1. Base edited text

The first stage is the entering of the base edited text, established according to the guidelines in the Editors’ Manual.

Normally the Skj B text of the verse will already have been added to the database (this forms the basis of the word and line indexes). Start by clearing the text - there's a link on the first page or you can select the 'clear all' tab. Check the 'clear all text and lines' tab and click update.

When you return to the 'text' tab form, the Skj B text will be inserted initially (if available). You should replace that text with your own edition, including punctuation. The following departures from the Manual, however, should be observed:

i. The verse must be entered in the box verse line by verse line. If the verse is in fornyrðislag, this still applies — no extra spacing between the verse lines, but rather on separate lines (as in Skj). For display, the verse will be rendered with a long space between half-lines.

ii. Emendations should be marked in italics, as in the Manual. For italics, use angle brackets (<...>). Again, these will be formatted correctly for display if they have been inserted correctly.

iii. The software converts the text into words which can then be reordered for prose word order and translation and tagged for kennings. You should insert an underscore (‘_’) between the elements of compound words. When the text is split into words, the compound will then be split into two parts so that the both elements of the compound and the compound itself are indexed, and for other reasons such as so that correct kenning mark-up can be added later. The underscore is removed automatically and will not be displayed: it is included only to indicate where the software should divide the word.

The metrical form of the stanza is set (as dróttkvætt, runhent, etc.) in the 'default' tab, so that the stanza can be displayed correctly later.

When you click on the ‘update entry’ button, you will be taken to the next stage: reordering for prose order. If you have made any changes to the text, the database will be updated.

Editing the base text once entered

The base text is stored in the database as a series of words with punctuation after them, and in some cases before. To edit the text, you need to use the 'base word' form, which lists all the words in order. The main boxes should be used for the letters of the word, and the surrounding boxes for punctuation. The box for punctuation before a word should normally only contain punctuation that occurs without a space before the word (brackets and quotation marks, for example). It will not normally contain spaces unless something precedes the first word.

The box for punctuation after a word stores spaces as underscores. If you enter a space, it will automatically be converted to an underscore. Long dashes can be entered as two hyphens, which are then converted to the dash for storage.

References