes the commentary (com) in a commentary manuscript.
LXX the Septuagint or Greek translation of the Old Testament.
M Merk, Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine (1992).
mg textual evidence contained in the margin of a manuscript.
ms, mss manuscript(s) of an early version, or of a Church Father’s text, when differing from the edited text.
NA Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (2012).
NBS La Nouvelle Bible Segond (2002).
NIV New International Version (1984).
NRSV New Revised Standard Version (1989).
p indicates that a manuscript contains all or part of the Epistles of Paul.
☐☐1 etc a papyrus manuscript, identified by the superscript number.
pap a reading from the papyrus stage of the tradition of a Church Father’s text when it differs from an edition (usually now dated) of the Father.
pt partim (Latin: in part).
r indicates that a manuscript contains all or part of the text of Revelation.
REB The Revised English Bible (1989).
[sic] an abnormality reproduced exactly from the original.
slav Slavonic version, or a Slavonic translation of a work by a Greek Church Father.
supp a portion of manuscript or a Church Father’s text supplied by a later hand where the original is missing.
syr Syriac versions, or a Syriac translation of the text of a Greek Church Father.
syrc Curetonian Syriac version.
syrh Harclean Syriac version.
syrh with * Harclean Syriac reading in the text enclosed between an asterisk and a metobelos.
syrhgr a Greek marginal qualification for a Harclean Syriac reading.
syrhmg Harclean Syriac variant reading in the margin.
syrp Peshitta Syriac version.
syrpal Palestinian Syriac version.
syrph Philoxenian Syriac version.
syrs Sinaitic Syriac version.
Theodotion Theodotion’s text of the Greek Old Testament.
TOB Traduction Œcuménique de la Bible (1988).
TR Textus Receptus (Oxford, 1889).
txt the text of a manuscript of the New Testament when it differs from another reading given in the margin (mg) or in the commentary section (com) which accompanies the text of a Church Father.
vg Vulgate version.
vgcl Clementine edition of the Vulgate.
vgst Stuttgart edition of the Vulgate.
vgww Wordsworth-White edition of the Vulgate.
vid the most probable reading of a manuscript, where the state of its preservation makes complete verification impossible; or the apparent support of a Church Father for the reading cited, where stylistic and contextual factors do not permit complete certainty.
v.r. variant reading.
v.r. a variant reading specifically designated in a manuscript as an alternative.
WH Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in the Original Greek (1881).

Barbara Aland et al., eds., The Greek New Testament: Apparatus, Fifth Revised Edition. (Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft; American Bible Society; United Bible Societies, 2014), 58–63.

by (855 points)
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I anon421222’t know the answer to this. There is a key to the grammatical abbreviations in Greek and Hebrew in the help file: “What do the grammatical abbreviations shown for source-language words mean”. But the abbreviations in the apparatus popups are different:
image

by [Expert]
(3.1k points)
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I could buy a copy of the Greek New Testament, UBS edition, 5th edition, for some 28 Euros at Amazon. But that would be a paper copy, I could not find an electronic version. This does not really fit our work-flow nor the idea of Paratext traveling with me on my computer to where I happen to work. (And considering PT light on my tablet…)

So I still hope to locate that key.

Or - proposal - please obtain the data from the publisher, as we need it to make sense, and provide it as a simple ressource in one of the next PT updates.

If we cannot find this within PT and if any user has a link for the data online or could mail me that data off-line (only if legally possible of course) then I could include it in our own project documentation (for now) as a simple text-file in Unicode, which would be synched by our send-receive via the shared folder.

I assume that the Greek New Testament publisher has already included the rights for the apparatus with the PT-publishers, as the data is there with each passage of text. So the rights “to look at the key” is most likely included. I still hope it is hidden inside PT already…

I found some data myself online, for example this page (and more similar pages) on good ole Wikipedia:

On that page it is stated that

The P-numbers are the standard system of Gregory-Aland.

And the page where I found the link is saying that

The two texts of the Greek New Testament that are studied the most are the Nestle-Aland (NA) and United Bible Societies (UBS), which have the same text, but use different apparatuses (emphasis by me). The UBS apparatus is designed for Bible translators, and only shows variant readings translators should be aware of, while the NA apparatus is intended for scholarly research.

So, since I have neither data available, neither in print (for the latest editions), nor yet found inside PT, I cannot know how different the references are for any given manuscript. Are the reference numbers the same? I would hope so, but this is not about Catarpillar spare parts, this is about church history and science. So all things are possible, even off-set numbering systems; would not surprise me.

The example page from Wikipedia that I linked above is something we could use, if we find the equivalent for the UBS-edition, until a more elegant solution is found.

For my own benefit, here are some more similar links (only for Nestle-Aland) and the source of those:

by (855 points)
reshown

I have just seen that in Logos, there is a resource called “The Greek New Testament, Fifth Revised Edition: Apparatus” that provides an explanation of these abbreviations when you mouse over them. I believe this resource is available to TW Logos users.

Thank you for this workaround. Are you indirectly saying, that you have little hope that I will find the key to the abbreviations within Paratext?

0 votes

The help topic “What do the superscript characters in a Source Text Window mean?” says that a red letter following a verse indicates the presence of an entry in the NT Greek segmentation apparatus (such as the red “a” in MAT 1:1 in LXX/GRK).
Clicking the “a” gives the unhelpful text:
1.1 NO P: TR TOB BTI
As far as I know, Paratext help does not give the meaning for the letters in the line above, nor does it give the meaning for other abbreviations (such as for the material that appears when clicking the red 1 in MAT 1:8.
If the abbreviations were to be put in Paratext help, there would need to be a source of abbreviations and their meanings available.

by [Expert]
(733 points)
0 votes

UBS has graded their choices by certainty for any listed option: {A} most likely, {B} likely; {C}, and {D} less likely in two more steps.

// is used as a separator between variants

(I would hope that future - online - apparatus versions would use more space and typography and colours to show the structures and to be clearer and faster to read, rather than use symbols and squeeze for space. This is what we are doing in our own humble dictionary for our project language.)

◆ (called diamond) seems to be an indicator for difficulty of choice between variants.

Quote from an “evangelical” blog: “As for diamonds, we should note how few of them are even given space in the UBS5 apparatus. Clearly the UBS is showing their opinion that most are not relevant to translators.”

(I dread the day, when apparatus-symbols and regular-expressions-syntax will start mixing in my brain…)

(I will collect data from my own online searches here, as a point of reference, until I can create my own small document on how to use the UBS5 apparatus. I will then place it inside our PT projects, so that it will have backup etc. by send/receive. I have also ordered a used printed copy of UBS5 today, which will arrive in several weeks - hopefully - at our location. Worst case, I will have to copy the explanations, which will probably help me to memorize some of those amazing symbols…)

Still hoping for an online link from other users…

by (855 points)
0 votes

I have today made a copy of the apparatus symbols and abbreviation as a Unicode plain text file which is under 10k in size. We will send/receive this on all our project computers via the PT\project-name\shared folder, until we will get a more elegant solution built into PT.

If anybody wants a copy, I will try to upload it here.

apparatus symbols and abbreviations.zip (3.6 KB)

by (855 points)

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