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djbpitt / digenis

Digenis Akritis
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Nervous about restoring duals #65

Open robroman opened 2 years ago

robroman commented 2 years ago

Are we overdoing the restoration of duals? The Greek text of course has none, and those in the MSS are mostly fossils: pairs of hands, eyes, legs; two exceptions are Digenis's father and beloved uncle; and 12 locks (MS Mc). Otherwise the MSS usually prefer plurals (the bears, the hero's elbows [which don't seem to have attested duals in ESl in any case], the SS Theodore, etc. Our text is supposedly composed around the time the duals begin to decline (ca. 1250: Vlasto 3.31, p. 105). Perhaps we should tighten our retroversion rules: preserve those in the MSS, and restore for "natural pairs and two like objects" (Vlasto) where dual is attested elsewhere in the MSS, or in SDRIaXI-XIV?

djbpitt commented 2 years ago
  1. Preserve duals in the MSS
  2. Restore for "natural pairs and two like objects" (Vlasto) where dual is attested elsewhere in the MSS
  3. Restore for "natural pairs and two like objects" (Vlasto) where dual is attested, or where plural is not attested in dual context, in SDRIaXI-XIV

Example: if Sts. Theodore or one person's elbows appear in pl but not du, don't restore dual.