Linguistic Studies for Establishing a Critical Text

摘要

One of the basic tasks of the scholarly edition is the establishment of a critical text. This paper analyzes the results of linguistic studies conducted in connection with preparing for publication the texts of various genres by three well-known authors belonging to different epochs: Gabriel Mtsire, Grigol Orbeliani and Ilia Chavchavadze. The difficulties associated with the reading of foreign words and place names written by mistake can be observed on the example of Orbeliani's personal letters. Several examples are considered in detail and the instances of problematic toponyms and foreign words are shown. The example of Ilia Chavchavadze's pockctbooks illustrates the difficulties related to the handwriting, incompleteness of words, leaving uncorrected mechanical errors (specificity of notebooks) and frequent use of the names and surnames unknown to us. It is shown how these difficulties can be overcome. A comparative study of two autographs of Gabriel Mtsire is given to illustrate what kind of analysis underlies the choice of the main text and how important the knowledge of the linguistic peculiarities of the epoch is for its establishment. As a result of the linguistic studies, the most difficult passages of autographs were read correctly, critical texts were established and a scientific apparatus was prepared. These results are fully reflected in the scholarly edition of the three authors under consideration.