EDITORIAL POLICY
SECTION 1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
The aims of the project are
-
to produce a critical edition of the text,
-
to clarify the history of the composition and transmission of the
text as far as possible,
- to provide historical and analytic introductions and notes
relating to the content of the text, and
- to provide an English translation of the text.
We will aim at producing a printed edition of the Latin text
comparable with Offler's four volumes. Drafts of material for the
printed volumes, materials relating to the history of the text too
detailed to be included in the printed volumes, and the English
translation will be posted on the Web site, /pubs/dialogus/.
Text
-
Our aim is to produce a text as close as possible to the text Ockham
himself intended to circulate. (see note 1)
-
We will not collate every MS, but we will collate MSS from each of
the main groups or families. In establishing the text we will give
most weight to readings well represented across these groups, dates
of MSS, consistency with Ockham's style of thinking and writing and
the logic of the argument, not giving any consideration automatic
preference. In the end an editor must exercise judgment in balancing
conflicting considerations.
- We will include 2 Dial. (even though it was not originally
written for inclusion in the Dialogus).
- We will be guided by the editorial conventions established by
H.S. Offler in Opera politica, vols. 1-4, but we will
depart from these where there is some good reason. See below,
"Section 2, Editorial Conventions".
Translation
-
The Latin text will be accompanied on the Web by an English
translation (or, in the case of Part 2, a German and an English
translation). Translators will standardise the translations of
important terms and will develop a uniform translation policy.
Subject to this policy, the original translator will be responsible
for deciding the final version of his translation, after receiving comments.
Annotations
-
Texts that Ockham quotes, refers to or uses will be identified in
footnotes. There will be cross-references and explanatory notes.
There will be introductions dealing with the composition and
transmission of the text and problems of editing and with the subject
matter of the text.
Working methods
-
Scott and Kilcullen will be responsible for Part 3 and Part 1 Books
1-5 inclusive. Knysh will be responsible for Part 1 Books 6 and 7.
Leppin will be responsible for Part 2. Kilcullen and Scott will be
responsible for Part 1 Books 1-5 inclusive and for Part 3.
-
After initial publication on the Web, editors will check and comment
on one another's work. The editor originally responsible for the
section will decide which suggestions to adopt. All adopted
suggestions will be acknowledged in later versions, either
specifically or (if the suggestor agrees) in general terms.
- After web publication the editors listed in paragraph 7 will
prepare the same portions of the work for printed publication.
- The translation will not be published in printed form but only
the Latin text. The final version of the whole web site (text,
translations, essays) will be kept permanently available either by
the British Academy or by arrangement with some electronic publisher.
SECTION 2. EDITORIAL CONVENTIONS
-
Footnotes. There will be three series of footnotes. The first
will provide the critical apparatus, the second will provide notes
(including references and comments), the third will provide chapter
descriptions cited from the manuscript traditions. Each series will
be printed as a continuous paragraph, not in columns. Historical
information will be given in the introduction or (briefly) in the
second series of footnotes, or in end notes (referred to from the
second series of footnotes).
-
Quotations. We will not follow Offler's practice of
italicising quotations or borrowed words. For explicit quotations we
will use quotation marks (double outer, single inner). Significant
variations from the modern text will be noted in the second footnote
series, minor variations will not be signalled. Unacknowledged
quotations will be indicated in notes without any signal in the text. (see
note 2)
- Spelling. There are two options between
which we have not yet decided. Either (a) we will consistently use
modern Latin spelling, or (b) we will follow the spelling conventions
of the earliest manuscripts. (see note 3) We are
still studying the MS conventions. (see note 4) In
either case we will follow modern English punctuation conventions. (see
note 5) We will use arabic numerals in the text, as the MSS do. (see
note 6)
- Language of the apparatus. Offler's language in
introductions and in the second footnote series is English, but in
the apparatus he uses Latin. We will use English in the apparatus
also. In the apparatus the English words will be "omitted",
"added" "deleted" and "gap";
we will add "(?)"to indicate a doubtful reading. The
function of Latin words such as conieci, supplevi, scripsi,
seclusi, correxi, etc., in Offler's apparatus (see
note 7) will be performed by sigla - see below. (see
note 8)
- Editors' sigla: Ki, Kn, Le and Sc (respectively for
Kilcullen, Knysh, Leppin and Scott) will be used to indicate
editorial conjectures. Editors' sigla will facilitate clear
acknowledgment of help or suggestions given by one editor to another.
