Beta maṣāḥǝft Guidelines

value	definition
foundation	to be used for places and institutions foundation
DonationNote	note stating that the manuscript has been donated to an individual or to an institution. DonationNote
OwnershipNote	Indicating that the book belongs to 1) an institution; 2) an individual. Various shapes of these notes are possible, from rubricated and very regular, written in the main hands, to less formal notes in the margins, written in crude hands (also without the formula ዝመጽሐፍ፡ ዘ…). OwnershipNote
PurchaseNote	note stating that the book has been purchased for money by an individual or an institution. PurchaseNote
AcquisitionNote	Points only to the fact of the acquisition of the book or transaction with the book. The buyer/owner/donor (?) can also be indicated. In some cases, the price and the source of the money can be specified. Includes the formula of the ownership note. AcquisitionNote
ReceiptNote	note written down as a receipt of a transaction of goods. ReceiptNote
Admonition	note admonishing individuals to a righteous behavior. See also “Exhortation”. Admonition
LandGrant	note stating the concession of lands by an authority in favor of individuals or typically of institutions. LandGrant
FoundationCharter	act of foundation of an institution. Foundation Charter
Genealogy	It can be a separate genealogy of local lineages or ruling families or individual rulers; it can be a genealogy of the owner/donor of the book, independent or included into another note (frequently in a donation note). Genealogy
ScribalSignature	The name of the scribe written down. Sometimes the purpose of such a signature is not clear (just a pen trial?). There is a number of manuscripts in the British Library where the scribes notes their names in the bottom margin of the first page of a quire (but this is not by chance; it has to do with the manuscript production mode). Scribal Signature
Supplication	A short prayer for (the souls) of individuals. It is not necessarily in the explicit of the text, but is sometimes written as addition, in the margins or elsewhere. In the most cases, refers to the donor or owner of the book and his/her family members, but frequently it is difficult to understand who is meant. Supplication
Subscription	note added at the end of the main text concerning its completion. Subscription
Doxology	hymn or praise to God or other entities. Doxology
Exhortation	note addressed to the brethren in order to commemorate a saint, to celebrate a given feast or for educational purposes. Exhortation
Invocation	invocation against those who stole or erased the book or against other individuals. Not very different from “Condemnation”. Invocation
Inventory	Lists of books, or church utensils (in most of the cases both together), or objects donated by someone, in Gǝʿǝz or Amharic. Inventory
ScribalNoteCommencing	scribe’s note on commencing the work Scribal Note - Commencing
ScribalNoteOrdering	scribe’s note on ordering of the copying Scribal Note - Ordering
ScribalNoteCommissioning	scribe’s note on commissioning of the writing Scribal Note - Commissioning
ScribalNoteCompleting	scribe’s note on completing the writing Scribal Note - Completing
ScribalNoteAssigningLand	scribe’s note on assigning of land. Scribal Note - Assigning Land
ScribalNoteBequeathing	scribe’s note on bequeathing. Scribal Note - Bequeathing
RecordReconciliation	Records concerning a settlement of a legal case, related to the next category; usually in Amharic, very extensive, very difficult to understand. Frequently with the date of the writing, names of the persons involved. Record Reconciliation
RecordLitigation	Similar to Reconciliation Records, but with the settlement of the dispute not clearly indicated; only the dispute itself is referred to. Sometimes the word “dispute” was also used. Record Litigation
RecordTransaction	text documenting an act of selling or buying something, in many cases a house and land, sometimes a book. Record Transaction
RecordDistribution	documentary record concerning the distribution of goods or lands. Record Distribution
RecordGuarantors	documentary record concerning the guarantors of a transaction or a loan. Record Guarantors
Record	generic note of a documentary, official character. Record
ScribalSupplication	scribe’s entreat to God. Scribal Supplication
Unclear	Content is too vague to assign another category or resists any interpretation. Unclear
GuarantorsList	Lists of individuals, sometimes independent from any other note or context, but with the word was/waḥəs used to describe their role. Sometimes a list of guarantors/witnesses may be included into an acquisition note; normally into a litigation/reconciliation record. Guarantors List
CommemorativeNote	The term stands for an extract from the Synaxarion (i.e., identified text), or a text close or similar to the Synaxarion notice. Also, some Synaxarion manuscripts have a number of added notices, mostly short, written in a secondary hand(s) in the margins, extending the local commemorative practice. Sometimes they go with ʾarke-hymns (as they are in the regular Synaxarion), or are just ʾarke-hymns. Commemorative Note
