Breudwd Welsh Prose 1275-1425
Cymraeg

How to use these transcriptions

The source for the transcriptions presented on this site is a set of XML documents. The XML encoding describes many of the visual features of the documents, as well as allowing for some editorial interventions. The XML is processed into HTML presenting as faithful a representation of the manuscripts as is possible.

To illustrate how the source documents appear, this is the XML from NLW MS. Peniarth 47i.

Browser Requirements

Note that the presentation of the manuscript texts uses CSS embedded web fonts which enable the display of special characters such as the Middle-Welsh V ‘ỽ’, and Middle-Welsh LL ‘ỻ’. This requires the following browser versions to display correctly: Internet Explorer 7.0+; Firefox 3.5+; Opera 10.0+; Safari 3.1+; Chrome 4+.

General Principles

The text of the manuscript is presented in black Linux Biolinum. Material in blue (for the 1300-1350 manuscripts) or olive (for the 1350-1425 manuscripts) indicates editorial interventions. Text and initials in red and green ink in the manuscripts appear in red and green ink in the transcriptions. Rubricated text appears with a red shadow. Note: Rubrication is not included in the 1300-1350 transcriptions.

Letters

The ‘middle-welsh v’ character and the ligatured double ‘middle welsh ll’ are represented by their Unicode equivalents. These characters were put forward by the Welsh Prose team for consideration in the Medieval Unicode Font Initiative (MUFI) proposal to include a number of medieval characters in the Unicode standard. The proposal (N3027) was submitted for review in January 2006, and the characters were approved for inclusion in Unicode 5.1 released in April 2008. They occupy code points U+1EFA (Latin Capital Letter Middle-Welsh LL), U+1EFB (Latin Small Letter Middle-Welsh LL) , U+1EFC (Latin Capital Letter Middle-Welsh V) and U+1EFD (Latin Small Letter Middle Welsh V) in the Latin Extended Additional character set. For the MUFI proposal see http://www.mufi.info/proposals/

Large initial letters and semi-caps are represented as such in the transcriptions, and initials extending over more than one line are represented by drop capitals, thus maintaining the integrity of the page.

Word division

The transcriptions follow the word division of the original manuscripts. Words that appear in the manuscripts as single items but which are to be considered separate items for the purposes of the wordlist and the search functions are separated by a vertical line in blue (for the 1300-1350 manuscripts) or olive (for the 1350-1425 manuscripts). Words that appear in the manuscripts as separate items but which are to be considered as single items for the purposes of the wordlist and the search functions are joined by a dot in blue (for the 1300-1350 manuscripts) or olive (for the 1350-1425 manuscripts). Words that begin on one line and end on another are indicated by a blue or olive + at the end of the first part of the word.

Expansions

Expanded abbreviations are presented in italics in blue (for the 1300-1350 manuscripts) or olive (for the 1350-1425 manuscripts).

Additions

Scribal additions are presented in a smaller font, with a rollover option indicating the location of the addition on the page. Additions above the line of text appear above the line; additions below the line of text appear below the line. In the case of marginal additions, the added text appears where it should in the text regardless of its position on the page.

Deletions

Deleted text is presented as text with a line through it, with a rollover option giving the type of deletion actually present, e.g. a line through the text, erased text, dots above the text, dots above and below the text, dots below the text with a line through it, etc. Text that has been deleted by subpunction appears with dots below and a rollover option indicating the deletion.

Fillers

Scribes often used decorative fillers to fill the space at the ends of lines. These fillers appear in the transcriptions as a tilde ~ with a rollover option giving a brief if subjective description of the type of filler used. Note: Fillers are not included in the 1300-1350 transcriptions.

Unclear Text

Unclear text is indicated in grey, with a rollover option giving the reason for the lack of clarity, i.e. the text has become faded, has been retraced, or corrected.

Damage to the Manuscript

Damage to the manuscript is presented as an empty box with a rollover option giving the type of damage, i.e. there is a naturally occurring hole in the page, there is damage to the page, or the page has been cropped. Note: All missing text, whether due to damage or illegibility, is marked as illegible in the 1300-1350 transcriptions and thus appears as a gap in the manuscript.

Gaps in the Manuscript

Gaps in the manuscript indicating where the text has become illegible are presented by grey boxes. Note: All missing text, whether due to damage or illegibility, is marked   as illegible in the 1300-1350 transcriptions and thus appears as a gap in the manuscript.

Space in the Manuscript

Empty spaces left in the manuscript appear as empty spaces in the transcriptions.

Supplied Text

In some cases text has been supplied by the editorial team where the original text has been lost due to damage or fading. The purpose of this supplied text is to indicate the extent of the affected area as much as to indicate the contents of the lost text. Text has only been supplied from printed editions, and only where reliable editions of the affected text are available. Supplied text appears in olive Courier typeface with a rollover option giving the reason for the intervention, i.e. the original text is damaged or illegible. The origin of the supplied text has been noted in the TEI header. Note: Text has not been supplied in the 1300-1350 transcriptions. All missing text for these transcriptions appears as a gap in the manuscript.

Sic

In some cases the editors have suggested readings for text that seems to be corrupt, or where the idiosyncrasies of the orthography make understanding difficult. In these cases, the word is followed by an asterisk * in blue (for the 1300-1350 manuscripts) or olive (for the 1350-1425 manuscripts), with a rollover option giving the suggested reading. In some cases no alternative reading is suggested, for example, when a word or letter is simply repeated, or when there seems to be an unexpected mutation or lack thereof. It should be noted that the purpose of these interventions is not to correct the scribe or to suggest that the original reading is incorrect in any way, but rather to ensure the user that the unexpected reading is indeed what appears in the manuscript. ∨

paragraphmark / insertionmark proposal