- Lemmata. In the apparatus there will be a lemma for every
variant. (see note 9) Each lemma will be separated
from the variant by "]". For omissions the lemma will be
the word or words omitted. For additions the lemma will be the word
immediately before the addition. (see note 10)
For transpositions the lemma will be the words transposed.
Transpositions will be treated as substitutions ("ut non] non
ut", not "trs"). Omission dots will be used if
the lemma includes more than two words.
- Witnesses regularly reported and others not.
We will select some witnesses, including at least one from each of
the main families, of which all the variant readings will be reported
(subject to the clause on "insignificant variants" below).
Other witnesses will be reported only when editors judge them to be
important (this will eliminate a lot of variants due to carelessness,
e.g. in Fr); readers will be advised that for those witnesses the
absence of any variant does not imply that that witness agrees with
the editor's text.
- Use of colon in apparatus. Sigla for
editors, witnesses, sources, when used to indicate the source of the
words of the text, will come after the "]" and be followed
by a colon. For example, "et universis] Ki: universis et Ww"
means that the words of the text, "et universis", are a
conjectural emendation by Kilcullen, with all the witnesses (referred
to collectively as "Ww") reading "universis et".
If there is a justifying comparison it will be added in brackets
after the siglum: "et universis] Ki (cf. Brev. 2.5.2-3):
universis et Ww". (see note 11) Whenever the
text is based on a reading of a witness not regularly reported (see
above) its siglum will appear before a colon, but this will not be
done with witnesses regularly reported - they will be assumed to
agree with the editor's text unless a variant is recorded.
- Exclusions and insertions. Words found in all or most MSS
but rejected by the editor will be omitted from the text, without use
of "< >". The readings of the witnesses will be
recorded in the apparatus in a way that indicates what the editor has
rejected: "dicit] Ki: ubi dicit Ww". Words not found in any
MS but added by the editor will appear in the text without square
brackets. The conjecture will be noted in the apparatus by means of
the editor's siglum, thus: "asserere minorem] Ki: asserere
Ww", meaning that the witnesses have "asserere" and
the editor has written "asserere minorem".
- Insignificant variants. Variants of the
following kinds will not be noted in the apparatus:
dittography; presence or absence of "c." (in canon law and
bible references); variations between igitur/ergo, vel/seu/sive/aut,
et/atque/ac, nec/neque, ille/iste; transpositions that do not affect
meaning; differences of spelling; variation between arabic and roman
numerals; deletions and marginal and interlinear changes apparently
made by the original scribe. Otherwise each variant from the
witnesses regularly reported (see above) will be noted even though
the editor may feel that it is insignificant.
- References to Ockham's works. We will indicate book (or
question), chapter and line by means of arabic numerals separated by
full stops after the abbreviated title (not italicised). We will use
Offler's title abbreviations. Thus "OQ 4.3.131" refers to Octo
questiones, q. 4, chapter 3, line 131; "Brev. 2.5.7"
refers to Breviloquium, book 2, chapter 5, line 7. (see
note 12) The parts of the Dialogus will be indicated by
arabic numeral before the title and tractatus by a second arabic
numeral after a full stop. Thus "1 Dial. 3.2" refers to Dialogus,
part 1, book 3, chapter 2; "3.1 Dial. 3.2" refers to
Dialogus, part 3, tract 1, book 3, chapter 2. (see note 13)
- References to the Bible. The names of books of the Bible
will be as in the Vulgate or Douai versions. Verse numbers will be
given in footnotes but will not be inserted in the text.
