Special markup for large letters, small letters and raised letters?

[DavidHaslam]

In a few places in the Tanakh, the Hebrew letter size or vertical placement differs from the rest of the text.

See https://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/natlang/hebrew/hebrew_bible.html

Should there be some special markup for such large letters, small letters and raised (aka suspended) letters?

Even if most Bible software currently has no means to render these differently, it would still be sensible to provide the means in the XML to identify these unusual letters in order to support these traditional features.

cf. MapM uses the seg element with these user eXtension type attribute values:

• x-big
• x-small
• x-suspended

See counted list of OSIS eXtensions found in MAPM.xml

MAPM.xox.cdl.txt

[DavidTroidl]

I have seen them in files I have from online, but have no permission to distribute. They are also present in the MapM https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%AA%D7%9E%D7%A9:Dovi/%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94_%D7%A2%D7%9C_%D7%A4%D7%99_%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%94/%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%AA. Presentation would be as simple as CSS, if the markup were carried over to a SWORD module, for example. We would have to have a consensus on the usefulness of this feature, before we add it.

On 2/2/2017 1:58 PM, David Frank Haslam wrote:

In a few places in the Tanakh, the Hebrew letter /size/ or vertical /placement/ differs from the rest of the text.

See https://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/natlang/hebrew/hebrew_bible.html https://www.win.tue.nl/%7Eaeb/natlang/hebrew/hebrew_bible.html

Should there be some special markup for such large letters, small letters and raised letters?

Even if most Bible software currently has no means to render these differently, it would still be sensible to provide the means in the XML to identify these unusual letters in order to support these traditional features.

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[DavidHaslam]

The usefulness is only potentially for the future. Suitable markup could be rendered to make these letters display accordingly. I doubt this would be implemented overnight by (e.g. SWORD developers). We can but hope!

On the other hand, if the markup is never present, then nobody could take advantage of it. If the markup was to be included, it would like the rest of XML remain benign and hidden before then. Search index generation would normally ignore such constructs.

The advantages would be that those in the ultra-orthodox community would not have grounds to accuse openscriptures of distorting something in the Word of God. They might easily think of other reasons, so this is only a hypothetical reason.

Not sure how copyright claims can be applied to this detail. After all, it's eminently feasible to reconstruct each of the listed locations from sources in the public domain. We are talking about a very old tradition.

[DavidTroidl]

I have no access to facsimiles of the Leningrad Codex, but I found an image online that says it is: http://transparentenglishbible.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/leningrad_genesis1-927x1024.jpg This shows the initial bet of Genesis no bigger than any of the surrounding letters. Both of the examples I know of, that do record the unusual letters, are based on the Aleppo Codex. The Jewish community seems to respect the Aleppo more highly than the Leningrad, but if the difference is so pronounced with regard to the unusual letters, the OSHB should respect the WLC, because that is our source.

On 2/3/2017 10:16 AM, David Frank Haslam wrote:

The usefulness is only potentially for the future. Suitable markup could be rendered to make these letters display accordingly. I doubt this would be implemented overnight by (e.g. SWORD developers). We can but hope!

On the other hand, if the markup is never present, then nobody could take advantage of it. If the markup was to be included, it would like the rest of XML remain benign and hidden before then. Search index generation would normally ignore such constructs.

The advantages would be that those in the ultra-orthodox community would not have grounds to accuse openscriptures of distorting something in the Word of God. They might easily think of other reasons, so this is only a hypothetical reason.

Not sure how copyright claims can be applied to this detail. After all, it's eminently feasible to reconstruct each of the listed locations from sources in the public domain. We are talking about a very old tradition.

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[DavidHaslam]

Fair enough!

Interesting to see how high the letter LAMED are in the WLC facsimile.