Condemnation	note condemning those who stole the book or erased it. Condemnation
ProtectivePrayer	prayer to be read or carried along for protective purposes. Protective Prayer
Poem	Rarely used without further specification, otherwise the term “hymn” is applied (seems to be more suitable for written religious poetry). Poem
PoemQene	Despite wide-spread opinion that qǝne is a poetic improvisation which is not written down, manuscripts contain unexpectedly many qǝne-poems, usually as additional notes. Frequently it is clearly stated the the poem is qǝne, and even the type is indicated. But no one tried to check if these poems formally correspond to what we know today as qǝne-forms. Poem Qene
PoemSalam	Short hymn starting with words ሰላም፡ አብል፡ ለ... or ሰላም፡ ለ... There is a confusion here, since malkəʾ also include the words salām la-…, and there are longer composition with stanzas starting with salām la- Poem Salam
PoemArke	A short hymn of ca. 5 lines following the commemorative notice in the Synaxarion; can circulate independently. Poem Arke
StampExlibris	stamp affixed by the owning institution, e.g., a library. Stamp Exlibris
CalendaricNote	Note in whatever way related to the calendar or computus, or reckoning time or calculating feasts; sometimes with such terms as bāhra ḥassāb, or sǝfra saʿāt, or list of feasts with the dates, or lists of fasting periods. Some notes can be found also by means of the key-word “computus”. Poorly understood. Calendaric Note
Excerpt	“(Name of the work), excerpt from ”, i.e. the source should be indicated. Excerpt
Letter	Written message looking like a sample of the epistolary genre copied into a manuscript. It can be a personal message to one specific community or person, or a “public” message to institutions and communities. Some libraries still preserve the paper letters from the time of Hayla Sellase I. Letter
MagicFormula	set form of words to be recited or carried along for healing and protecting. Magic Formula
MagicText	elaborate note to be recited or carried along for healing and protecting. Magic Text
Comment	note added at a later stage in order to comment word or passages of the main text. See also “Gloss”. Comment
Correction	Found in many manuscripts, sometimes in significant numbers. The same problem as with “Gloss” and “Commentary” (recorded in “Varia”, no exact specification). Addition of omitted passages, words or letters (using various forms of the tamallas-sign), and corrections written over erasures seem to be the most frequent. Correction
Gloss	Refers to a note aimed to solve a purely language difficulty, in particular adding clarifications to difficult words (frequently just single words, synonyms, in Amharic or Gǝʿǝz, or sometimes longer passages). The big problem is to understand that the writing is a true gloss and not a correction or something else. Gloss
Excommunication	note excommunicating an individual from a religious community, e.g., a monastery. Excommunication
GuestText	Any literary work /text which has been added to the manuscript as an additional note, in part (excerpts) or in entirety. It can be a small size or even mid-size composition (frequently malke’). Typical cases are works written on guard leaves, sometimes even in the reversed direction or transgressing the codicological settings of the main texts in any different way. Guest Text
MalkeHymn	The hymn of composed of some 50 stanzas, describing the “limbs” of a saint (but there are also Malkeʾ for the Trinity, Covenant of Mercy, Jesus, St. Mary, even for literary works, icons etc.). Malke Hymn
Directive	Mostly in Amharic; usually addressed to the ministers as to how the texts should be read or how the church service/liturgy be carried out. Technical directives only, other formulas. The words በል, አንብ are frequently included. Directive
Asmat	Sometimes developed, with the formalized incipit and explicit, sometimes nothing more than a short string of “hidden God’s names”, written in a crude hand. Asmat
CustomaryLaw	Rare, but important records explaining the local customary law. Usually in Amharic, difficult to understand. Customary Law
Statutes	Regulations, statutes, constitutions of the churches; monastic rules. Statutes
MixedNote	Notes difficult to classify. Mixed Note
findingAid	Finding Aids in the text (legacy from Ethio-SPaRe).

Example 1

Example from DSEthiop2


                            <item xml:id="a9">
                                <locus target="#76vb"></locus>
                                <desc type="OwnershipNote"></desc>
                                <q xml:lang="gez">ዝመጽሐፍ፡ <persName ref="PRS11986GabraI" role="owner"><roleName type="title">አባ፡</roleName> ገብረ፡ ኢየሱስ፡ ወልደ፡
                                            ሚካኤ<sic resp="DR"></sic></persName>
                                    <placeName ref="INS0479DabraM">ደብረማርያም፡</placeName></q>
                            </item>

This element is mentioned in the following pages

Revisions of this page

Pietro Maria Liuzzo on 2018-04-24: stub of page