- References to Canon Law. We will not supply in the
footnotes information already clear in the text. This means that we
will not supply the modern equivalents of Ockham's canon law
references except for Gratian's dicta. (see note 14)
Ockham follows a well known and valid medieval reference system that
does not need to be reproduced in another form, but for Gratian's
dicta his references are more difficult to locate in the modern
edition. For the reader's convenience we will give column references
to Friedberg's edition, which is widely available. If a better
edition becomes available during the course of our project we will
refer to it.
- References to Canon Law glosses: For references to the
gloss we will give in the footnotes a modern reference to the
relevant canon law text followed by a column reference to the Lyons
1671 edition. This edition has no particular authority and is not
everywhere available (though microfilm can be got from the Cambridge
library). However it seems necessary to give references to some edition
to assure readers that we have found the passage and so that a
reader can retrace our steps if we seem to have made a mistake.
References will be in the form ''gloss, col. 79, .s v. dicendo".
We will not include in the footnote any information clear from the
text (e.g. "s. v..." is not needed if the equivalent is in
the text).
- In the text we will not use italics for titles [e.g. Augustine De
doctrina christiana no caps. This was Offler's practice. Should we
follow?], except for titles that are opening words ("Solite")
and for titles of sections of the law ("De maioritate et obediencia").
- In the text references not integrated into the syntax of the
sentence (e.g. not introduced by "ut legitur", "ut
notat" or the like) will be in brackets. For example: Nam sepe
verbum generale non est generaliter intelligendum (Extra, De iureiurando,
Ad nostram, et 1, q. 1, Duces). Unde et "verbum
generale sepe restringitur", ut notat Glossa, Extra, De appellacionibus,
Sua nobis. . .
- Sigla: Sigla used in the apparatus will as far as possible
be uniform in format, to make it easier for users to recognise the
different elements of the apparatus. A siglum will normally consist
of two letters, the first upper case and the second lower case (e.g.
Fr), not italicised, not including numerals or superscripts. (see
note 15) The sigla already used in the web site (see
/pubs/dialogus/sigla.html) will be used in the
printed edition, with the following amendments: Pd to become An, Md
to become Es, Ve to become Sm, and the series Rc-Rg to become Vc-Vg.
Other sigla include "Vulg" for the vulgate Bible;
"Fb" for Friedberg's Corpus iuris canonici;
"Gl" for the gloss to the canon law. "Ww" will be
used as siglum to mean all the witnesses collated, "Edd" to
mean all the early editions, "Mss" all the manuscripts. The
siglum of a witness with "-m" or "-b" added will
be used to mean that the variant is found in the margin or between
lines in the witness: e.g. "Frm", Frb".
- Insertion in margin or between lines of something omitted from
the text of the witness will be noted thus: "omitted Fr, added
Frm"--there is no need to say what is added, since the
reader will assume that it is the same as what is omitted.
- Marginal or interlinear material not part of the text (such as
summaries, queries, comments, etc.) will not be recorded in the
apparatus. If such material seems especially significant (e.g.
Plumetot's marginalia to BN ms. lat. 14313) it can be dealt with in a
note or an essay.
- Capitalisation: In the text: Apostolus for Paul, apostol-
otherwise; imperator for emperor, Imperium for [Roman] Empire; papa
for pope even in an individual's title [Gregorius papa for Pope
Gregory]; capital for Deus; capital for Dominus when it means Christ
or God, capitals for Spiritus Sanctus; capitals for Sacra Scriptura
and Divina Scriptura; capitals for names of orders, and for Order
when it refers to a named order. In the apparatus, lemmata and
variants will all be lower case (in the apparatus only sigla will be capitalised).
- In the first and third series of footnotes there will be no
terminal stops. In the second series when the note consists of
references there will be no full stop and no initial capital; but
normal capitalisation and punctuation will be used for material other
than references (e.g. in comments by the editor). For example:
"col. 49; cf. gloss, s. v. excipiatur auctoritas, col. 112";
"col. 565. But it seems to show the opposite."
