Reconstruction is the attempt to restore any partially lost artifact. In the context of textual criticism, it is the attempt to restore the primary text of the work, i.e. its original, based on the study of the history of the text attested in the preserved evidence, as well as based on evidence outside the texts. Regarding mediaeval works, reconstruction often does not coincide with the critical text established and published in the critical edition, which contains the earliest form of the text that could be reached by the critical study, i.e. the archetype.
In other languages
DE: Rekonstruktion
FR: reconstruction
IT: ricostruzione
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