A scholium is a critical commentary or marginal annotation appended to a text, offering explanation, criticism, or contextual notes for readers. Its parameters are: (1) it must reference an existing source text, (2) it provides interpretive or explanatory content distinct from the source, (3) it is structured as an auxiliary note rather than a standalone work. The scholium persists through textual reproduction — copied alongside source texts in manuscripts, printed editions, and digital archives — and through scholarly tradition where commentators build on prior scholia in an accumulating chain of annotation.
[formal: scholium | substrate: mind | horizon: generations | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.18]