A recension is a method of textual criticism in which a scholar compares all available manuscript versions of a text to establish a stemma codicum (family tree of manuscripts) and reconstruct the archetype or most authoritative version. It operates by identifying shared variants, grouping manuscripts into families, and eliminating readings introduced by scribal error, expansion, or abbreviation. The parameters that bound a recension are: (1) the set of extant manuscripts or witnesses being compared, (2) the critical criteria for evaluating variant readings (lectio difficilior, transcriptional probability, genealogical coherence), and (3) the resulting critical text or apparatus that records the editorial reconstruction. A recension persists through the institutional practice of textual scholarship — the teaching of paleographic and philological methods, the production of critical editions, and the ongoing revision of editions when new manuscripts are discovered. It is a cumulative, revisable practice maintained across generations of scholars.\n\n[formal: recensio | substrate: mind | horizon: generations | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
recension
A recension is a method of textual criticism in which a scholar compares all available manuscript versions of a text to establish a stemma codicum (family tree of manuscripts) and reconstruct the archetype or most authoritative version. It…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A recension is a human-made practice of critical examination and revision of texts, especially in scholarly editing. It emerges from the systematic work of textual critics who compare manuscript variants to produce an edited text. The practice is built to persist through the conventions of academic publishing, critical apparatuses, and the ongoing revision of scholarly editions across generations of textual scholarship.
Names and aliases
- recensionen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmr784qud000ys126ggjk6dbaDEPENDS_ON →
A recension is the critical comparison of different manuscript versions to establish a text. Without writing there are no manuscripts to compare — the entire practice collapses. Remove writing and recension ceases to operate.
- cmrsphori001z145ry0zfwwzrINSTANCE_OF →
A recension is a specific kind of method for revising and standardizing texts in textual scholarship. Law 9: specific→general. A textual recension IS a method — a systematic approach to comparing and reconciling textual variants.
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Record identity
- Created
- Jul 17, 2026, 5:31 AM UTC
- Content hash
- d2cf679818aee0d2c30d6105f9a7d69e1b2d9a8a33e6e07b2a2e7b895f7f1fa8