Stammkritik
Stammkritik is a textual criticism method used primarily in biblical studies and classical philology. It is a systematic approach to identifying and analyzing the earliest attainable textual form of a written work, particularly when multiple manuscript traditions exist. The goal is to reconstruct the original text, or a version very close to it, by examining the variations found in surviving copies.
The process involves several key steps. Scholars compare numerous manuscripts of the text, noting discrepancies between
The ultimate aim is to identify the "archetype," the hypothetical original manuscript from which all subsequent