Überlieferungskorpus

Überlieferungskorpus refers to a collection of texts or other cultural artifacts that have been transmitted through time. The term comes from German and literally translates to "corpus of transmission" or "transmission corpus." It emphasizes the process by which these materials have survived and reached the present day, often through multiple copying, interpretation, and adaptation stages.

The concept is particularly relevant in fields like religious studies, classical philology, and textual criticism. For example, the Überlieferungskorpus of the New Testament includes all the ancient manuscripts that contain its text, along with their variations. Scholars analyze these different versions to reconstruct the most likely original wording, understanding how errors, additions, or omissions may have occurred during the transmission process.

Similarly, in historical research, an Überlieferungskorpus might encompass a set of documents, letters, or chronicles that provide insight into a particular historical period or event. The focus is not just on the content of these sources, but also on how they were preserved, who preserved them, and what biases or perspectives might be inherent in their survival. Understanding the Überlieferungskorpus helps researchers assess the reliability and completeness of the historical record.