Looking for info on HOTTP notes (SLT text notes)

Question

In the Hebrew SLT you can click on the ‘t’ superscript to view the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (HOTTP) notes. What I’m looking for is an explanation of what the HOTTP notes mean. For example the Rating and Factors fields have letters & numbers respectively, but I can’t find any information on what they mean in PT, or on the web. Thanks.

Answer 1

Perhaps I’ve missed some details You will see a capital A, B, C, or D by the reading which the committee prefers. In the view of the committee:
A: This form of the text has a very high probability of being the best one.
B: There is some doubt about the validity of this form.
C: There is considerable doubt.
D: There is a high level of doubt
The notes also mention factors which the committee took into consideration:

1. Narrow basis for a variant form of the text.
2. Deceptive broad basis for a variant form of the text tradition.
3. Dependence of a variety of text forms upon one earlier form.
4. Simplification of the text.
5. Assimilation to parallel passages.
6. Translational adjustments to the text.
7. Interpretative modifications.
8. Misunderstanding of linguistic data.
9. Misunderstanding of historical data.
10. Accidental omission of similar letters, words, or sentences.
11. Accidental repetition of identical sequences.
12. Other scribal errors.
13. Conflate readings and doublets.
14. Conjectural form of the text.
15. Inexplicable texts.
    Incidentally, we are grateful that in Paratext we have access to the committee’s preliminary and interim report. It seems that a further (or perhaps the final) report is available online at http://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/2018/06/critique-textuelle-de-lancien-testament.html; being able to read French would be a definite advantage. In volume 1, you can see a further explanation of the factors beginning on page XVII.

Comments

Thanks, that is what I was looking for. Could this be added to the PT help?
BTW, that link seems to no longer exist.

Answer 2

There have been several questions about this on support.paratext.org. If you search for HOTTP in the filter you should be able to find the previous discussions.

Screenshot 2021-07-29 09.45.071429×744 98.4 KB

Comments

Hi anon848905, yes I found those topics, but they only talk about the existence of the notes and not about how to interpret them.

Answer 3

If you’re able to read French, or are willing to use Google Translate, you could look at
[Evangelical Textual Criticism: Critique textuelle de l’ancien Testament for Free Download]

evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com

Critique textuelle de l’ancien Testament for Free Download

An academic forum to discuss the Bible's manuscripts and textual history from the perspective of historic evangelical theology.

Answer 4

Hi anon989803! Do you speak French by any chance? The full HOTTP (CTAT in French) reports have been published in the original French and are freely available online in PDF form. They explain the rationale behind every decision and show, how the committee voted on each decision (you get a split decision sometimes, a bit like boxing judges at the Olympics!).

They cover the whole of the HB, apart from the Pentateuch

Volume 1: Josué, Juges, Ruth, Samuel, Rois, Chroniques, Esdras, Néhémie, Esther
https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-151884

Volume 2: Isaïe, Jérémie, Lamentations
https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-150248

Volume 3: Ézéchiel, Daniel et les 12 Prophètes
https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-150255

Volume 4: Psaumes
https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-150304

Volume 5: Job, Proverbes, Qohélet et Cantique des Cantiques
https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-133389

If you don’t have French, the lengthy introduction to the HOTTP has been translated into English and is available for sale:
Dominique Barthélemy. 2012. Studies in the Text of the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. Textual Criticism and the Translator 3.Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2012.

Answer 5

These notes become visible if one hovers the cursor over the red letter.

Comments

There are two articles in Translator’s Workplace discussing HOTTP.

The Presuppositions of HOTTP and the Translator
The Bible Translator Vol. 43, No. 1 (January 1992): 101–116
The Bible Translator 43, no. 1 (1992).

and

HOTTP Project UPDATE
The Bible Translator Vol. 55 No. 3 (July, 2004):420
In 1969, the United Bible Societies launched the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (HOTTP) to analyze about 5,000 textually difficult passages in the Masoretic Text, with a view to helping translators. This project produced a five-volume Preliminary and Interim Report, and now three volumes of the final report in French have been published under the title Critique textuelle de l’Ancien Testament.
The bad news is that the final reports are quite technical and difficult for translators who are not specialists in Old Testament textual criticism. The good news is that Dr Jan de Waard is presenting the results of this technical study in English in a way that makes this information more accessible for translators. Two volumes have been published so far by Eisenbrauns (Winona Lake, Indiana) on behalf of UBS, and a third volume, on Psalms, is in preparation. The first two volumes are: A Handbook on Isaiah (1977) and A Handbook on Jeremiah (2003). These two books constitute volumes 1 and 2 in the series Textual Criticism and the Translator.

The Bible Translator 55, no. 3 (2004): Pr 21:9.

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Thanks, anon044949. I hadn’t thought of looking in TW.