sourcesmanuscripts

Sourcesmanuscripts, or source manuscripts, is a term used in textual criticism and manuscript studies to refer to the manuscripts treated as primary witnesses to a text. These documents are the main sources editors consult when reconstructing the wording, order, and transmission history of a work.

In this field, the landscape distinguishes autographs, source manuscripts, and later copies. An autograph is the author's original manuscript, while source manuscripts are the earliest surviving witnesses available to scholars for reconstruction. Copy manuscripts are later attestations that may reflect scribal errors or deliberate changes. The aim is to determine a reliable text by weighing readings from the best sources and tracing how a text evolved through successive copies.

The work with source manuscripts involves careful collation, dating, provenance analysis, paleography, and philology. Researchers compare readings across the set of source manuscripts, identify variants, assess scribal habits, and decide which readings best reflect the original. The result is a critical edition that presents the text alongside a critical apparatus listing the principal source manuscripts and the variants they support.

Examples of source manuscripts appear in many traditions. In biblical studies, early witnesses like Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus are among the core sources, while classical literature relies on ancient copies and papyri preserved from earlier centuries. Modern projects often maintain digital catalogs and databases to document the provenance, dating, and readings of source manuscripts, aiding scholars and readers in accessing the evidence behind a text's reconstruction.