- In cross-references in the second footnote series the word in the
text (e.g. prius) will be repeated at the beginning of the note,
lower case, followed by a colon.
- Magister and Discipulus as the characters speaking will be bold
and followed by a colon.
- If further experience suggests that any of the above points need
to be modified, this will be done by consultation among the editors
and with the Medieval Text committee.
Notes
1. This is the traditional aim of a critical edition.
We do not accept the view that an editor's task is to present without
"contamination" the text of the best or most representative
manuscript(s), or the texts of the extant manuscripts. We will
attempt to go behind the witnesses to reconstruct the text Ockham
intended to circulate.
2. For Offler's practice see, for example, OP, vol.
1, (edition 2), pp. 294-5. Offler italicises all quotations,
including unacknowledged quotations. He does not italicise any word
or letter not found in the modern edition of the source; he does not
seem to have any way of indicating transpositions or omissions.
Differences between the quotation and the modern edition of the
source are noted in his apparatus (whereas we will put them in the
second footnote series). See OP, vol. 4, p. 57.
3. Offler mixes modern Latin spelling (e.g. haeresis,
where MSS have heresis) with medieval spelling (e.g. nichil,
dampnatione, temptat).
4. In general, "ae" and "oe"
dipthongs are reduced to "e", "tio" becomes
"cio", "v" is always used at the beginning of
words and "u" in other positions ("vnde",
"amaui"); there are some differences in the spelling of
some words (e.g "nichil", "dampnare",
"tollerare"). It seems that the "v/u" convention
is a matter of letter form rather than spelling, so we would not
adopt it. We are considering whether this may be true also of "tio/cio".
5. English rather than German; thus there will be no
comma before a defining relative clause.
6. Offler uses small roman numerals; see OP, vol. 4,
p. 103.
7. For example, in OP, vol. 1, 3.353, 3.534, 4.279;
vol. 4, CE 1.131, Brev., i.3.30.
8. Any reader who can use the edition could of course
understand an apparatus in Latin. However, the editors do not wish to
pretend to a capacity to write Latin. Readers whose language is not
English will understand "added", "omitted", etc.,
if they would have understood "add.", "om.", etc.
"Gap" is the only English word they will need to learn.
9. Offler does not give a lemma if it is clear what
word is in question (see OP, vol. 1, p. 296, OND 1.110). The program
"Critical Edition Typesetter" automatically generates a
lemma for every variant.
10. For additions Offler includes the next word of
text after the addition (see OP, vol. 1, p. 295, OND 1.68 -
"ab" is the word added).
11. Offler sometimes puts the siglum for a
supporting witness before the colon separating lemma from variant.
See OP, vol. 4, p. 15, CE Prol. 31, "noluerit".
12. Offler italicises the title and uses small roman
numerals to indicate the book, e.g. "Brev. ii.5.7".
13. Offler's refers to the tracts of part 3 as
"IusIIIae Dial." and "IIusIIIae Dial."
14. Offler repeats in his footnotes references to
the Decretum in the style used in Friedberg's "Index
canonum", i.e in the order: c., di., or c., C., q. For the Decretales
he gives numbers, as in Friedberg's "Tabula capitulorum",
but whereas Friedberg separates the numbers by full stops Offler uses
commas ("II,23,4"). For both he gives the column reference
to Friedberg's edition. See for example OP, vol. IV, p. 103, notes to
Brev. 1.5.7-8. The modern system of citation (of which Offler's is a
variant) seems to have been invented during the nineteenth century.
Ability to use the system Ockham followed (explained for example in Modus
legendi abbreviaturas in utroque iure, with many reprints into
the 16th century - see British Museum Catalogue) will be necessary to
any reader who wishes to pursue Ockham's use of the canon law, since
this will require use of the Gloss, which uses the medieval citation
system. It therefore does not seem unreasonable to ask readers to
become familiar with that system (especially since they can simply
use the Friedberg column references).
15. Offler sometimes uses superscripts and italics.
See OP, vol. IV, p. 13
Return to Table
of Contents