Text-Critical Marks

Text-critical marks record the difference between what is on the manuscript and what the edition prints. They are what the Viewer's three display modes are computed from: diplomatic shows what the scribe wrote, reconstructed shows what the editor thinks it said, and hybrid shows the difference.

Marks belong to a grapheme

A mark is applied to the selected grapheme, not to the akṣara. Select the chip in the grapheme sequence, then choose a mark from the pills below. The pane says as much: Marks are properties of the individual grapheme.

This is deliberate. Half an akṣara can be legible and half restored, and only a per-grapheme mark can say so.

The six marks

Pill	Meaning	What it records
[ ]	Uncertain reading	An unclear or partially preserved grapheme whose reading is uncertain
(* )	Editorial restoration of lost text	A lost grapheme, conjecturally restored by the editor from context, parallel, or other means
⟨* ⟩	Editorial addition of omitted text	A grapheme the scribe omitted, restored by the editor
⟪ ⟫	Scribal insertion	Text the scribe omitted and then added as an interlinear insertion
{ }	Editorial deletion of redundant text	A superfluous grapheme written in error, which the editor ignores
	Scribal deletion	A grapheme the scribe deleted

Hovering a pill shows its full definition.

The distinctions worth keeping straight are the ones about who did what. ⟨* ⟩ and ⟪ ⟫ both cover something the scribe left out — but in ⟨* ⟩ the editor supplies it, and in ⟪ ⟫ the scribe themself came back and added it. Likewise { } is the editor setting aside a redundant grapheme, while is the scribe having struck it out.

Choosing a mark again clears it.

Clarity is not a mark

Clarity and obscuration are akṣara properties, not text-critical marks. Clarity says how well the sign survives; [ ] says the reading is uncertain. A sign can be faint but unambiguous, or crisp and still unclear.