Glossary

This glossary provides definitions for key terms and concepts used throughout the Criterion application and this user manual. Understanding these terms will help you work more effectively with critical editions and textual criticism workflows.

	Note: Terms are listed in alphabetical order. Click on a term in the table of contents to jump directly to its definition.

Annotation

• The class for Web Annotations.
• In Criterion: User-added comments or notes attached to specific text passages for editorial discussion or reference.

Apparatus

• Component of a scholarly edition that accompanies the edited text and consists of a set of annotations that the editor has appended to edited text for a particular scientific purpose.
• In Criterion: The structured area below or beside the main text where critical notes, variants, and scholarly annotations are managed.

Apparatus Entry

• An annotation presented within an apparatus.
• In Criterion: A single note or variant record within an apparatus box, linked to a specific lemma in the main text.

Base Reading / Lemma

• The reading chosen or proposed by the editor, presented within an entry of the critical apparatus for the dual purpose of indicating the passage in the text to which the entry refers and to allow the reader to compare it more easily with the other recorded readings. Can also be called “Lemma”.
• In Criterion: The word or phrase selected in the main text that serves as the anchor for a critical note.

Base Witness

• Witness is used as a basis to establish critical text.
• In Criterion: The primary manuscript or edition selected as the foundational source for reconstructing the critical text.

Critical Apparatus

• An apparatus through which the editor shows the differences between the critical text and the textual transmission and possibly explains their choices.
• In Criterion: The dedicated section (one or more boxes) where textual variants, sigla, and philological notes are recorded and formatted.

Critical Apparatus Entry

• An annotation to the critical text that is part of the critical apparatus, within which the editor presents the variants and, more generally, the readings attested in the textual tradition, comparing them with the relative passage in the critical text.
• In Criterion: A structured record containing lemma, readings, sigla, and optional commentary.

Critical Apparatus Entry Note

• Note that the editor inserts in an entry of the critical apparatus to specify some philological aspects of a reading, of a group of readings, of the chosen or proposed reading or, in general, of the textual tradition at that point of the text.
• In Criterion: Additional explanatory text within a critical note, often used for scholarly commentary.

Critical Apparatus Group

• Structure in which the critical apparatus can be divided, to distinguish the different types of information it contains and facilitate its reading. A critical apparatus group may contain a particular type of reading (for example substantive variants or orthographic variants) or it may group together the information about the variation in each set of witnesses (for example a family of witnesses).
• In Criterion: Logical organization of apparatus entries using separate boxes or categories.

Critical Edition

• A type of scholarly edition, created by applying the principles of textual criticism, with the aim of reconstructing a text that is closer to the original form, or to the form that it had at a particular stage stated by the editor.
• In Criterion: The complete document type produced by the application, including critical text, apparatus, bibliography, and paratextual elements.

Critical Text

• A type of edited text presented in a critical edition and edited for the purpose of reconstructing the original form or one of the original forms of the text of a work.
• In Criterion: The mandatory main text section where the editor's reconstructed version of the work is entered.

Editor

• Person who created a scholarly edition. The editor must possess philological skills and textual criticism skills. The identity of the editor must be known, to make their work citable.
• In Criterion: The authenticated user who creates, modifies, or shares a critical edition document.

Introduction

• Text of variable size which introduces the edited text within a scholarly edition, presenting the work itself and the work carried out by the editor. The introduction may be organized in different parts and may contain lists, pictures, and other materials.
• In Criterion: An optional document section that appears before the Critical Text, used for prefatory material, methodology, or contextual information.

Lemma (see Base Reading)

• The selected word or phrase in the main text that anchors a critical apparatus entry.
• In Criterion: Displayed with a closing bracket (e.g., “vincit]”) in apparatus notes.

Note / Comment

• An annotation to the critical text, which is part of the commentary.
• In Criterion: User-generated annotations (distinct from apparatus notes) that can be categorized, searched, and toggled for visibility.

Reading

• A sequence of characters, words, or phrases that can be read in a preserved witness, or in a witness that went lost after its reading was recorded.
• In Criterion: A textual variant entered in an apparatus entry, representing an alternative form found in a witness.

Reading Group

• A set of readings within an entry of the critical apparatus, grouped to highlight some peculiarities of the textual tradition or to facilitate consultation. A group of readings is graphically distinct from the other contents of the critical apparatus entry.
• In Criterion: Visual or structural grouping of related variants within a single apparatus entry.

Reading In Apparatus

• Reading presented in a critical apparatus entry. A reading in the critical apparatus may correspond to two or more readings of different witnesses. The reading in the critical apparatus can be presented in a diplomatic (according to a particular witness) or interpretative form.
• In Criterion: The formatted variant text displayed in an apparatus box, optionally linked to sigla.

Reading In Apparatus Cause

• The type of error made by the copyist during the act of copying or the factor that may have led the copyist to produce an erroneous or innovative reading.
• In Criterion: Optional metadata or commentary explaining the origin of a variant (e.g., “homoioteleuton”, “scribal error”).

Reading In Apparatus Type

• Category that the editor assigns to a lesson to classify it and make their evaluation explicit.
• In Criterion: Predefined or custom labels (e.g., add., om., del., tr.) that categorize the nature of a textual variant.

Siglum (plural: Sigla)

• Alphanumeric string that identifies a witness within a critical edition.
• In Criterion: A short identifier (e.g., “A”, “Vat. lat. 123”) assigned to a manuscript or edition, managed via References > Sigla Setup.

Siglum Reference

• Reference to a witness siglum, used within the critical apparatus (and in other apparatuses), next to readings and optionally to reconstructed passage references.
• In Criterion: The inserted siglum symbol that appears in apparatus notes, linked to its full bibliographic description.

Witness

• Copy of the text of a work.
• In Criterion: A source manuscript, printed edition, or other textual authority that preserves a version of the work being edited.

Witness Carrier

• The physical support of a witness, usually a manuscript or a printed book.
• In Criterion: Descriptive metadata about the physical object holding the text (e.g., “parchment codex, 12th century”).

Witness Description

• Text that can be provided within the witnesses list, to describe a witness in depth and deal with different aspects: the state of conservation, the material aspect, the paleographic analysis, etc.
• In Criterion: The optional “Description” field in Sigla Setup, supporting rich text and detailed philological notes.

Witnesses List

• List of the witnesses that preserve the text of a work. The list is presented within a critical edition, usually inside the introduction.
• In Criterion: The compiled bibliography of sigla, exportable via References > Sigla Setup > Export.

• Critical Apparatus and Sigla Management
• Apparatus Notes (Critical, Page, Section, Margin)
• Bibliography and Citations
• Document Overview