Searching for א in UBS4 apparatus

[Ken Simpson]

Hi,

following this post by Raoul yesterday about searching for L in theBHS Apparatus, I did some searching in the UBS4 apparatus.

 

All seemed fine until I tried to search for Codex Sinaiticus (א).

 

I had Search by Manuscript selected in the search criteria area, and then tried to input א.

 

Of course, A found Alexandrinus - interesting, but not what I was after.

 

Changing the keyboard to Hebrew made no difference - Accordance still placed "a" in the search area.

 

I tried clicking א on the character palette, but that didn't work - errored about needing to have a text selected on the second click.

 

The only way I could enter א was to find it in a text (or in UBS4 apparatus) and copy and paste it. That worked and the search worked.

 

Seems to me like a little inconsistency to be looked at sometime.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Ken Simpson

[Michael J. Bolesta]

Ken, I can replicate this, but there is another work around (beside copy and paste). If search by manuscripts and type an unexpected character such as "!" or "+" and a pull down menu appears with acceptable entries. Manuscripts named with Hebrew or Greek letters (and other special characters like the papyrus symbol) are at the bottom of the listed options.

Michael

Edited May 10, 2013 by Michael J. Bolesta

[Joel Brown]

I think what's going on here is your nature of input. When I type option-a, I properly get the aleph. Or, if I go to the Character Palette and click on the Aleph, it also inputs it in properly. Remember, this is a manuscript issue, so the font is MSS, not Yehudit!

 

What is a bit odd is the unicode keyboard conversion not handling MSS, and I'll take a look at that.

[Ken Simpson]

Thanks Joel.

 

When I use the character palette I get the error as described above. (It actually says it can only accept MSS characters)

 

Thanks for looking at it.

 

Thanks for the other option Michael. The option-a works too.

[Michael J. Bolesta]

Using the Accordance keyboard palette (opt cmd 4) and selecting MSS (as Joel points out) allows one to enter aleph and other pertinent symbols. But selecting aleph from Yehudit from the palette gives the error sound consistently, the message that MSS characters only are accepted inconsistently (after several clicks on aleph).

 

10.1.5 on OS 10.8.3

[Anon]

This is primarily due to a fine tuned definition between a character and siglum. In the UBS4, (as well as some Hebrew Bible Textual Critical databases where א is the siglum for Aleppo Codex), the Aleph is not an alphabetical character. It's a siglum, much like the gothic M (for MT) or T (Targum) or S (Syriac). When used as a Siglum, the Aleph used for searching requires the corresponding MSS Font sigla, not the aleph-bet character.

[Michael J. Bolesta]

Thank you James. You inspired a minor "aha" moment for me. While obvious to many, it now dawns on me that MSS font refers to manuscripts.

[Jonathan C. Borland]

While we're on it, what are the shortcuts for inputting the sigla mention by James?

[Anon]

The shortcuts are either (1) know the corresponding keyboard input methods. I know this isn't ideal, but I've learned them over the years of using Accordance and transcribing texts and apparatuses; or (2) Use the Character Input method through the Tool Bar. The Character Input can be a stand alone window, not just a popover. It also informs you of the keyboard input methods necessary. It's a bit more cumbersome, but over time they acquiesce into memory.

 

There is one other way, but it involves a third party app, some thing like TextExpander. In writing my essays, I use TE a lot with Linguist Software NewJerusalemU font for critical sigla. For example, I type ;MT () and it converts it to the appropriate size (to match my 12pt Times New Roman Font) and Character. Same if I type LXX (). Over the years I've accumulated so many TE snippets, it's rather easy to navigate through a string of Critical Apparatus fairly quick.

Edited May 10, 2013 by James Tucker